Fixing a spot of rust on my drivers door. I bought the 4runner a year ago. In the meantime I replaced the front bumper, got rid of the runningboards, installed a new pair of oxygen sensors, and installed some different wheels and tires. After I put on the wheels and tires I really started to fall in love with this truck again. And so I thought I should clean it up as much as possible and started looking for things like new seats maybe some different wheels yet again and a back bumper. One thing I thought I could get started on right away was fixing an isolated rough spot on the drivers door. That’s what I worked on most recently. I cut out all the rust and then welded in a patch of sheet metal, After which I skimmed over it with some Bondo glass and then some regular Bondo filler. Tomorrow I’ll get some primer on it which will help me to see if I have done a good job of smoothing out the patch and blending it in.

I will get some pictures up in an hour or two. I forgot that you have to host your own pictures and I hate to do that work on my phone.

When I bought the 4runner it had this bubble of rust on the drivers door. It turns out that this part of the car had been involved in some kind of collision. It had filler on the door that was finished out pretty nicely. Clearly though something has gone wrong to allow this rust to occur.



When I scratched beneath the surface I found this:




So I cut away all the rusted metal.





After making the perfect metal patch and welding it in place (I forgot to take a picture of that step), I applied a layer of Bondo Glass fiber reinforced filler.





Then I spread on a coat of regular Bondo filler.




After I sanded out the last coat of filler I sprayed on some sanding primer because I couldn't wait to see if I had a nice smooth surface. I will sand the primer off when I'm ready to lay down a coat of epoxy primer. I've heard it said that you should put down coat of epoxy primer before you put on your filler, and then once you finish sanding your filler prime it again with epoxy. I'm sure this is the best practice, however I am not going to worry about it because this is not the best door. I will probably replace the door at some point.

Hi there. I did NOT use OEM parts. I don't get kicked out of the club do I? I used Brembo drums and Centric shoes and hardware. The wheel cylinders were from A/C Delco. It all went together perfectly and functions just fine. I have not done a road test yet as I am installing a lift at the moment. If you would like part #'s on what I did use let me know.
Here is a shot of my wheel well before and after the rehab. Still need to use some undercoating, I like the Duplicolor brand, on the underside of the well. I have cleaned it, just waiting on the product to show up.
I got my Bilsteins and OME 906's in today!! Went from this....

To this....

Sway bar is yet to go back in. Treated it with rust pro today and waiting on some links to show up so I can install it. Next up is the front end. Have the Bilstein 5100's and some OME 2880's. I also put on my new 32" BFG K02 on a Taco snowflake to see what it looks like in the wheel well....sexy!!

Woot Woot
Have a great day all.

let us know how they perform. I'm in the same boat - wanna do it sometime, not sure where to start.

WELL DONE! That is a fantastic job. It's nice that that 4runner is getting the love that it deserves. That color is pretty rare, and very nice.

Thanks for the kind words. You are right that this color is rare. I looked all over the country for a door that was already painted with it. I had no luck at all. The paint is pretty oxidized on the hood and the roof from its early life in Wyoming, so I am thinking that a complete repaint is going to occur sometime fairly soon.

I received the tone ring puller adapter I ordered from Dwayne, also known as "Donald the Bonald" on eBay. He is the manufacturer of an excellent axle bearing puller tool for Toyota trucks and SUVs, that he makes right there in Omaha, Nebraska the good old USA. My 4runner's got nearly 290k miles and the rear axle oil seals are leaking. It wouldn't make any sense to go in there to do the seals without also replacing the bearings. So I've got some nice Japanese OEM rear axle service kits coming from Marlin Crawler. And new brake shoes are coming from Rock Auto. The axle puller tool that I will be using with my harbor freight hydraulic press is one that I made myself. It looks like Dwayne's adapter is going to work perfectly with my puller tool.

Check out Dwayne's handy tools for axle bearing replacement here.
You can see Timmy the Tool Man on YouTube using Dwayne's adapter here..

This looks great with the flares and cladding color matched. Have any more pictures or a build thread somewhere?

Looking very nice! I have been eyeing the Addicted Off-road bumpers. Want one too!

Thanks Christian! I always follow your build thread, and am curious to hear how those 305's fit .

I don't happen to have a build thread, I feel like my work is too lame . But I really do like the color matched cladding, here are a couple more pics (before the front bumper upgrade):

Nice rig!!

Curious, what kind of foglights do you have?

Man that looks awesome, thanks for posting the pics! Now you have me thinking...

It looks like you've done a lot of work to yours. My build is kinda lame compared to a lot of builds here, but I like reading them no matter how big or small the project is. Cool seeing people continue to clean these rigs up.

Working on the front fender well. Got the rear ones done now it is time to tackle the fronts. Look at the state of this.

Wow. OK got some work to do. I have a set of OME 880's and Bilstein 5100's that are going in so that coil over is trash. I have some new JBA UCA's on the way so those stock ones can hit the garbage can too! I am doing the Tundra brake upgrade so new rotors and big calipers are going in! Putting in all new attachment hardware for the fender well. It always breaks on old Yota's. I find these kits to be very handy working on my 3 old runners.

Time to get busy. I will keep you updated. Have a great day!

Thank you - they are Hella fog lights (Amazon.com: HELLA 008284801 FF75 Series Clear 12V/55W H7 Halogen Fog Lamp Kit: Automotive), which I upgraded to H1 HID bulbs. Bright as heck. I reinstalled them on the Addicted bumper:

got to deal with this fun gem...



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