Bought a 3rd gen with a strange history.. am I screwed?

[Coward]

All those dealer transfers are probably from auction sales. Most dealers will try and rotate their inventory in 4-6 weeks. So they take it to auction and another dealer buys it. Could be because of the rust. Without pictures of your rust, it may or may not be bad enough to be an issue of dishonesty on the sellers part.

 

[Victor_inox]

All those dealer transfers are probably from auction sales. Most dealers will try and rotate their inventory in 4-6 weeks. So they take it to auction and another dealer buys it. Could be because of the rust. Without pictures of your rust, it may or may not be bad enough to be an issue of dishonesty on the sellers part.

I agree.

 

[amalik]

yes. you are screwed.

lol.

just kidding. funny thread title.

 

[4ranover]

All those dealer transfers are probably from auction sales. Most dealers will try and rotate their inventory in 4-6 weeks. So they take it to auction and another dealer buys it. Could be because of the rust. Without pictures of your rust, it may or may not be bad enough to be an issue of dishonesty on the sellers part.

Ah okay, yeah.. good to know dealers rotate 4-6 weeks because that fits the timeline here. Thanks for sharing.

As for the rust, just posted up some pics here.

 

[4ranover]

So... any opinions on this rust? How bad does it scare you guys? :tongue:

 

[Cree]

You have 5 options:

Fix it, as it's not a total loss yet.
Replace the frame if the body looks good.
Take it back and fight that fight. Longer you wait, harder it'll be.
Junk it.
Sell it to some other sucker.

You pick. Good luck. I have a Chicago truck and feel your pain. Mine is all scaling, no holes, but it'll get there someday. I'm actively looking for a SW truck to move into in the next couple years.

 

[Scramble]

So... any opinions on this rust? How bad does it scare you guys? :tongue:

It's bad. Would I buy it? No. Can it be fixed? Yes.

 

[JRZEE2000TR4LTD]

So... any opinions on this rust? How bad does it scare you guys? :tongue:

I had the "rust" Same classic places. Not quite as bad. Mine wasn't rotted up the outside of the frame though. Welding will only work if there's good metal to attach to. I fixed about a 2 foot area on the passenger side. I was going to buy one of those inspection cameras before my 2000 got totaled, which, by the way, was helped by the unfixed inner frame rust on the drivers side. When I was rear ended it bent all the weak metal downward and the bending point was right in front of the lower control arm mount on the drivers side. So much so that is cracked the frame about halfway through which really allowed me to see the extensiveness of the rust.
Oh and when I bought the truck, the "hole" was filled with that gap spray foam stuff then topped off with body filler and painted over. I found it about 2 months later. Needless to say, I was "taken".
I hate to say this but the best thing that could have happened, happened which was getting rearended, totaled, and taking that money to buy a much, much cleaner rust free truck. If I were you I would fix it and do a major POR15 or equivalent job, then sell it and buy another because the rust battle is never ending once it gets to this stage.

 

[PWD4R]

For some clarification here the dealers responsibility is to sell cars that'll pass state inspection. That's basically it so if your state inspection doesn't require frame inspection then it technically still passes. They have no way to know if your air bags will deploy properly (they can check sensors but that can only go so far) so you can't sue the dealer if the air bag doesn't deploy. Now, if they're decently reputable, they may take it back to not ruin their name because they probably bought it for $4-$5k and they may rather eat that than a shit reputation.

Granted the rust is decently bad i would imagine it's fixable but that's more money. Looks like a trail rig to me

But as stated the longer you wait the less leg you have to stand on. Call them tomorrow and see if they'll help you out with a reasonable solution. Maybe give you even a grand back or something to see if that will help you put that into your frame work and have a good truck.


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[T4R2014]

It's bad, but common. Having a friend who welds could save you a lot of money. If the rest of the vehicle is in good condition, I would fix it.

 

[3bears]

wow, that looks bad, glad I don't live in the rust belt, my frame and underside still looks like new

you could always buy a wreck in the northwest that would be rust free and use its frame, or advertise in the classifieds here and see if someone had a frame
our local craigslists always has people parting 4runners, get a good frame and send it to your location

http://www.copart.com/us/Lot/28110196?searchId=2104164233

 

[ajordan1975]

that looks pretty bad.
didn't you get down on all fours and look under the truck before you bought it?? :noidea:

 

[talkinghead]

My isssue is similar, lot of rust...

 

[4ranover]

wow, that looks bad, glad I don't live in the rust belt, my frame and underside still looks like new

you could always buy a wreck in the northwest that would be rust free and use its frame, or advertise in the classifieds here and see if someone had a frame
our local craigslists always has people parting 4runners, get a good frame and send it to your location

big kick in the balls is that i'm moving to portland at the end of the year........................... :Cry:

 

[4ranover]

My isssue is similar, lot of rust...

lets swap pics :becky:

 

[Mjbuley]

Good grief that's some serious rust


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[Dropzone]

big kick in the balls is that i'm moving to portland at the end of the year........................... :Cry:

3rd gen prices are all over the place in PDX.
I have seen them ranging from $2500-$17K

The upside is that you might be able to get a frame from [MENTION=78895]DeathCougar[/MENTION] since he specializes in parting out 3rd Gens (he is near Seattle)

 

[3bears]

big kick in the balls is that i'm moving to portland at the end of the year........................... :Cry:

then get rid of it , fight the dealer, get ur money back and wait till your out here and get one

 

[3bears]

that looks pretty bad.
didn't you get down on all fours and look under the truck before you bought it?? :noidea:

:doh:

 

[4ranover]

SHE'S A KEEPER! :bigok:

Thanks everyone for the feedback and advice. After a stressful week, I decided to keep the truck. Didn't even bother getting the seller involved.

Here's why I decided to keep the 4runner:

* Wife loves it. She gets what she wants!

* Aside from the frame rot, it really seems to be a great truck. In a week of ownership, we've put about 600 miles or her. Pleasure to drive.

* Couldn't find a better one to buy. Contacted a *bunch* of local sellers. Didn't a response from most of them, and the ones that did respond, stopped responding when I asked about frame rust. Almost comical.

* Took it for an estimate to a local welder. He's done the exact repair on another 4runner, and was confident he would have no trouble fixing this one. The price was about what I'd expected. Nothing absurd. I'll document it in another post/thread.

So that's that! I wrenched on her all weekend to fix up some front end stuff, and she's going under the knife for the frame repair this week.

OFFICIALLY A 4RUNNER OWNER! :bluejump: