Frame rust - when to walk away from a purchase?

Here in Ohio we would ask why would they be selling such a pristine truck! Seriously it doesn't look bad. You said $16,500 with 220K miles, not that seems worse to me than the rust.

 

That’s what mag chloride does. Thanks cdot

 

The truck probably had the leaf spring recall done, hence the leaf springs and U-bolt bracket looking fresher than surrounding parts.

The spare tire looks like the factory original (17 years old!) and probably as hard as a hockey puck now. It will need to be replaced.

 

Those final couple pics are by the muffler itself, not the cats. The cats are further upstream by the front doors where the main frame rails transition from C-channels to boxed (closed) sections.

 

That looks like surface rust to me. I would say to just get it treated. I would ask and see if the owner could knock off some of the price due to the rusty frame that will have to be treaded.

 

Looks like a fairly clean New England truck that’s about 17 years old. Typically, untreated trucks have lots of flaking rust. I’d be more concerned over the price with that mileage on the clock.

 

Everyone on this site has seen hundreds of rust belt trucks with rust posted by the guys that live in the rust belt,so the forum members are well versed in bad and not so bad rust,a 2006 with 220k for $17,000, a 17 year old plus truck,no way.

 

I won’t tell you what to do, but I bought my 2006 DCSB TRDOR with 100k miles and a new frame five years ago for $15k. I get that the market has changed some but I wouldn’t buy that truck (heck I wouldn’t buy my truck had I know that just because it got a new frame doesn’t mean that you won’t be fighting body rust and rust on everything else for the rest of your life).

 

Where I grew up this looks like a 50,000 mile truck...

I would be FAR more worried about other items.

 

Yep.

That’s just surface “rust”.

 

Kind of tempted to throw a bunch of photos of my Ford Ranger on here to see the TacomaWorld rust 1 to -fucking run scale.

This truck isn't too bad. Rusty, but nothing a wire wheel couldn't take care off; really the frame looks pretty decent along the outside and top but the bottom edges of the internal c-channel has some delam. Give it some taps with a ballpien hammer just in case. A lot of these photos are duplicated and in some cases posted thrice over. This one photo concerns me more than any others, looks like a rust hole already through the leaf shackle right next to the nut and washer base.

 

How handy are you feeling? You could see what you might be in for yourself if you were to DIY to make the call if you want to restore or not. But judging from what I can see, the frame looks fine. Hot spots would be right next to the Cats where the frame turns up into the engine bay. The boxed frame on the inside are subject to getting hit the hardest right there.

-J

 

What state are you in? If you’re in a salt state I’d say get it. If your not I would get a clean one and keep it that way

 

Forget the rust.

1. 16.5k
2. 220K
3. 2006 notorious for head gasket issues

Walk away, keep looking or even better wait(if you can) until this crazy inflated car market comes back to some form reason.

 

That all looks like surface rust, for the most part. I'd take a pair of channellocks and squeeze the frame where it appears to be delaminated. If the steel cumbles, then I'd probably walk away but if it still seems pliable, I think you would be okay. (as far as the frame is concerned)

 

That sandwiched rust is the worst. Run !

 

I think that's a shadow cast by flaked up paint:



The shackle mount is replaceable if necessary. Archive Garage and BAMF sell beefed up replacements for off-roaders.

Looks like it boils down to whether this truck is priced competitively for its year and mileage. I think it's priced too high.

 

I know you said this in jest, but this was more difficult than I thought. Just moved from Nebraska to Arizona and I thought it would be a great time to have the underbody rust knocked off and treated and be good to go. But nobody seems to do that kind of work around here!

 

^Hard to find a dry-ice blasting service in AZ?

 

I had to google that just to know what it was for. It actually looks like there is a dude who does the dry-ice here in Tucson. I will call him in a couple hours when he opens up. Good reviews online at least. After that, I just need to figure out what to paint/coat everything with.. and which areas don't get painted!