Pretty odd to see the lower doors rusting. I know a lot of other Toy/Lex models have that issue and I’ve personally dealt with it a number of times but I don’t think I’ve seen that on a 100, or people just don’t post about it. Undercarriage definitely has some scale that was most likely rattle canned over but it doesn’t look terrible if you ask me. I’d be more concerned about the body rust, that can be tricky to fix and not have it come back after a few years. Lucky for you, once you fix the body rust, with TX being as dry as it is and no winters, it should serve you many years to come.
Ultimate Rust / Undercarriage Thread
- Thread starter blatant
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
Disappointing to say the least. I though it was a rust-free truck. I’m glad to hear that the undercarriage doesn’t look bad, aside from crossmember. There’s plenty of shiny metal u see there and I plan on swapping out swaybars, links, and all the skid plates eventually. There’s couple spots above the drivetrain on the underbody of the car that you can’t see, but I think wire brush and some Eastwood inhibitor/encapsulator will take care of that.
Any idea what cost will be to fix those rockers and the door? There’s a similar spot on the front left fender where it meets the bumper. I have very little body work skills.
More surprises! I got duped big time on this. I’m considering just selling this as-is and starting over. I’m seeing thousands in rust repairs.
On the plus side, you have $25k in work in a folder. From your posts, and the seeing the pics, your expectation is a near show-room cosmetic condition 100? Or thats just how people react to used vehicles in Texas. Can't tell.
Thats a very common spot behind the bumper to rust. Pretty sure every 100 that isn't from sunny NM/CA/TX/AZ has got that spot or has started to form.
I’m probably overreacting a little, but for the price I paid I expected better. So it’s not so much the rust, but the rust-to-price ratio. I doubt the previous owner knew about the bad spots but it’s till frustrating.
I’m from Minnesota (30 years), and I’ve only been in TX for 6 months. So I’m no stranger to rust and corrosion, and almost always buy used cars.
I’ve got a line on a good shop here in SA that caters to the overlanding crowd so it’s not the end of the world, just wasn’t planning on it being this bad.
Bit of a strange post since I’m an expat based in Asia but thought I’d ask nonetheless. I’m looking to buy an ‘06 Toyota Land Cruiser Cygnus, which is the JDM version of the LX470. Exactly the same car, just with Toyota badges instead of Lexus. It’s done about 110K miles and the owner is asking $9500.
These are pics he sent to me, unfortunately I can’t see that much from the undercarriage but maybe one of you might see something I’ve overlooked. The car looks to be in immaculate condition otherwise, it’s even got the night vision HUD that’s apparently quite rare. I know it’s spent most of its life close to the sea so there might be some surface rust on the frame here and there, although it doesn’t look too bad from the pics he sent me. Any opinions?
These are pics he sent to me, unfortunately I can’t see that much from the undercarriage but maybe one of you might see something I’ve overlooked. The car looks to be in immaculate condition otherwise, it’s even got the night vision HUD that’s apparently quite rare. I know it’s spent most of its life close to the sea so there might be some surface rust on the frame here and there, although it doesn’t look too bad from the pics he sent me. Any opinions?
Last edited:
Did you say how much you paid? Showroom mall cruiser like it sounds your after is likely going to cost you more now than your current one when you bought it. Youre in Texas, that little bit of rust isn’t going to take over anything in your cruiser Anytime soon. Unless your doing car shows keep it and wheel it hard man.
I’ll take it if you don’t want it
I didn’t, but it was more $10k and less than $20k. I’m not looking for a mall crawler, just a good solid starting point for a build. I’ve got big plans for it to be my home away from home in the mountains, I’m moving back to Colorado next year so rust is my public enemy #1. It runs and driver excellent at least. I’m just going to start removing rusty parts underneath and start replacing with upgrades. The body rust I will deal with, one way or the other.
Sounds like a good plan. I bought way rustier sight unseen For 15k and I just got a mechanic who wasn’t a little bitch and just wrote off that my baseline was going to be a little pricier and each time I replaced something o would have to buy the half dozen or so small parts touching that part. It’s worked out so far and the rocker panel rust I have had spread minimally
the guy who has a rig in better
Shape than the one you got will end up putting it on bat...should be short BAT**** dumb but there’s one or two in every crowd these days
This looks immaculate as far as I can tell. Not sure what the market is like where you are at but in the states that is easily a 20K maybe 30K rig.
This looks hearbreaking. Where I'm at (central VA) this is a 6-7K rig... I've seen several sit for a long time with an asking of 8-10K because most buyers can't get past the body rust. I'd get an estimate on the rust repair and then make a decision. Unfortunately I think you are probably better off selling as is and taking the loss especially if you are looking to invest more into the rig. I see cruisers like this occasionally with narly body rust. Even if the body repair is cheap (probably won't be) It seems like a bad idea to sink more money into this.
Seems like we had pretty similar situations. I’ve accepted that there’s going to be some additional costs to baseline. I just hate spending money on rust repair, and sadly I’m just not good enough to do it on my own. I’ll fix it stages, saving the quarters for last since there’s always a chance I just cut that whole bit out and re-box it. Would be cheaper and still look good. I suspect some of those BAT rigs aren’t as clean as their photos would suggest either.
Body shop here in SA recommended by the local cruiser group quoted me $2300 to fix all of it (excluding rear crossmember). That would be for full metal work and paint. I’ve decided to keep it and just fix the rust bit by bit seeing as it won’t spread much anymore given my location. The door and front fender being first, then the rockers (which I may just tackle on my own since it’s pretty minor and I can paint those without a perfect match). The rear quarters will be last, because I’m still considering just cutting those out and boxing in. The rust is at the very bottom in an area that serves no purpose, and is covered by the bumper. Even aftermarket bumpers will cover it. Aside from those areas, the other rusted bits are on parts that I was planning on replacing anyway (swaybars, links, skid plates). The frame itself front to back is solid, and mechanically the truck is excellent, and that counts for something.
I didn’t set out for a mall crawler, so we’re just going to deal with it rather than take a hug loss. Selling it will be a $5k loss easy, since I’d have to take into consideration the sales tax already paid, and my flight and fuel as well which was $500. Then a new truck in same price range, tax again, and probably flight and fuel again since there’s not much here in TX for sale....it’s just not worth it. At the end if the day, with all things considered, it’s a decent truck. I just paid more than I should have and there’s no one to blame but myself because I had the chance to walk away. I’ll probably start a project thread here soon so folks can see the transformation.
If I skip the full rebuild of the rear quarters and handle the rockers on my own, realistically I’m looking at only $1200-1500 in rust repair, and $120 for the Eastwood chassis restoration kit that should take care of the undercarriage. I already have someone lined up to box the rear crossmember and he’ll probably do it for a case of beer and materials.
I’ve ordered metaltech upper and lower rear control arms, a white line rear swaybar, and OEM end links, and metaltech sliders. I’m waiting for all of the slee skidplates to be back in stock and when they are I’ll be ordering those (the front is OOS). I have a tap and die kit to remove a couple skid plate bolts that broke, most of them came out fine though.
I'm in the same boat as you. I had a CT mechanic that I got through recommendation take a look at it and I had specifically ask him about the undercarriage rust. He told me it was very clean and that I did not have to worry about the rust. But when I bought it back to NY to my own mechanic, he showed me all the bad rust that was under. Still don't know why the CT mechanic lied about it.
So now I've made an appointment to repair the rust from Garden State Auto Service in NJ. Gonna have it sand blasted and undercoated. Then, yearly fluid filming the undercarriage to keep it good.
This repair definitely set me back a year on all the other things that I want to do/upgrade on the LC.
Hello fellow mudders,
I have this cruiser from 2005. I put some work into it not much, now I'm at the ropes regarding rust. Is it worth fixing or just let it go? Let me know what you guys think. Only 67K miles.
Front and Mid Sections.
I have this cruiser from 2005. I put some work into it not much, now I'm at the ropes regarding rust. Is it worth fixing or just let it go? Let me know what you guys think. Only 67K miles.
Front and Mid Sections.
This is horrible and ready to crumble in a NY minute. The fact that it is low mileage is irrelevant. You should sell it incredibly cheap.
If you are not a gullible, believe-everything-on-internet person, then the more objective opinion is that it can be saved. I would start with a really good rust correction and then some sort of rust protection like Cosmoline or fluid film every year.
Depending upon what the rest of the body and interior looks like, you might actually make good money by having it coated with fluid film and selling it in this hot market.
If you are not a gullible, believe-everything-on-internet person, then the more objective opinion is that it can be saved. I would start with a really good rust correction and then some sort of rust protection like Cosmoline or fluid film every year.
Depending upon what the rest of the body and interior looks like, you might actually make good money by having it coated with fluid film and selling it in this hot market.
Not gonna lie to you, that's pretty rough for 67k miles. But, there's worse out there. Scrape and clean whatever you can, POR15 or Eastwood all over. Replace things as the project moves forward. Be prepared for broken bolts whenever you dive into something. Not the end of the world but it will make each project a little longer than it should be.
How is the body?
