How bad is this rust?

POR or any paint like that is kind of a pain and like the mechanic said, not really worth the trouble in your case. Earlier I mentioned how I did mine, in retrospect, I probably should have just sanded it down and sprayed right over it with the fluid film. When I did my fluid film, I just drove it up on plastic ramps, didn't do anything fancy to jack it up, you can totally do that. Ramps are worthwhile investment. Anyway, I think you can get a set of rhino ramps for about 50 bucks.

Some people use WD-40, but this is not really the intended application for that. I have a buddy with a third gen who uses WD and his frame looks great, but he applies it twice a year, and then drives down dusty roads. He's got a quite thick film of grime on the frame protecting it now.

I would buy the ramps, sand down the biggest spots of rust to remove all the loose pieces, and then buy spray cans of fluid film. They offer it colored black, so once you apply that your frame will look like new from a distance.

Here's a pic of my 2013 from 2019 when I was working on the frame. I have the passenger side up on the curb, the driver side is up on rhino ramps. This gave me plenty of room to work. I don't even have a driveway, I did this out in the street.

 

That looks great you may have just convinced me to purchase ramps and FF.

 

You can’t paint over FF and it only lasts a year.

 

You don't need to paint over FF.

 

Thanks, that's not even done. I did the whole sanding and painting thing, it took me a few days, but like I said in retrospect I could have just sprayed it fluid film black for the same effect.

Here's in progress pics with the rust bullet applied. I only put the rust bullet on the actual rusty spots, the black paint you see here is original. I later top coated it with a satin rustoleum, then fluid film over that. I've only touched the fluid film up here and there over the last two years, it's held up quite well. I AM going to get it professionally sprayed again this year though, it'll cost about 100 bucks locally which is well worth it.

 

I wish I could pay someone in my area to do it but sadly no one does this in AL. Which is why I am asking myself should I just leave it alone since it really doesn’t need “protection” in AL.

 

Do you come to the Midwest at all? Once you get to Indiana or Ohio I’d guess you would find some places. I would still at least put fluid film on even in Alabama. You still get rain and humidity. We just accelerate things up here with salt.

Come on up for a fall color drive and some fluid film

 

Use a regular garden hose to thoroughly rinse out the frame. If that came from Pennsylvania, it’s probably salt all over and inside the frame. You don’t need to hit it with high pressure…just lots of water, including into the holes of the frame rails and in those cross members.

Buy 3 cans of fluid film and 4 cans of woolwax, and the spray wand. Use the fluid film inside the frame rails, and the rest on the exterior of the frame. Then drive down a dusty gravel road for a while

For less than 100bucks that should preserve the frame indefinitely. No use throwing away a 4runner in 5 or 10 years if it’s still holding together.

 

Wow that looks like a clean frame!

 

Hey OP, I'm in the middle of diy POR15 my entire undercarriage. I didn't always, but I do have a floor jack, jack stands, and vehicle ramps now.
I know there's no salt in the south, but still a good idea to treat your undercarriage in your garage with FF because even water overtime isn't great for really rusty metal. I also recommend Blaster Surface Shield, over FF.
Although, for inside the frame, I'm using black FF and it's working fantastic with the included 6" red stick nozzle. I bought a set of longer applicator wands for extended spray into frame in areas where there's less access holes. You can buy all these things local auto parts stores, at least I can in British Columbia.
POR15 the radiator support and such, it is said to pause the rust in its tracks. Regardless if you're against undercoatings, POR15 isn't rubber, it's been around a longtime and is most definitely not a bad idea.

 

this ^
you paid decent coin for that Runner, do these things in your garage over time

 

@Trail Runnah and his cherry frame are genius
Use a sidewalk curb one side, only need two vehicle ramps!

 

Two thoughts here. First, although the truck will no longer be subjected to salt, remember that corrosion is a chemical reaction. All chemical reactions speed up with the addition of heat. Said another way, your truck may actually corrode faster down south - even with no salt - because it's warmer down there.

Second, don't waste your time with WD-40. It's a great product, but preventing corrosion is not one of its strengths. Fluid Film and similar products are much, much better. If you want my 2 cents, apply a good layer of FF to all of the corroded areas after removing as much scale as you can. Then apply it to everything else.

 

Haha, thanks! Yeah, I've used that set up a few times, really comes in handy LOL

 

Thanks! Yeah, when I bought it at the dealer I spent some time crawling around underneath. It had some surface rust, but a lot of factory paint left and looked pretty clean for the age. Biggest issue was that the front skids were missing, turns out it was because the bolts were snapped off in the holes. I re-drilled and tapped them, got the RCI skids on there after with no problem.

 

I’ve said it before, but those early 5th gen Trail editions were special. Just the right look. It’s nice to see one taken care of like that.

 

UPDATED PICS:

Another mechanic took a look and said he thought everything was fine; typical northern vehicle. However, you can see in the one pic I circled looks like some frame separation. Is the anything to worry about? Should I try some JB weld just to cover the hole? mechanic says it’s fine.

 

Seeing those pics just made me remind myself to call the rustproofing place tomorrow to get my new 23 TRD ORP fluid filmed/rustproofed. I was gonna wait til next year, but forget that. Im doing it this weekend, if they've got appointments!

 

Rock that biotch another hundred thousand miles!

 

As one of the few people on here with rust belt AND Bible belt experience, I'm going to tell you what you need to do.

Forget all this rust proofing, fluid film, wool waxing nonsense. Also, forget the folks that tell you it'll be fine. It won't be fine - there's so much salt on the roads up here in the winter time that you could cure a ham without even taking it outside of the Piggly Wiggly (fun fact: Wisconsin has Piggly Wiggly, and it's nothing like the southern ones except for the mascot).

You need to tap into the the only thing more powerful than a northern case of vehicular rust, besides Granny's sweet tea that is...

Kudzu.

Just throw you a few clippings in a few frame holes. In a matter of hours, your frame will be so chock full of kudzu that no matter how much of the frame rots, you won't have an issue because the kudzu will have become a stressed structural member.

I was thinking about replacing the my yard, and by extension every single yard in my entire county, with kudzu, and apparently the plant is banned in my state.

 

The hole you circled is actually one of the many vent and drain hole that came from the factory. Don’t seal it, it helps that area circulate air. It’s bigger than when it left the factory, but if it checked out, then all you should do is rinse everything out and woolwax/fluid film. Left untouched, that could be the area that limits the life of this car in the next 5 or so years.

This pic shows what the hole looks like uncorroded; from a slightly different angle.

 

Myself I would take all the bs out of the game and call the car care nut(email him some pics) and or drive up to Chicago with an appt to do whatever he may suggest.

If no repairs are needed he has a guy who cleans and applies something like fluid film to the frames. Anything you get corrected is going to last longer for you down in Alabama and I’d trust the car care nut. Make a fun trip out it and know you have someone you can trust.

I think you would learn a lot and also have fun.

 

Organic bio-engineered composite structures? Crazy. Crazy enough it might just work! Lol

 

Its not pretty…..my 3rd gen spent its whole life in the northeast, wasn’t meticulously maintained, and the frame is in better shape then that. BUT I’ve seen wayyy worse up here. OPs is salvageable.

As many have mentioned, I’d prep and just do it yourself. About to do my brand new one next week, it’s not hard (just messy). Still debating what combo to use on a brand new truck….

Scrape off scaled areas, sand them down a bit, and even just hitting that with an oil based undercoat once a year will do wonders. Would still coat replaceable parts but the frame/body are the real focus.

I use some CRC product (forget the numbers) for the outside of the frame, fluid film inside the rails + other undercarriage components (runs better), and the black fluid film on the rear housing to hide the surface rust. Rust hasn’t worsened since I bought it/started doing this.

Have also heard great things about PB Blaster’s oil based undercoat from an LC enthusiast who daily drives all his 70/80 series LCs year round here in Boston. His frame on his 70 series looked great.

Build a nice layer of messy undercoating and you’ll just need occasional maintenance touch ups here and there. One note: some mechanics refuse to work on undercoated trucks around here, guess it gets under their fingernails after their manicure (jk mechanics out there), but just keep that in mind.

 

I was rather wipe away undercoating then deal with rusted and seized components.

 

Thanks! It was funny, I didn't even know these existed until I happened upon this one while looking for 5th gen on Cargurus. I had forgotten to set the filter to 2014+, lol.

I saw this listing, and was like what is THAT? All. I really knew about the early 5th gen's at that point was that I did not like the look of my friend's 2012 SR5.

 

WOOL WAX APPLIED: Looks like a different truck hoping this buys me some time in the south and the rust slows to a crawl.

 

Fantastic! Did you do it yourself? For sure, you just bought yourself a lot of extra time.

 

Yes that’s a complete novice DIY job just did it in my driveway.Actually much easier than I thought. Thanks for all your advice.

 

Well done!