Holes in my frame predicament

isu2014

isu2014

New member
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
 
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If it was me, i'd sell and buy another. If rust is bad enough in that spot, there is bound to be rust hidden elsewhere.
 
Thats not worth your time dude, no f-ing way. You cant fix that either. Find another one and use that pile of awesome parts on it. Look for something out of the rust belt, you may pay more but it'll be pristine underneath.
 
What's this turd worth now? I haven't had it very long and I probably overpaid, but what should I expect to get for it? I didn't find any areas that made it seem unsafe for daily use, but for off roading, adding a lot of weight, and snatching stuck vehicles it doesn't seem like a good base to build off of. I put on a few new parts already to fix the little issues it had. Or am I better off parting it out?

On a side note a local salvage yard has a good frame for $200...
 
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isu2014 said:
What's this turd worth now? I haven't had it very long and I probably overpaid, but what should I expect to get for it? I didn't find any areas that made it seem unsafe for daily use, but for off roading, adding a lot of weight, and snatching stuck vehicles it doesn't seem like a good base to build off of. I put on a few new parts already to fix the little issues it had. Or am I better off parting it out?

On a side note a local salvage yard has a good frame for $200...
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not sure really. People will buy it, just depends on your market. It probably is safe but like you said, your not going to use it lightly so its not the best. the good frame could be a good place to start. would give you a nice spot to work (no body) till you swap it over. not exactly a small project though.
 
That just looks like a hole in the super thick underdcoating? Chip that junk off and put some rust stopper on. When you get holes in the undercoating, it just creates crevices that keep salty water against the frame so it can eat away.
 
I am not seeing a hole in the picture. It doesn't look like it penetrates through - looks like the surface has flaked off. Am I seeing that right? Gaping holes that you can stick a screwdriver through are problems. From the pictures, this actually looks better than a lot 4runners of this age that have been driven in the north or mid-west.
 
I hate rust.


If you have skills. Buy the frame from the junk yard and swap her out.

or

Sell her for what you bought her for and buy one from out of state.
 
If you have the time, locate a similar age truck in the SE for $2k to $3k range and swap over the good parts from your truck. Then pull off and sell or store the remaining good parts and then scrap the remains. Again you have to have time but you could probably get enough from parts to cover the cost.
 
Buckaroo said:
I am not seeing a hole in the picture. It doesn't look like it penetrates through - looks like the surface has flaked off. Am I seeing that right? Gaping holes that you can stick a screwdriver through are problems. From the pictures, this actually looks better than a lot 4runners of this age that have been driven in the north or mid-west.
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On the one with the arrow to the hole, it definitely goes through. I can stick my finger inside. There's frame behind it that makes it look like it's just on the surface. It's like a box and one side is rusted through.


I don't even have a garage right now, so I would have to rent one to be able to even attempt a frame swap. I could pull it off if I had all the equipment, but taking off the front bumper bolts already proved to be a challenge. Taking the rest of the vehicle apart would definitely need a torch and impact. It would take a considerable amount of time just to get the parts off due to rust.

I found another that I would probably buy, so I might put this on ebay and see if I can get some interest.
 
For now, stop the rust by drilling/grinding out the hole and treat it and seal it with POR-15. Keep driving it. If you ignore it, the rust will continue to eat the steel. But if you plan to do a build and also plan to keep it for a long time, buy a tx or az truck.
 
Drcoffee said:
For now, stop the rust by drilling/grinding out the hole and treat it and seal it with POR-15. Keep driving it. If you ignore it, the rust will continue to eat the steel. But if you plan to do a build and also plan to keep it for a long time, buy a tx or az truck.
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You can't clean to bare metal. Clean the flacky rust with a wire brush. POR 15 reacts with the rust and makes a new rust proof surface. It unfortunately is not UV resistant so it will have to covered with regular paint after it is cured.
 
Singtoe said:
You can't clean to bare metal. Clean the flacky rust with a wire brush. POR 15 reacts with the rust and makes a new rust proof surface. It unfortunately is not UV resistant so it will have to covered with regular paint after it is cured.
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2nd the point about direct to rust paint, NO UV barrier at all. It is meant to be topcoated.

If you aren't in a position to swap the frame, the long term solution is definitely to buy a better rig. Frame swaps are easy, I bet flat rate is only 18-20 hours. But the rust issue makes it a potential nightmare. I've done lots of them, but I'm in CA.
 
Dang, makes me glad I live in the South with no rust issues.

I would sell it and start over with a new rig. I would hate to put on all the new parts you have just to have an issue with the vehicle later down the road.
 
That looks like a easy fix to me , but I have a heated shop full of tools , torches and welders. I also got a truck with a rusty frame , I just cut the bad metal out and welded in some new , sanded every thing down and covered it with por-15 .
Check out my build and you can see how I fixed it .
 
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