Too Much Rust on Tow Hitch?

Hey everyone,
I'm replacing my rear bumper and the tow hitch that was installed before I owned my truck has a ton of rust. I'm thinking I can scrape off most of it and repaint, but I'm not sure if it's worth it. Thoughts?

 

You’ll need to do something like POR-15 over that chipped off spot and then a rust reformer of your choice over everything else followed by multiple coats of paint and then a rust preventative spray over everything…but the inside is most likely toast and even with all that work the rust will most likely come back.


I would just buy a new hitch, it will be cheaper and less time consuming.

Source: been there done that, rust came back, bought a new hitch.

 

Trash it.

How does the truck's frame look?

 

Not bad in my opinion. Kinda messed up on the rear, but otherwise okay (unless I have no idea what I'm talking about - new to a lot of this). I've hit it with a hammer and it was all still solid.

 

My eyes for what is "bad rust" must be bad. Is this not a ton of dangerous rust? I'm getting ready to prep my 4runner for the winter, will fluid film really work wonders to keep my baby rust free?

 

Is it Friday?

 

Yeah, forget the hitch, you need to take care of the truck frame (if it's not already rotted through). I don't have any experience with removing and preventing rust, but the first response is probably a good start.

Are you up north? That's not unusual for a 20 year old car, but if you don't address it, it will not last much longer.

 

My understanding is that if you can hit it with a hammer+screwdriver and poke holes through any part of the frame, then it's really bad. I'm not saying the rust on the back of my frame is fine, but I can't poke and holes/peel anything off. Probably something I still gotta deal with soon.

 

Check your frame directly across from your catalytic converter is located, that's where mine was the worst. It was delaminateing, looked like particle board that had set in a puddle of water for six months. Large flakes falling off.
The price of a new Curt hitch is probably less than what you'll spend trying to save this one.

 

Hellllll nah

 

That is worrisome - I have a ‘95 that’s worse than that and failed inspection, but it’s not worlds worse. The back end always seems to go first.

 

(I know that’s not a very helpful response).

 

I see what you did there!


Definitely need a new tow hitch. Sorry about that. The frame looks like you have some cleaning and maintenance to do, but it’s still good. It’s sad to see good trucks rust like that, the rest of it should last a lot longer than that.

 

I just dealt with a similar scenario on my 2012 Tacoma when I replaced my bumper. Took off the factory hitch receiver and gave it the hammer and screw driver test. Rust wasn’t quite as bad as yours though.

I put a wire wheel on my drill and sanded as much rust off as possible (getting loose stuff off with scraper first). I then brushed on/soaked the hitch with POR-15 metal prep and let it sit. Rinsed it off, then sanded again. Painted it with POR-15. Worked quite well. I should have taken a before picture.

While the bumper was off, I took a wire brush to the frame ends, Cleaned, and painted. Then soaked everything with fluid film.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm gonna toss the tow hitch, clean up my frame, and paint it with POR15 along with some of the other suggestions people have provided. If I remember I'll post a before/after here.

Appreciate the help.