More rust

[Rob Cowell]

Spotted a finger sized hole in a sill over the summer. MOT coming up I thought I should throw a patch at it today. Of course having cleaned it up the hole was bigger than it first looked. This is looking towards the rear.

Chopped out the weak stuff. Looks new in there apart from the rotten bit.

No pics of the patch. Not my best work but there's a seam all round it! Worth noting though this seems to have been caused by a missing grommet. There's an 18mm hole in the sill above this point. Just in front of the rear floor pan "crossmember". Worth checking theres a grommet in yours to save yourself this trouble. Mine is plugged with a grease impregnated piece of cloth until I can source a replacement. Gave the sill a good squirt of Dinitrol cavity wax while I could get at it.

Thought I'd jetwash underneath while I had the extension lead out and spotted the top control arm on the other side had ripped off its mounting! Had this happen on the other side 6 months ago. Milner poly bush very worn. It's done 60K miles since I fitted them. Will replace with a genuine arm and bushes.

Finally, as I'll likely get a new arm from Amayama or Partsouq, I need a new bracket that holds what I think are ABS wires to the cross member the top arm mounts to. Had a look on Toyodiy and can't see ABS cables. Anyone spotted them? This is the bracket.

 

[Chris]

Oh Lordy. That's shocking to say it's a 120 which in Cruiser years is a youngster.

 

[StarCruiser]

 

[Rob Cowell]

Oh Lordy. That's shocking to say it's a 120 which in Cruiser years is a youngster.

The only excuse I can offer is that it gets muddy every day. I do wash underneath, but probably only twice a month. Those top arm brackets aren't a mud or water trap though.

 

[clivehorridge]

How depressing. Still, if you're willing to repair, then I'm sure the truck can be rescued.

Like you say (and the photos show) the main chassis is sound, the sills and the body in general are much less important, apart from holding the seats apart and some anchor points for seat belts!

TBH, I find it almost criminal that any car manufacturer can "accept" this type of rust on a car of this age. Factory finish should be much more preventative, especially in structurally critical places such as this.

JMO.

 

[Shayne]

My bro is involved in some sort of legal action with Nissan regarding the holes in the chassis of his otherwise mint 07 navara .

 

[chapel gate]

When looking for a 100 series with my dad, we were surprised at the amount of rust we found underneath them. We looked at about half a dozen around 2002 plate.

 

[Michael Montgomery]

Shocking seeing the levels of rust in these 4x4's in the U.K. Gotta say dry climates are rust free even after 20 years with little or no attention.

Thankful mines in great shape hopefully you repair & seal for protection Rob without too much work.

 

[Towpack]

I'm amazed that 80's don't suffer more sill rot-out than they do when you consider the sunroof drains into them. Having recently suffered wet carpets in the passenger side footwell due to a blocked sill drain, the water that came out was crystal clear with not a hint of brown rust stain. Must've been a good 2-3 litres of it. A quick look with an endoscope through one of the large grommet holes also showed no rust. Howzat then?

 

[flint]

On a vehicle that’s designed for off road use, I’ve been surprised by the amount of rust on the underside of my Colorado, I thought the later models would be better protected, obviously not ! There’s an early 90s, high mileage, mechanically dead Audi 80 here that’s been sitting for at least 10 years out on grass, the galvanised bodyshell is showing no signs of rust and the underseal is still good.

 

[SafariTecPeter]

Well,.... the 120 is the follow up model from the 90
NONE of these damages are rare nor uniqe to the J9-series....

So, please do apologize if I am not exactly surprised...

 

[Shayne]

Well,.... the 120 is the follow up model from the 90NONE of these damages are rare nor uniqe to the J9-series....
So, please do apologize if I am not exactly surprised...

Lot's of luck involved i think , my 90 is approaching 19 years old with no rust that qualifies even vaguely for repair .
Rob's muck might well be just plain nasty enough to rot any chassis .

I think the answer lies in the quality of steel in Japan at the time of build .

 

[Rob Cowell]

Lot's of luck involved i think , my 90 is approaching 19 years old with no rust that qualifies even vaguely for repair .
Rob's muck might well be just plain nasty enough to rot any chassis .

I think the answer lies in the quality of steel in Japan at the time of build .

Could be something in that. My 90 started needing cross members welding after 11 years, 170K miles.

 

[Shayne]

You will know better than me Rob that soil contains all sorts of minerals and whatnot and some can be highly corrosive . Underbody seal on your next truck before you get it home might be a good investment

 

[Towpack]

Soil or mud may not be too bad in itself but when it's soaked in salt water from the roads it just acts like a corrosive poultice letting rust take hold unseen.

 

[Rob Cowell]

Got round to making a new bracket for the top arm. Cut 6mm plate with a thin cutting disk and pretty much shaped it by hand. Much more accurate than the cardboard template I gace to a fabricator for the other side.

Self-dimming mask from Screwfix. One of the best 30 quids I've ever spent.

But still don't have a pillar drill so had to chop a slot out and back fill to get a hole. I'll bolt the arm in with some thick washers on the outside and weld the washers to the bracket to get the holes in exactly the right place.

 

[Shayne]

Think i would be quite proud of that if i did it , well done

 

[Rob Cowell]

Think i would be quite proud of that if i did it , well done

Ha. Thank you. I'm wary of posting stuff like this because there's too many people on here who are ace fabricators / welders.

 

[Shayne]

I know what you mean i will never crack this welding lark but the recent discovery that it's still strong enough to pull my truck out lends encouragement .

 

[clivehorridge]

Nice looking fix there Rob, I'd be proud of that too!

This type of repair is basic engineering and as long as the welds are well penetrated, it doesn't matter that they may not look as professional as Ben might achieve.

It always worries me though when welding onto axle casings, it must be worth while checking that you're not heating the casing near to the oil seals inside the casing. I'm sure they would suffer damage if they're too close.

Nice job though