Frame welded up, all good again.

[Mellemel]

Well a kind neighbour of mine offered to tackle the frame rust on my 97' 4rnr. Turned out the rust was worse than we both thought once he started digging ! The rocker panels were very bad so he did the full length.
Anyway, got it done, and he told me he scooped up 5 shovel fulls of 4rnr rust of the floor !!!
He's going to it undercoat with some thick black tar non drip gooey stuff in a few weeks so should be good for a number of years.
The guy has 3 trucks the youngest is 15 years old the oldest 42 all undercoated with the stuff and they look solid ! Pretty excited to have got it done, here's some pics.

 

[gamefreakgc]

Gosh I'm happy I live in California. That rust is scary!

 

[A.Wilson013]

Wow! If that's the after I want to see the before!

I honestly don't know what I would do if I walked out to my 4Runner and saw that much rust.

 

[Mellemel]

Yup, pretty Scarry stuff. The passenger side was the worst. There were visible holes but when he began to grind away the rot was in but not readily visible that's why he did the full length of the frame. There are flaky bits of rust still here and there, but generally it's still solid he tells me. Phew !!!!! I mean it's 18 years old too, has zero body rust and drives awesome.
You California 4rnr drivers have it good !:wink2:

 

[JeepKiller]

I wish I had some pictures of mine pre-rust removal..... I wish I was as fortunate as you haha my rust was the worst rust I've ever seen on a 4Runner. The right rear axle mount was literally rusted through and gone. But yours looks really good now :wink:

 

[SlickmisterN]

Gosh I'm happy I live in California. That rust is scary!

Word. OP good job getting to it before it became a real problemo.

 

[gamefreakgc]

I looked at the photos again... I shouldn't have. There's no rust on my 4Runner, right, RIGHT??? :lalala:

Hope that's the end of the rust issue for you though.

 

[Mellemel]

Gamefreakgc, haha I really hope so too. Went to settle up with the guy this morning and he tells me again with confidence that when we get it undercoated you wont have any more frame problems ! Woohoo. He has been into frame repairing for a long time I found out so I like the way he was talking. Feeling confident here.:hatsoff:

On his advice I picked up a tube of rubberized roofing sealant he said is the stuff needed for the gaps and areas that the crud gets embeddeded into, going to work on that next.

 

[ray122]

Yup, pretty Scarry stuff. The passenger side was the worst. There were visible holes but when he began to grind away the rot was in but not readily visible that's why he did the full length of the frame. There are flaky bits of rust still here and there, but generally it's still solid he tells me. Phew !!!!! I mean it's 18 years old too, has zero body rust and drives awesome.
You California 4rnr drivers have it good !:wink2:

What did you use to grind it off? Angle grinder w/ a wire wheel?

 

[JRZEE2000TR4LTD]

What did you use to grind it off? Angle grinder w/ a wire wheel?

One of these (if you have compressed air) really makes quick work of rust scale.

Compact Air Needle Scaler

 

[Supermoney]

Even being in the Northeast where salt is heavily used in the winter, I never had rust on any of my cars just by going to the car wash every week or two in winter and getting the undercarriage wash.

 

[Mellemel]

Ray22, not sure what the guy used, I left the car with him for a few days, I see grinding wheel marks, but some of the tighter spots will have been too hard to get the wheel in, I will have to ask him.