semlin
curmudgeon
Okay folks, am approaching the last straw here. Need your votes...
Some may have noticed that my used cruiser has turned out to be, well, used.  uring the weekend I pulled the interior rear panel and got a good look at body damage in the right rear quarter panel that I noticed soon after I bought it but have been avoiding confronting. Although they cleaned it up very well from the outside, from the inside you can see it had a pretty big hit up at the top of the wheel well and it crumpled the wheel well behind it. Instead of replacing the panel they beat it out and bondoed it. Trouble is that water is leaking somewhere in the seam between the wheel well and the body panel so that this panel was full up to the drain height with water and about 3 inches of silt. At the bottom of the quarter panel I thus have pitted surface rust on the inside. I also have an inch and half of water in there today just from driving to work in the rain when I had it dry last night. I took it to a body shop that I trust at lunch. They doubt they could just fix the seam and suspect rust is already loose in that area. They say the only way to fix it would be to reskin the rear quarter and put a new wheelwell in to do it properly. That would be nearly $4000 so it’s not an option.
So here’s the deal. I bought the cruiser to keep for a long time. Because they sell high up here, I got it cheap enough that I could still sell it and break even on all my costs to date. My options are to sell it now and buy another, try to find someone to do a weld repair that probably won’t take, or drill holes in the bottom of the panel to let the water out, paint rust guard everywhere and wait for it to slowly rot.
the truck has
125,000 miles
lockers
new 31" BFG AT
new toyota muffler with lifetime guarantee
uses no oil, but I have a main seal leak that weeps and a seal at the front that is a little dirty.
repacked front end
leaky sunroof drains!
On the down side I like this truck in spite of its flaws and am starting to know those flaws. I will also have to go out of BC to find another truck which means buying long distance. This is risky and a royal pain and how I got into this mess in the first place (the inspection I paid for missed the damage and so did I when I went to pick it up). If I sold I’d probably pull the ARB front bar off to keep for the new one and put on a factory bumper if I can find one.
So here’s the question, assume if I sell I’ll have $12,000US max to replace it and I want lockers. Not sure if I'd be trading in one headache for another. Should I hang on to it or sell? Vote now and vote often.
Some may have noticed that my used cruiser has turned out to be, well, used.  uring the weekend I pulled the interior rear panel and got a good look at body damage in the right rear quarter panel that I noticed soon after I bought it but have been avoiding confronting. Although they cleaned it up very well from the outside, from the inside you can see it had a pretty big hit up at the top of the wheel well and it crumpled the wheel well behind it. Instead of replacing the panel they beat it out and bondoed it. Trouble is that water is leaking somewhere in the seam between the wheel well and the body panel so that this panel was full up to the drain height with water and about 3 inches of silt. At the bottom of the quarter panel I thus have pitted surface rust on the inside. I also have an inch and half of water in there today just from driving to work in the rain when I had it dry last night. I took it to a body shop that I trust at lunch. They doubt they could just fix the seam and suspect rust is already loose in that area. They say the only way to fix it would be to reskin the rear quarter and put a new wheelwell in to do it properly. That would be nearly $4000 so it’s not an option.
So here’s the deal. I bought the cruiser to keep for a long time. Because they sell high up here, I got it cheap enough that I could still sell it and break even on all my costs to date. My options are to sell it now and buy another, try to find someone to do a weld repair that probably won’t take, or drill holes in the bottom of the panel to let the water out, paint rust guard everywhere and wait for it to slowly rot.
the truck has
125,000 miles
lockers
new 31" BFG AT
new toyota muffler with lifetime guarantee
uses no oil, but I have a main seal leak that weeps and a seal at the front that is a little dirty.
repacked front end
leaky sunroof drains!
On the down side I like this truck in spite of its flaws and am starting to know those flaws. I will also have to go out of BC to find another truck which means buying long distance. This is risky and a royal pain and how I got into this mess in the first place (the inspection I paid for missed the damage and so did I when I went to pick it up). If I sold I’d probably pull the ARB front bar off to keep for the new one and put on a factory bumper if I can find one.
So here’s the question, assume if I sell I’ll have $12,000US max to replace it and I want lockers. Not sure if I'd be trading in one headache for another. Should I hang on to it or sell? Vote now and vote often.