New guy asking about rust.

Hey folks.

Looking to buy a ‘91 Toyota pickup (not a Taco I know I know) and wanted advice on the rust situation. I know you can’t make a definitive decision based on just pictures, but I’ve never owned a car and have no idea what to look for.
All I know is that I know how to drive manual, and I want an early 90’s Toyota. First time in my life I can afford a car.

What do y’all think based on these pics, go for it or pass? And if this is the wrong forum, let me know the correct one and I’ll gladly post it there. Thanks for the help.

 

Welcome to the forum
Take it to a qualified mechanic and have him go through it.

 

Welcome to the TW forum Kbobby

I'd agree with Matt, " Take it to a qualified mechanic and have him go through it."

" The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten ”
– Benjamin Franklin

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld
Have a Pro check it before purchasing

 

Whack it with a hammer! Poke it with a screw driver! It crumbles... walk away! Personally I don’t think it looks tooooo bad! Depending on the price!

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Get it asphalted underneath.

The person that does the job removes all the rust and applies primer under the chassis then applies a layer of asphalt that lasts a lifetime. Look it up. In Venezuela (Because of salinity levels) and NorthEast (because of the snow and salt to melt it) it is common to get it done on older vehicles. some people do it to new ones as well.

 

What part of the country are you in? Definitely get it inspected. Personally I hate those frame coatings.
Cleaning it, painting the frame, then wool wax or fluid film.

 

Welcome to the forum!

Not to discourage you -- we have to consider what we want and what is practical here.
You state this is you first vehicle and imply that your budget is not unlimited.

A 30 year old truck can be a great project -- IF you have the skills, tools and place to work on it. You also need something else to drive while you do your work. Trust me, you can't always get it fixed in a weekend like you planned...

If you don't have all of the above and will need to pay someone to do the work for you the labor alone will rapidly run into thousands of dollars. The picture of the passenger rocker panel for example, body rust repair is very expensive to pay to have done.

As others have said, PAY a good trustworthy mechanic look it over, have him prepare an estimate of the work needed to make the truck safe and reliable. Notice I said pay, someone who makes a living working on vehicles, you need a realistic assessment here.

Again, I don't want to discourage you and I also don't want to see you financially buried in a never ending project -- and still hitching a ride to work! Please let us know how it goes.

 

I don’t think that looks too bad. Way better than my first vehicle which was a Ranger and it had much worse rust. Ultimately depends on price.

 

In my limited experience, that truck looks pretty decent- especially for it's age. When I was searching for mine, I saw a lot of newer trucks in WAY worse shape... This was on a 2011 TRD- see how it is crumbly and flakey? I was pulling out chunks just by brushing my hand on it- that was bad. This one had holes and a janky repair too... 77,000 miles- hard salty life around Baltimore, Md.

Edit: My partner's father had a good point: The rust isn't ever going to get better, it will just continue to decay, you can decide to accept it and try to manage it, or you can be patient and look for a different truck.



Same truck as above... You can see it crumbled and IDFK what else. If you see that, run away...





These next photos were from a different 2011 I looked at. Pretty sure they swapped the frame on it before they resold it, because the frame was literally perfect... 89,000 miles, one owner- carfax looked great, at the dealership every 3,000 miles... owned by an 89 year old man. They sold it to an old lady right in front of me, she couldn't even bend over to look under the truck and the parts of the frame she could see in the wheel well looked immaculate... poor lady... The sales guy I was talking to straight ghosted me when I showed him these pictures... He stumbled all over his words saying they have the best inspector in the state who is incredibly thorough and never makes mistakes. I was trying to negotiate a lower price or some repairs- like replacing the exhaust components but then they basically told me to fuck off and sold it to that lady who had no idea what shape it was actually in. Wish I had said something to her...

 

This.

Rust is a go-no go decision for sure, but this situation calls for a full mechanical review as well.

Just because it may be cheap doesn't make it 'affordable'.