Serious Frame Rust Questoin

[PSUArcher]

Serious Frame Rust Questoin(Pictures added)

Guys, my 4runner is at the shop right now having a new exhaust system put on. The mechanic doing the work just called and said that the frame is so rusted that he doesnt think he can pass it for inspection. I havent seen it yet, so I can't comment on what kind of shape it is in.

What are my options? Has this happened to anyone else? Is it really a concern?

 

[techno]

I'm also in Pittsburgh and have frame rust, but nothing that would be considered bad enough to fail inspection. Mine seems to be mostly surface rust around welded joints.

Perhaps you could take with Toyota, since the 95-04 Tacomas were recalled because of frame rust. The chassis are the same age more or less.

 

[PSUArcher]

I have done some quick research on the 4runner frames vs the tacoma frames. It seems that the 4runner has a box frame and the tacoma had a channel frame under the bed. So I dont think that my frame could fall under the tacoma recall. I will try to get some pictures uploaded tonight.

 

[Nelsonmd]

Welcome to the club.

I don't think there is much you can do for frame rot, unless you weld on some new pieces where the rust is the worst.

Other than that, I would say try to get him not to fail you, and take it somewhere a little less, shall we say, strict.

 

[PSUArcher]

Is it something that I need to worry about, structurally? Or should I try to get someone to weld some plates on?

 

[Nelsonmd]

I would say it depends on the extend of the rust and where it has rusted all the way through. My frame has rust on the welds, but not all the way through, so I have just been cleaning and treating it. Lets see the pics, and everyone here can weigh in on how bad they think it is.

 

[theizzardking]

post up some pics so we can see how bad it is for ourselves.

 

[PSUArcher]

Okay guys, here are some pictures. This is the only spot that was bad. Actually, the rest of the frame looked pretty good. This is the inside flange of the chanell. The outside flange looks good and so do the top and bottom flanges. They all should obviously be cleaned up and treated.

What do you guys recommend that I do?

 

[Maritimer]

I see worse than that every day in Nova Scotia. I don't know how one would fix something like that, though.

 

[Dous]

Wow, looks terrible to me, but I do live in the south and started freaking out when I saw my first patch of surface rust! Hope you get it taken care of!

 

[JohnsD90]

Sh!t, thats land rover rust status.

You fix it by patching it, many land rove folk cut sections and weld new bits of metal in, and i would suggest this cause the replacement frames aren't readily availble for 4runners.

 

[Izanewman]

Holy Mary....that is some serious rust. I have a 99' that spent most of it's life in PA before moving to NC and into my driveway. I have "light" rust on the frame and other components under the vehicle.

I recently decided to address the problem. I took a wire brush and some sandpaper to all the rust I could get to. Knocked off all the flakes and residue that would come off. Mostly in the welds and corners of the frame. Rinsed with water and let dry. I then treated the areas with Rustoleum Rust Reformer. I was careful not to spray over any rusty bolts as the reformer could end up converting the rust and locking the bolt in place. Once dry, I added another layer of plain Rustoleum paint.

We'll see how this works. I'm hoping I stopped it in it's tracks. As for yours, I would do the same to all the areas I could get to that were still in decent condition. As for the areas that are rusted through, good luck. The suggestion of cleaning the areas and having steel plates welded on to span the holes may be the only real fix.

 

[Nelsonmd]

You fix it by patching it, many land rove folk cut sections and weld new bits of metal in, and i would suggest this cause the replacement frames aren't readily available for 4runners.

Yeah, I would suggest finding a local welding shop and talking to the guys there about how to fix it. I may be wrong about this, but I think an actual welder would be much better to talk to than a mechanic that welds. These old guys in weld shops are gold mines of experience, much more so than a young mechanic whose primary job isn't welding.

You might also ask about making symmetric repairs (e.g. if you weld a patch on the inside of that member, then do the same on the other side whether it needs it or not) in order to avoid generating asymmetric stiffness in the frame. You likely already have that because of the rust, but that can cause unaccounted for stress risers, especially if you drive the vehicle hard, or off road in it. They may say you don't need that, which is fine, but it comes to mind as something to ask (especially for as big a patch as you will need).

Another thing to ask a welder about would be stress relieving the welds. Usually this entails cooking the whole frame after welding, but obviously you can't do that; but they might have some tricks to help relieve stress in situ.

Anyway, I am not an expert on welding, but it pays to ask some thoughtful questions, and get the guys talking. They will usually teach you a bit of what they know, and you will understand the situation much better. Just go in humble and teachable and most will be happy to talk to you.


BTW, I just used that Rustoleum stuff too, and it isn't that great. It seems to be pretty sensitive to the balance of existing rust, and amount of paint you put on. Some parts I applied it to seem good and hard, and others, the crap just peels off like it didn't bond at all. I think I took too much rust off those areas.

Keep us informed PSUArcher. I am really interested to hear what a welder says about it if you can find one.

 

[miken6570]

Okay guys, here are some pictures. This is the only spot that was bad. Actually, the rest of the frame looked pretty good. This is the inside flange of the chanell. The outside flange looks good and so do the top and bottom flanges. They all should obviously be cleaned up and treated.

What do you guys recommend that I do?

i think after you have it welded. clean all the weld spot and the repair metal with rust remover. afterward, get the truck spray with undercoated. that should take care of all rust from coming back. the undercoat is like the stuff you spray on your truck bed, i think it is car rinno spray.

 

[PSUArcher]

From some of the what I have read, spraying the underside of the vehicle is not a good idea unless you know that you have gotten all of the rust. Otherwise, it can then rust from the inside out.

Do you guys have any other ideas about what to spray my vehicle with?

 

[Izanewman]

From some of the what I have read, spraying the underside of the vehicle is not a good idea unless you know that you have gotten all of the rust. Otherwise, it can then rust from the inside out.

Do you guys have any other ideas about what to spray my vehicle with?

If you just paint over it, yes. You want to use a rust treatment like "rust doctor" or the Rustoleum product for converting the rust. This should, in theory, convert the rust to iron oxide. Then you can paint over it with no future problems.

 

[JohnsD90]

Ok, you are beyond the point of "what to spray it with", you actually have wirebrush the rust off (as much of it as possible), and then you should cut the jagged sections off, and then patch it with new steel.

Once you have the rust off and the jagged pieces cut and new pieces on, you then coat the frame in POR-15 or Wax-oyl, they are 2 well known rust prevention coatings.

I would suggest fixing the frame sooner than later, as the longer you wait the worse this progresses, and the more dangerous, and costly it will be.

I will not suggest you use galvanized steel to patch it, as welding galvinized metal is fairly bad for your lungs.

 

[Patrick4R]

I live in the north hills of Pittsburgh. There is a place on Babcock Blvd that does frame repair / welding. The name of the place is Beatty's Welding. My neighbor has know him for a long time...might be worth a look. If you need more information...let me know.

 

[theizzardking]

here is a run down of different rust treatment chems, from restoring old rusty vw's that are from the 60's-70's i have a fair amount of experience with this sort of thing, first thing to do like said above is to wire brush everything you can reach off back down to shiny metal, once there see how bad the steel is pitted,weakened and all of the rest, check the general condition of that beam,
if it looks as if it's far more then surface rust, i.e. there are cracks,holes, gouges, ect in the beam you have to weld it, like others have said go to a welder, this won't be cheap, if it looks like it's surface rust get as much of it out as you can and then use a rust encapsulater, followed by an inhibitor these do different things and you must do them both and in that order ,otherwise like others have said it will start to rust underneath the rust-o and whatever else you throw on there and then you have a even bigger mess on your hands.

TheSamba.com :: View topic - Rust Prevention Product Testing

get back to use and let us know what you come back with, this is not fun man, and good luck to you in sorting this head ache out.

 

[Duhockey]

Guys, my 4runner is at the shop right now having a new exhaust system put on. The mechanic doing the work just called and said that the frame is so rusted that he doesnt think he can pass it for inspection. I havent seen it yet, so I can't comment on what kind of shape it is in.

What are my options? Has this happened to anyone else? Is it really a concern?

Man, the more I hear from people in other states, the more happy I am with Colorado, I mean, it was already better than every other state and then you add the fact there are no inspections and little to no rust...

I feel for ya man. doesnt look like a fun repair. but its way worth it to rhino-line it or Line-x or Herculine any of those should keep it from coming back. I want to do the entire underside of mine with line-x... but for me to protect from rocks/etc.