Nothing new here, just another guy with holes in his frame....
I have 138k on my 99 v6 5 speed manual 4x4. The body is decent for the age, only a couple rust spots.
The frame from about the A-pillar back is decent for it's age. No major rust issues and nothing that couldn't be handled with a wire brush or air scaler.
Now for the bad... The whole front suspension area is a rusty pile of junk. I flaked off a huge amount of frame pieces, and even uncovered some holes. Also there are body mounts and front bumper brackets that have rusted practically through.
What should I do with this? My goal was to build an off road ready daily driver with full armor, king coilovers etc, 33" tires, header back exhaust, e locker axle with 4.30s, stage 2 clutch, and maybe supercharge among other things. I have most of the parts already, totaling thousands of dollars, but not installed yet. I like the color and the 5 speed. I won't buy another automatic anything.
Should I sell the rig as is and find another 4x4 v6 5 speed? I think it would be a great candidate for a solid front axle, since most of the junk frame would be cut out and reinforced anyway. Or should I reinforce the frame after getting it to bare strong steel? Lastly, maybe just do a full frame swap? This is my daily driver so I can't have it down for a long period if something goes wrong.