Too much rust?

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O

oldaggie2000

Joined
Jan 14, 2017
Threads
9
Messages
20
Location
Texas
Howdy all-

I am back again with a question on rust. It's a Wisconsin 2011 LC and is in immaculate shape for 114k miles.

However, the undercarriage does have some rust.

Any thoughts would be appreciated as I need to make a decision soon.

Thanks

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That’s a lot of rust for me. Amazon green? You could just find any color LC in your area and have it wrapped any color,
Including a similar green. Vinyl matte green would look pretty sweet.
 
Not a rust bucket yet, but soon is going to be if no effort spent to save it... I would keep looking unless you are getting a smoking deal you cannot refuse...
 
Pretty sure there was another thread on this same green truck. The answer yes too much rust, even though it’s amazon green it’s not worth it if you live in a rust free state
 
Even if you “save” it you’ll forever have problems with almost all of the bolts and hardware under the body.

If you are THAT set on green I’d still wait. But there is no way I’d compromise that much on what is effectively a vehicle with cancer just for a particular color. Living in Texas you have the opportunity to drive one of these to 500k or more if you so desire. Compromising on rust will definitely reduce that number and significantly increase the frustration of doing most work on it.
 
I fear no rust. But that one looks borderline. Salvageable yes but it needs a lot of work. If your a DIY person you have many long weekends in front of you. To do that one right your looking at least 1k to scrub all the crap off and seal it up right. Might even need some parts replaced. Looks like some lines where already replaced. Is it super cheap? I bet even someone that lives in WI would pass unless the price was right.
 
Being from the north, I always find the rust conversation interesting. My 100, pretty much doused in salt every winter since 1998, looks infinitely worse underneath than any of the vehicles you have shown here. No body rust though. Has anything ever failed due to rust on my truck, after 22 years and over 400k miles? Not that I can think of. Frame issues? Nope. Control arm issues? None of those either. Now, I will admit that a nut or bolt can get a bit sticky once in a while but then again I usually take it to the dealer and let the mechanics deal with that. But, given appropriate maintenance, a Land Cruiser will last decades even with a bit of chassis / suspension rust.

That being said, I do keep my hitch receiver mount rust free and painted. No cause whatsoever to have rust visible from a standing position.

100 for garage.webp
 
It's not that a cruiser is just going to rust up and fall apart at 150k miles. It'll keep running. My truck i bought in NYC. It was 5 years old at the time. I drive it the next 1.5 years before moving to rust free Arizona. I'd say about 90% of upgrades and about 60-70% of routines maintenance my "light surface rust" issue shows itself again.

Fun example from last weekend. A quick Saturday morning plan to put new rear brake pads in, turned into a multi hour multi store headache. took the calipers off fine, put the new pads in, went to tighten the lower caliper bolt...the bolt got in and just spun. Took it back off to see there was about 1 thread left in the caliper itself. My "light surface rust" must have been holding that bolt in this whole time, and after I broke that hold, there was nothing left holding it. Struck out around town calling all the local Toyota and Lexus dealers, nobody had calipers in stock. Oreily's negative, Autozone had a a different location they could get later in the day. I really didnt want to swap with aftermarket...so. After trying to cool off I decided to run a larger size tap through the caliper and put a slightly larger bolt to hold. The caliper itself was still working great. Harbor freight was the next stop, plopped down $90 for a tap set that had a large enough tap, then onto Ace to look for a grade 8 bolt. The metric selection ended at the current size M12. So, had to switch to 1/2" x 1.25" fine thread grade 8. Luckily Ace solid that single size tap for $10, so picked that up and returned the Harbor Freight set. After very carefully running the new 1/2" tap and putting it back together i noticed yet another rust issue. The dust shield metal back plate had a big section rusting out. Ready to lose it at this point, just cleaned up and moved on with my day. After getting home and looking for that back plate, turns out it's sold together with the ticker metal plate and it's over $300. So, that's out, figure i'll use some jbweld or something to jerry rig the one i have so it stops rattling over bumps.

So, short story very long...the truck will keep running, but it's headaches like this that keep coming and coming years later. Not the big things, the little things. replacing rear pads shouldn't take half a day. Whether its me or taking to a dealer, i could give at least 15-20 examples of this over the years haunting me. So my advice would be if you don't live in a rusty state, don'y buy a truck from one, even if it's amazon green.

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DPA200 said:
It's not that a cruiser is just going to rust up and fall apart at 150k miles. It'll keep running. My truck i bought in NYC. It was 5 years old at the time. I drive it the next 1.5 years before moving to rust free Arizona. I'd say about 90% of upgrades and about 60-70% of routines maintenance my "light surface rust" issue shows itself again.

Fun example from last weekend. A quick Saturday morning plan to put new rear brake pads in, turned into a multi hour multi store headache. took the calipers off fine, put the new pads in, went to tighten the lower caliper bolt...the bolt got in and just spun. Took it back off to see there was about 1 thread left in the caliper itself. My "light surface rust" must have been holding that bolt in this whole time, and after I broke that hold, there was nothing left holding it. Struck out around town calling all the local Toyota and Lexus dealers, nobody had calipers in stock. Oreily's negative, Autozone had a a different location they could get later in the day. I really didnt want to swap with aftermarket...so. After trying to cool off I decided to run a larger size tap through the caliper and put a slightly larger bolt to hold. The caliper itself was still working great. Harbor freight was the next stop, plopped down $90 for a tap set that had a large enough tap, then onto Ace to look for a grade 8 bolt. The metric selection ended at the current size M12. So, had to switch to 1/2" x 1.25" fine thread grade 8. Luckily Ace solid that single size tap for $10, so picked that up and returned the Harbor Freight set. After very carefully running the new 1/2" tap and putting it back together i noticed yet another rust issue. The dust shield metal back plate had a big section rusting out. Ready to lose it at this point, just cleaned up and moved on with my day. After getting home and looking for that back plate, turns out it's sold together with the ticker metal plate and it's over $300. So, that's out, figure i'll use some jbweld or something to jerry rig the one i have so it stops rattling over bumps.

So, short story very long...the truck will keep running, but it's headaches like this that keep coming and coming years later. Not the big things, the little things. replacing rear pads shouldn't take half a day. Whether its me or taking to a dealer, i could give at least 15-20 examples of this over the years haunting me. So my advice would be if you don't live in a rusty state, don'y buy a truck from one, even if it's amazon green.

View attachment 2194146
Click to expand...
Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt, wore out the shirt. It’s really important to keep after rust. The OP’s proposed truck would be a lot of work to remediate and would provide many opportunities to learn new, exciting words.
 
DPA200 said:
It's not that a cruiser is just going to rust up and fall apart at 150k miles. It'll keep running. My truck i bought in NYC. It was 5 years old at the time. I drive it the next 1.5 years before moving to rust free Arizona. I'd say about 90% of upgrades and about 60-70% of routines maintenance my "light surface rust" issue shows itself again.

Fun example from last weekend. A quick Saturday morning plan to put new rear brake pads in, turned into a multi hour multi store headache. took the calipers off fine, put the new pads in, went to tighten the lower caliper bolt...the bolt got in and just spun. Took it back off to see there was about 1 thread left in the caliper itself. My "light surface rust" must have been holding that bolt in this whole time, and after I broke that hold, there was nothing left holding it. Struck out around town calling all the local Toyota and Lexus dealers, nobody had calipers in stock. Oreily's negative, Autozone had a a different location they could get later in the day. I really didnt want to swap with aftermarket...so. After trying to cool off I decided to run a larger size tap through the caliper and put a slightly larger bolt to hold. The caliper itself was still working great. Harbor freight was the next stop, plopped down $90 for a tap set that had a large enough tap, then onto Ace to look for a grade 8 bolt. The metric selection ended at the current size M12. So, had to switch to 1/2" x 1.25" fine thread grade 8. Luckily Ace solid that single size tap for $10, so picked that up and returned the Harbor Freight set. After very carefully running the new 1/2" tap and putting it back together i noticed yet another rust issue. The dust shield metal back plate had a big section rusting out. Ready to lose it at this point, just cleaned up and moved on with my day. After getting home and looking for that back plate, turns out it's sold together with the ticker metal plate and it's over $300. So, that's out, figure i'll use some jbweld or something to jerry rig the one i have so it stops rattling over bumps.

So, short story very long...the truck will keep running, but it's headaches like this that keep coming and coming years later. Not the big things, the little things. replacing rear pads shouldn't take half a day. Whether its me or taking to a dealer, i could give at least 15-20 examples of this over the years haunting me. So my advice would be if you don't live in a rusty state, don'y buy a truck from one, even if it's amazon green.

View attachment 2194146
Click to expand...
its worse than that. the metal plate is only about 300 but the labor to replace it is well documented here. you have to pull the axles and youre looking closer to 2k.
 
Sandroad said:
Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt, wore out the shirt. It’s really important to keep after rust. The OP’s proposed truck would be a lot of work to remediate and would provide many opportunities to learn new, exciting words.
Click to expand...

Yes it would be a lot of work. But that is why the price is important. If you can knock off a few grand because of rust and your willing to do the work it can be dealt with. That rig is not shot. Besides the maintenance on a rusty vehicle is just that. Maintenance and keeping an eye out. Agree if you live in a rust free place it's going to be a headache. But if your up North it's like changing your oil. Besides we all have busted knuckles and have too many cans of kroil laying around and a torch. Those exciting words you learn when you are 5. Now I get its a LC200. Most folks that decide it's right vehicle have a certain expectation. Even an older model they can afford. If there is 5k in rust stuff that needs to be fixed I would still rather buy one at a good price than a Range Rover and just do the work. That's a real headache and $$$$.
 
Cruisin911 said:
its worse than that. the metal plate is only about 300 but the labor to replace it is well documented here. you have to pull the axles and youre looking closer to 2k.
Click to expand...
Got any links to threads on the subject? That’ll really get my blood boiling. I’m looking for any DIY patch type of fixes. So lame the thin metal part is not a separate replaceable piece, it’s so thin I gotta imagine many have had this rust through.

Recently when on a deep sand river trail and got sand and small rocks wedged up everywhere. I think this was yet again another rusted piece just sitting waiting for someone to mess with it. After the trail en route to Mexican food I had a ton of metal/rock noise rotor brake type of noise. I reached through the spokes in the rock warriors and wiggled this metal shield and a bunch of small rocks fell out. I’m sure now that little messing with it was what broke that rust apart. Love my truck an all, but living in AZ now man I get jealous of how rust free and clean all the local trucks are, nobody down here has these same headaches for such simple things.
 
DPA200 said:
Got any links to threads on the subject? That’ll really get my blood boiling. I’m looking for any DIY patch type of fixes. So lame the thin metal part is not a separate replaceable piece, it’s so thin I gotta imagine many have had this rust through.

Recently when on a deep sand river trail and got sand and small rocks wedged up everywhere. I think this was yet again another rusted piece just sitting waiting for someone to mess with it. After the trail en route to Mexican food I had a ton of metal/rock noise rotor brake type of noise. I reached through the spokes in the rock warriors and wiggled this metal shield and a bunch of small rocks fell out. I’m sure now that little messing with it was what broke that rust apart. Love my truck an all, but living in AZ now man I get jealous of how rust free and clean all the local trucks are, nobody down here has these same headaches for such simple things.
Click to expand...

Hate to be the bearer of bad news. May be time to trade it in on another cruiser with less rust. I was wrong. Looks like the quote is closer to 4k ($3750)

forum.ih8mud.com

Rear Dust Shields are almost dust

I was quoted $3750 to replace these ragged ones...sometimes they rattle around when I'm off road, but otherwise I'm just thinking of all the other things I could spend $3750 on. Can anyone give me a reason why this is worth that kind of money? this is for an 08 LC with almost 180k on the...
forum.ih8mud.com forum.ih8mud.com
 
It would likely be cheaper to source a replacement axle assembly from a wrecking yard, than paying $3750 for that repair. Or perhaps finding a different shop to do the work.
 
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