I guess he was. But it refers to animals having human characteristics. Anyway I had some rust on my '89 and it's been gone for nearly seven years so these folks telling you to move on are a little annoying. I think a lot of the rocker problem with yours was caused by the running boards. I hope you take pictures of your repair. I bought rockers from Alpha Parts in 2011 after talking to him on the phone. He sent ones for the wrong generation and the shipping was too much to send back. I feel a little ripped off by them. I ended up using Home Depot steel and fiberglass and it's still there after six years. The dog leg part is new so show us if it fits.

People from outside of the rust belt don't understand and probably never will unless they buy a rusty POS. The body of the vehicle can rust out and look like shit but the frame can be totally fine. Sure it takes a bit longer to get a rusty bolt off and you might have to cut something off it just takes a little longer than the videos show. I've seen this on multiple vehicles, most notably my friends 92 grand caravan. Body looks like shit and it's completely spotless on the frame rails and floor pan. @popsmckracken good luck with the work! Post up when your done.

Well, I'm 86ing the runner boards for sure but like I said the only difference between the drivers side and the passenger side is a collision job done a few years back. The passenger side is perfect but I can see the logic of removing the runner boards. I will be taking plenty of pics tomorrow once we start chopping and welding.

The rest of the body looks great. I had some damage to the tail gate so I recently swapped that out for a 99 in excellent shape. However this should stand as a testament to the factory work because the only rust on the body is where work was done with inferior materials from a collision. Yeah, the rust belt is a unique experience for sure.

Hey guys this is my first post but Ive been using the site for years now and I need some help. A couple years ago I was hit behind my rear tire by a small honda that just kinda slide under and everything was good then. But now the damage is growing rapidly and I know that its super expensive to fix something like this but is there a way to possibly stop it from spreading any farther? Thanks for the help

It's rusting under the paint. I'd strip off all affected paint and apply rust paint for now. Maybe deal with fixing it next year.

Thanks Mark BC. Ill see what i can do.

I just fixed this on my truck. You don't need to use the whole metal piece.



inner fender custom piece

drilled holes for spot welds












we used professional grade primer that is also a sealer and it lays thick. Out of a spray gun and not the autozone primer

That looks awesome!

That looks really good, what did you do to form your replacement piece?

Can't believe I just found this. That's some sick work my friend, major props. I think I need to buy myself a welder as a gift this summer and learn how to weld so I can tackle this repair. I have two 4Runners with this issue and it is slowly driving me insane to watch. And this is after showering the spot with every type of oil I could find. Did you put a seam sealer of some sort before welding the pinch welds together? Or is there even a product that won't burn..

Thank you so much for this post man!! Im going to try and tackle rockers, dogleg, and the quarter panel using the replacement parts found in the links throughout this thread.

Great work. Always best to put metal back in and slight fill. I did a set of dog legs and rockers as my one rig was extremely rotted. Sadly the inner rockers are no longer available from Toyota. The 3rd party alfa steel rockers and dog legs is what I used. They will even make you a set out of 18 Gauge steel instead of the standard 20 gauge rockers if you wish yours to be slightly heavier.

Always best to not let the fenders or rockers rot out if at all possible. Mine were so bad, that I actually welded a 2 X 1 rectangular tube in the center welding it to the 3 cab mounts and replaced both the inner and outer rockers. I had to make my own inner rockers. I am hoping to get a cut out set so that I can have alfa steel template the inner rockers and make them for us. I have 3 more sets of rockers do to in my fleet.

Great job OP and others sharing your photos of the work that you did. :-)

brillo I know you’ve dealt with rust a lot. My research over last few months have brought me to using “rust converters”...

specifically “Rust Mort” made by SEM. You apply, then neutralize then topcoat. Do you use rust converters at all or even recommend any?

Thanks in advance...