Front end condition question and future maintenance

Hello,

i have just purchased used 012 TRD V6, i had mechanic to help me inspecting the vehicle and followed his advice on proceeding with purchase.

Car has 110k KM on it and came from original owner, maintenance and fluid changes were done on schedule by toyota dealership except differential fluids and transfer case fluid which ill be changing this week along with second set of spark plugs.

What iam looking for is feedback on amount of rust around front end differential - looking at the photos, particularly frame above and on CV axles

CV axles joint has cracking layer on it too (see the beggining of the video) - something i noticed just today

is this amount of rust really concerning or normal ish ? (rustbelt area PNW, howewer car is only 110k) and can i do going forward ? what can i expect ? can this be cleaned and coated to really make a difference and will any of these components likely need attention in near future for premature wear ?

how bad it really is ?

outside of that any other tips would be appreciated

any perticular bolts / joints i should keep my eye on or release regulary to keep from seizing etc ? (like brake calipars)


thanks for any input

 

You might be better off taking that to a Toyota dealership and have them check it out. Kinda hard to judge based on those pictures, just sayin...

 

Honestly if that’s the worst of the rust I think you are in good shape. I would check the rockers and inside the fender wells. Those are usually bad spots. I’m no 2 gen expert so hopefully someone else with chime in with the bad spots they might have.

 

I don’t think it looks too bad. I would start by spraying or brushing on some rust converter, then some preventative measures to keep things in check.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

Rust is rust.

For certain applications, there is chemical rust remover spray that is acidic, with instructions on the bottle that say apply, agitate, then rinse off.
That would leave a surface bare and unprotected.

Or rust converter. That's probably doing something similar but also coating it protectively, usually black.

 

thanks for the feedback, reassured me a bit. as i stopped by dealership today with these pictures and didnt learn much as far as how big of a concern it is or what can i expect going forward

its the first picture that makes me most concerned + peeling CV axle "boot"bellow.


i will do more research on rust protection (inhibitor vs converter etc) so i can place an order
for the area above front diff where its hard to acces with spray, he recommended looking into something like por15 rust prevention


I assume i can lighly treat body (paint protection in this case) of front and rear diff and bottom side of shocks ? or is this generally not recommended

Ill be trying to tackle most of the maintenance myself, so similiar to brake caliper bolts are there other notorious areas / bolts i should periodically loosen and re tighten to keep from seizing ?

Thanks again

 

Don't worry about the peeling paint on the CV axle. Just pull off what is loose. Worst bolts for seizing are the LCA bolts/cams used for wheel adjustment during alignment.

That rust doesn't look too bad to me. If you plan on keeping the truck for an extended period of time, annual rust proofing is a good idea. There are a lot of approaches to dealing with rust and rust protection. Here is my suggestion:

1. wire brush rusted areas to remove loose material, treat rust with Metal Prep (POR15 product) and paint with POR15. Follow instructions, and
2. then take truck to Krown (assuming KMs means you're in Canada) each year.

I'm not a fan of rust proofing that claims it needs to be only applied once. Pic of my 2010 which has been rust proofed at Krown each year since new.

 

If it makes you feel any better, brand new OEM CV axles come with that part bare steel, no paint. And after taking the axles apart a few times, I can assure you that rust will not be a problem on that part. It's basically just a thick (ish) metal can with grooves inside for the spider gear rollers on the shaft. It would take decades of severe rust to get through that.

 

Thanks