Hey all,

Brand new here. I'm looking at a Pennsylvania '99 T4R limited. Asking price 4k.

The seller says:

New tires,rear bearings and seals
Timing belt, tensioners, waterpump and all front rebuilt 20k miles ago

The frame looks decent enough but the rear diff housing is very rusty. I havent seen it in person yet but I am hoping that it's just surface rust that can be sandblasted away before i coat the entire underside of the car with some type of rust protection.


It seems like a good deal for the price. Vehicles from drier states go for a around 35% more but i'm still on the fence if the premium for a rust free ride is worth it.

Based on the photos would you go for it or pass?
How expensive of a fix would it be if it had to be replaced?
Any and all advice and feedback would be much appreciated.

I am preparing to have it inspected by a mechanic This weekend but wanted to hear from you guys to see if its even worth going that far.

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The rear axle house looks to have flaky rust on it. It can be de-scaled and painted over with a rust stopper paint, or fluid film, if the metal is not thinned due to the flaking.

Not a deal breaker for the truck as the rear diff can be swapped out for a better condition one if you need to.

I would look more on the rear of the frame for rust damage. Particularly where the rear control arms mount to the frame that seems to be the problems spot and a safety issue if it bad enough.

Good luck

EDIT: I didn't see @HiLife 's response until after I posted mine. I agree with him (but he said it better).

That's about what my rear diff looked like. I'm now in the middle of a frame swap LOL (see my build thread link in my signature).

But really, you've got to hit the inboard side of the rear lower trailing arm mounts with a hammer. Hit all around the inboard frame rails all along the back half of the truck. You don't want any penetrating rust.

How many miles does this truck have?

The rear diff isn't a deal breaker to me if it's all surface rust (you can see how nicely my rear diff cleaned up in my build thread, of course that's after removing it, blasting it, washing it, coating it with POR-15...)

Bottom line: if there's penetrating rust, then it's probably a frame swap, so negotiate accordingly.

210k

Thanks for your reply. The seller sent me some additional video of the frame. I pulled some stills and published them below. I think the frame looks ok? But i would love to hear your thoughts as well.

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The additional photos do show one of the trailing arm mounts. Based solely on the photos and stills from the video, it doesn't look too terribly bad to me.

BUT you really do need to see the inboard side of those mounts. The driver side will be almost impossible to photograph since it's very near the gas tank. But the seller should be able to get a very good photo of the inside of the passenger side mount.

Here's link to the comment that shows the photo you'd want to see: https://www.toyota-4runner.org/3603564-post5.html

Even it that photo, it's a little hard to see but the rust has in fact eaten all the way through so there's no structural support offered at that weld seam. The ideal photo would have been taken up even higher to show the void between the mount and the frame rail.

That's about as good as your our going to get in the tri-state area (NY/NJ/PA). Mint condition for these parts!

LOL i just want something good enough to sandblast and treat to prevent further deterioration. Is this the one?

Based on your current pics which looks not bad of a rust condition to me. Of course less rust would be a more desirable candidate but, sometimes you gotta work with what you can get.
For me, I would try to sandblast and treat. The question is how bad is it on the inside of the frame?
@brillo_76 has been actively repairing rust of his frame. With the help of @RandyBobandy and @19963.4lsr5 .
Hopefully he can chime it to give his insight on this rust matter.

Not ideal but doesn't look like a deal breaker. Would definitely need to be addressed extensively and ASAP, but should be salvageable. As said I don't think you'll find THAT much better in Penn. - remember you guys are no. 2 in the country for road salt usage (only slightly behind Rhode Island if I remember correctly) so chances of finding something totally clean is next to impossible.
I like how one of the best parts on the diff is clearly where gear oil has dripped before lmao, very typical

Rust aside, some of the photos make me pause.

Looks a little like a drive, ignore, fix when it stops type of owner. Don't see much sign of loving attention. Just feel the owner out and be aware that some dump quite a bit of money in just to get back on top of neglect.

At least the price seems reasonable. And as a bonus you got the 99 tall springs up front!! Just needs a set of OME2906s in the rear to match.

Living in an area where we pour road salt down like MacDonald's does on French Fries, I can safely say the truck you're looking at looks amazingly good. Remember, it's a 1999. For you math majors, that's a 22 year old truck for crying out loud! The 2014 Tacoma that I sold to buy my 4Runner looked better than that, but not that much better.

Salt is a terrible thing for steel, but I've seen far worse. Remember, Toyota will replace your Tacoma frame for free if it rusts through within 12 years of the first in-service date. That frame would almost certainly still pass that inspection.

The 96 (my login) rear housing was far worse looking. I sandblasted it and used ZeroRust and an epoxy black on it. It also had a hole in the frame at the trans crossover that just looked like surface rust until I hit it with the sand blaster.

The frames rust from the inside out. Someone can hit the outside of the frame rails with a sander and make it nice and pretty and the rear lower control arm can still fall off. Fortunately there is a company that makes repair sleeves for the common rot out areas.

Ask me how I know.


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Here’s one (there may be others):

4-Runner 1996-2002 3rd Gen Archives - autorust.com

I strongly considered these before deciding on a full swap. But like @19963.4lsr5 said, these frames often rot from the inside out..