Rusted Rear Control Arm Driver's Side - Any chance of repair?

D

donkeyhoatie

New member
I'm guessing not, but I thought I'd see if anyone else had this issue fixed. It's not completely broken off the frame, just on the outside of the frame. Should I even bother having it towed to the shop?
photo2.jpg~original
 
Last edited:
Register to hide this ad
Haven't seen it but you could get one from someone parting out a truck....like me. Pm me if you end up needing one.
 
I'm having it towed to the mechanic tomorrow to see if there's anything they can do.

If that doesn't happen, I may have to find someone in the Midwest who might be interested in purchasing a 3rd Gen for parts. Outside of the frame rust, it's in great shape in the interior and the engine only has 83K on it. Haven't done the water pump/timing belt yet. Tires are Yokohama Geolanders ATs (265070/16) with about 6000 miles on them. Really bummed about this.
 
donkeyhoatie said:
I'm having it towed to the mechanic tomorrow to see if there's anything they can do.

If that doesn't happen, I may have to find someone in the Midwest who might be interested in purchasing a 3rd Gen for parts. Outside of the frame rust, it's in great shape in the interior and the engine only has 83K on it. Haven't done the water pump/timing belt yet. Tires are Yokohama Geolanders ATs (265070/16) with about 6000 miles on them. Really bummed about this.
Click to expand...

Not sure how far or bad the rusted area is but you'll need a section of the frame as well from what I see. If you were local id help you cut out what you need.
 
Man that's rusted, while you're at it you might want to check over the rest of the truck and see if anything else is about to go. You might as well get it all done at once while it's at the shop.
 
Last edited:
If there's one spot rusted out that bad, chances are there is a lot more. I think your best bet is to buy another 4Runner and swap over the best parts from this truck and then let it go.
 
Everyone needs to keep an eye on those rear control arm mounts in the north. Mine got a hole on the passenger side. But I caught it early and patched it. I would think if you frame is that bad I would worry about the other side's arm mount, differential, muffler, power steering lines and rear heater coolant lines. Also, working on anything under the 4runner will be fun.
 
While I am glad to live in the warmer climate - this ticks me off. It seems that Toyota had no clue what they were doing in designing this version. I don't think they cared a bit that the frame and parts were going to rust quickly, In various threads I have seen a lot of rust and in vehicles only 10-12 years old that amount of rust is a very poor design job by Toyota.
 
A good offroad fab shop could probably make some new mounts and fix the frame. Welding and fab is what they do. A basic mechanic won't be able to tackle that, if he says he can I would be worried. It all depends how the rest of the frame looks though. If there are other spots that bad you have some thinking to do.

Another runner or full tube frame. I vote full tube frame.
 
Thanks everyone for the comments. It's going to the mechanic tomorrow on the off-chance they can do something about it. I've reached out to a local offrad fab shop too and requested a quote for repair work. There are some other rusty spots on the frame, but none of them are nearly as bad as this area. Again, without looking inside the frame, it's hard to tell the extent of the damage. I'd love to be able to rescue this thing and keep driving it for a few more years.
 
yall tripping, this is not that bad just cut out the rust parts and have the fab shop weld in a piece of 3/16" U channel, and make a new link mount. it takes a while to rust thought a piece of 3/16"
 
Ghostrider said:
While I am glad to live in the warmer climate - this ticks me off. It seems that Toyota had no clue what they were doing in designing this version. I don't think they cared a bit that the frame and parts were going to rust quickly, In various threads I have seen a lot of rust and in vehicles only 10-12 years old that amount of rust is a very poor design job by Toyota.
Click to expand...
10-12 years is not "quickly". And ya, damn Toyota for not regularly cleaning and maintaining the undercarrage of peoples 10-12 year old cars! How dare they!
 
t4r4life said:
yall tripping, this is not that bad just cut out the rust parts and have the fab shop weld in a piece of 3/16" U channel, and make a new link mount. it takes a while to rust thought a piece of 3/16"
Click to expand...

Thanks man for the suggestion and reassurance. When I saw it yesterday, I had resigned myself to the fact that Gene Banks, my rig, was most likely headed out to pasture. While I'm not sure what the official diagnosis will be, I at least have some hope for good news today. On the plus side, I'm off work on vacation until after Thanksgiving, so it's not like I need my daily driver for anything right now.
 
donkeyhoatie said:
Thanks man for the suggestion and reassurance. When I saw it yesterday, I had resigned myself to the fact that Gene Banks, my rig, was most likely headed out to pasture. While I'm not sure what the official diagnosis will be, I at least have some hope for good news today. On the plus side, I'm off work on vacation until after Thanksgiving, so it's not like I need my daily driver for anything right now.
Click to expand...


Where are you at in the Midwest?
 
BlackCat914 said:
10-12 years is not "quickly". And ya, damn Toyota for not regularly cleaning and maintaining the undercarriage of peoples 10-12 year old cars! How dare they!
Click to expand...

Yes - I consider Toyota responsible for a very poor design. I haven't seen major structural damage like that on other trucks. Plus they had to buy back the pickup version since their contractor messed up the corrosion dipping. My opinion is that Toyota did not come close to deliver a decent rust resistant truck for the 3rd gen.
 
We all know toyota sucks at rust proofing. So I do my own maint and undercoating whenever needed. Every man for themselves with these rigs.

Anyway, any news on the frame. If it were mine I would do whatever needed to fix that, if the rest of the frame was still good. Keep us posted. And if you have bad news then maybe someone on here will chime in and help you. I have the skills and resources, just to far away.
 
Hello All, sorry to resurrect this old thread but I just had the same exact thing happen to me in just the past 2 days. I was wondering why my truck was handling so badly
and I spotted it. :(

This is my first post here, :usa2:

I have a '96 4Runner, the Original Poster's damage pic looks exactly the same as my frame's rust/breakage, it even has the same pattern to the way it rusted and broke. I have 230,000 miles on mine and have tried to keep the corrosion at bay with periodic maintenance of the undercoating and washes but anyone in Chicago area knows they salt the roads big time out here.

I am hoping the OP is still around and can let me know where he went for his repair or whatever happened to his truck. I love mine and hope to get this fixed somehow. :pout:

Looks like the OP was in Glenview, IL I am not far away in Mundelein, IL.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
Rear hatch door handle not engaging release latch
Replies
2
Views
1K
Ben Dejo
B
M
My damaged 4runner dilemma
Replies
3
Views
3K
Monty87ls
M
L
Rust help
Replies
7
Views
5K
Cezar
C
S
"Restore" or move on...
Replies
6
Views
6K
kafene
K
N
Rusted out frame
Replies
7
Views
4K
armabill
A

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 2,938 (members: 0, guests: 2,938)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,317
Messages
3,554,129
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top