How much rust is too much rust?

Hey Folks,
Looking to buy my first Tacoma to get me more into the Backcountry. Found a mint first gen with ~115k miles. The only problem I could see is the rust. I haven't seen it in person (it's 4 hours away), but here's a pic.
How much is too much, and what should I look for if I do go see it?

 

Depends on how much time and money you want to spend fixing the rust issue. IMHO any rust on a frame is too much. In order to keep the ruck running for a longer time it has to be deled immediately (rust removed, any weak points enforced, then the entire frame protect from more deterioration).

 

That is more and deeper rust than I would want to deal with

 

How much do you think proper maintenance of this rust would cost and, assuming mechanically all is well, how long could it could run?

 

The problem is that you don;t see the rust inside the frame. If there is any trace of rust outside, you can expect at least ten times more inside. And dealing with it is real PITA. It may be doable to lock the process if the structural integrity is not compromised or weakened yet. Still usually you will have to do it yourself - no business will do it right (it is to much time consuming to justify the service price).

But if there is any place where the frame is weakened or compromised than it is huge can of worms.

I was lucky to have my truck all the time in California before I read about the rust problem. So when I moved to "rust country" I had my truck well prepared and maintained every single year to keep the California pristine frame (I had never to deal with rust in that truck).

 

Only you as the buyer OP can make the call .

It depends where you live

This is almost to much rust for me but for only the price of the almost new tires and a bunch of new parts

 

Happening on a mint Tacoma with a lot of rust is not a mint Tacoma. Run from it.

 

Being from a sunny state, I wouldn't call that a deal breaker just yet, but that definitely has warning signs that you should pay close attention to. Do the hammer test because as others have said, it's the rust on the INSIDE the frame that's going to be worse than what you see outside.

It's hard to judge just by that one pic. For sure go look at it, and bring a hammer. Ignore all the stuff that makes you think it's "mint" (spoiler alert, it's not "mint") and look for all the things that might make owning this truck a pain in the ass. Remember, the frame isn't the only thing that's going to be rusty (bolts, brackets, etc...). To the point that simply swapping the rear shocks or many other "10 minute jobs" can easily turn into an all day affair.

For those of us who live in non-rustbelt states, yeah, that's a "lot" of rust, but certainly far from "the most" rust I've seen. But just because people who live where they salt the roads have lower standards for how much rust is "acceptable", doesn't make it "fine". The frame IS compromised, but it's really up to you on if it's compromised "enough".

 

Oxymoron of the day right there.

 

Hard pass

 

Depending on where you live and how far you’re willing to travel, that may be as “mint” as it gets. What is the asking price? Recent maintenance? As @jbrandt suggests, the frame is but one issue on a salt belt truck. Hope you have a sawzall and a torch if you do your own work (and impact wrench, welder, angle grinder, cold chisels, big hammer, bolt extractors, vise grips, etc) and deep pockets if you don’t. It may cost a lot of time and money to make it backcountry worthy, even if it’s in good shape for your locale.

 

To do it right, quite a bit because of how much labor is involved. You'd want to remove the bed at least and grind/sand/blast the rust off and repaint. I'd guess at least a thousand and possibly several thousand depending on the shop rate. If you want to see the work involved in a frame rust repair, check out this thread:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2003-tacoma-frame-rust-repair.700239/

If you're willing to drive 4 hours to look at a Taco I would pass, surely you can find something cleaner heading south. If you're going to be paying a mechanic to work on the truck, I would pass. You'll get hosed on labor over time. Everything is more difficult when you have to fight rusty fasteners, it's just not worth it.

 

These are great trucks if your doing 95% of all your own work if you are paying labor it is not cost effective in a very short time.

Unless you have a unlimited budget and cost is no problem.

another thing we don`t anything else.

3.4 time for a new timing belt? People will sell a vehicle not wanting to spend the money on a timing belt job.

Lower ball joints!!

5 speed time for a new clutch?

Rubber hoses dry rotted from age.

All the other normal maintenance that has been neglected

I have yet to have a Toyota 4x4 that did not take a $1000.00 or more in just parts to be caught up in neglected maintenance.

Another thing I have encountered I took the battery out so the ecm is a blank slate.

On the drive home the as the tests cycled I had a few Evap codes and O2 sensor codes .

Best of luck !

 

I bet it's not as rusty as you think..see if the guy will let you bring a wire wheel and a small ball peen hammer to test it. Check the frame from just in front of the leaf hangers back, that's the worst. Remember, you can always weld and fab.

 

"HOW MUCH RUST IS TOO MUCH RUST?"

There is two categories of rust:

• Rust as in rusted through, rotten
• Rust as in the steel is still solid

You can't weld to rusted through rotten steel as there is nothing left to weld on or it's paper thin. So, in this case, you have to cut off what is bad then weld a patch to what is still good and solid, if there is anything good left....

If the steel is not rusted through and is still solid, do this and you will be good to go:

• A good wirebrushing to remove loose rust and flakes
• Rust treatment (rust killer/converter)
• Paint
  
• If your restored frame or part is exposed to corrosive agents, such as winter salt and chemicals, then rustproofing/greasing is a must

So in the end, if your frame, part or whatever you are planning to restore will consist of more patches than the actual frame/part itself, much better making a new one completely from scratch or let it go and get a new one

And as others have explained, the thing with boxed truck frames is that they tend to rust from the inside out, so what you cannot see is often worse than what you can see. Try poking a finger or a screwdriver in the square holes along the frame rails to see if it's full of rust chunks and flakes. If yes, not good, but it is the banging with the hammer that will tell you if the frame is still solid or not