Red Leader

Hey guys,

Well, I finally got motivated to do something with our '97 4runner. Got it from the east coast (aka land of rust) and have started tearing into it. I knew I'd have to do something with my rocker panels since I punched a few holes in them and the worst rust is the stuff you can't see so I thought I'd go all in and rip out the entire rocker panels and see what I was dealing with.

Here is what greeted me when I opened up the rockers. Apparently, huge slabs of solid rust:



This is what was falling out as I ripped the rocker off:




And this is what I'm left with:



All in all, not too bad. Could have been a lot worse. But now I'm trying to figure out what to do. The original goal was to cut out the rockers and weld up some box steel in its place for sliders. However, it looks like it wont be so plug and play. Here is a shot of the rust that is remaining:





So, it looks like my two clear options are to treat the rust as is, and then weld in the channel as it is a nice box fit with the backing metal. Or, knowing how rust always seems to come back if you don't get every last square inch, I can go extreme and cut out that entire lower lip (save for the body mounts) and then on to plan B with sealing up the gap and adding sliders.

I'm definitely open to ideas and looking to the collective for some creative input on what to do. I'm not afraid to cut out more metal and for some twisted reason, I sort of prefer it.

Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Gonna try to knock out the other side tomorrow and see the entire package I'm dealing with.

Thanks guys!

-Dave

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

Clean and paint call it good !!

If you want to get really fancy use Stainless( 304/316L) for your Sliders

I always allow good sized drain holes!! No matter how you try and seal things the winter slop gets in

Charchee

I'm glad I'm not the only one with those issues. I bought one last year for a really good price but knew I was going to have to fight the same fight. I have the truck running great and love it other than the rust behind the rockers. I've just been hitting them with Krylon every time the rust starts to show through but didn't really know what people do about such a problem. I know folks up north address it some way or another but this is my first rusty truck. The underside of my 89 looks like it just rolled out of the factory and so did my 2001 but this one is killing me. My company truck looks like you know what but I like my personal rides to look like new. Please keep us posted on what you do. I'm right behind you. I'm going to do some looking since there are at least two of us dealing with it and I'll post what I find on this thread.

HaydenConQueso

Those would be retarded expensive sliders. I'd just stick with classic DOM or if you want to get fancy get some Chromoly tubing that's like .188" wall and call it good after a coat of rattle can, but that's just the redneck in me.

I've got to fix my rocker panels as well so I understand your frustration here. I've only got a rust spot on the driver side panel, but like cancer it's spreading through to the body panel, and unfortunately my truck is painted with rhino liner. I really just need to save up the bones to fix it but I haven't really found the motivation yet. I think it's coming soon.

Red Leader

For what its worth, the rockers actually looked pretty good on the outside. There was some rot nearest to the area directly in front of the rear wheels, but the rockers looked pretty good...just some paint bubbling. Obviously, once you get inside it was way worse. I think the old adage is true - when you see rust, the worst is what you can't see.

I just got some 'Rust-B-Gone', which is a rust dissolving product like Evaporust, but you can paint it on vertical surfaces, which is exactly what I needed. I will be attacking the rust with a wire wheel as best as I can and then try this stuff out and I'll report back how it does.

I'm thinking of doing either two things - doing a square steel channel and having that be the slider and just welding it in, or getting an 'L' type channel, and using it to weld the entire rocker shut, and then I have a nice inside corner surface to bolt removable rockers onto.

Will update next time I work on it. My '90 has been getting all my time lately

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

I did mention Stainless as a being fancy option .

Then I buy it about 240' feet or so at a time

Red Leader

Well, quick update.

I decided to start scraping with a chisel to loosen the scale and heavy rust deposits off off the back of the inside of the rockers where all the rust is in the pictures. Wow, I was breaking through it. And that is thicker steel than the body skin.

I think I am just going to fill it with expanding foam


Haha, j/k. Screw it, I'm going to cut the entire thing out. I will just weld flat panels in its place, and it will slope down a bit to the outside lip underneath the door. If I want a rocker bad enough, I'll just bolt up a 2x4 up against the flat panel ha. This way I will get rid of that ugly pinch weld and cut out all the cancer without having to try and do some lame rust treatment that I already know will miss some spots. Besides, more metal cut out = lightweight rig

Charchee

I've got a similar issue with rust on mine and a couple holes coming through around the back. I just bought a 2000 model that was wrecked but has no rust and good rockers. How feasible of a project to you think it would be to swap them over to mine?

Red Leader

Hmm, good question. That is a frickin ton of welding to do, and you'd need to really get the cuts consistent on each vehicle so that the joints lined up well enough to weld and have the underside of the front fenders to mount correctly.

Anything is possible. I would say if you'd got a mig + argon, that would make it way more bearable. I have a hard time thinking of how sucky that would be trying to do it all flux core (like what I am working with).

The other thing is have you cut out your rockers yet? Unfortunately there is some internal paneling and the rust gets back in behind those as well...and if you don't also cut those out, you are not going to get all the rust.

Good luck!

Charchee

That's what I thought you'd say. I just happen to have a 2000 model that I bought for $200 the other day sitting in my driveway with a perfect body from the fenders back and wish I could just unbolt them and stick them on old rusty. Let me know how the expanding foam thing works if you do it. That thought had crossed my mind. I think you can buy some of it that gets pretty hard when cured.

Red Leader

The expanding foam thing was kind of a big joke - I've seen that repair before and can't quite wrap my head around it. I've seen some weird stuff that boggles the mind. On my '90 4runner when welding in new dog legs (in front of the rear wheel well), I was pulling out pieces of wood stuffed up there and was thinking WTF man! People just do things the hack way sometimes...like literally smothering body filler all over flaky, crusty, hole-y disintegrating body panels.

IMO, there is one way to do rust repair and it is never fast or easy --> Cut/grind out ALL rust --> cut matching donor panel --> butt weld --> epoxy primer ---> body filler (optional) --> more epoxy primer --> paint. If possible I like to get back behind the back of the weld and do some type of metal protection back there. In a test of 40+ rust prevention projects, the WD 40 Specialist Corrosion Inhibitor was one of the last 2 standing so I picked some of that up and will do the insides of the body by gaining access through taking off the rear cargo area plastic interior.

On all the repairs on my '90, I have opted out of using any body filler. I've repaired the front driver side corner underneath the front fender, both rear dog legs and both rear quarters. Still have one more (passenger front) area to go. I could have used filler, but filler is for making it pretty and I don't care about that so much. And it soaks up water. In a lot of cases I've seen filler repairs where they just slapped it right on the bare metal. 5, 10, or 15 years later when that stuff is crumbing off the metal underneath is a disaster.

When I do this 4runner, I'm going to do the same thing. Cut out all that stupid rust, weld it up, epoxy prime and paint. Since it is the bottom of the vehicle, no bondo for me

Charchee

This 02 model I've got now is not the one I'm going to marry. If it were my 89, I'd fix it up right. I'm not willing to dump a bunch of money into this one. I know the foam thing is a joke but I'm just trying to think what I can do just to keep the little rusted through holes in the back of the rockers from becoming bigger every time I hit gravel. I don't have running boards or fender flares on it or it wouldn't be so much of an issue.

slacker

iTrader: (1)

just did some on a pick up 2X3 square tube .. you can see here .. https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f209...l#post52335620

Nervo19

I don't know that anyone offers factory style rockers for the 3rd gen. This guy welded 3" angle on to an '89 and I think it looks decent:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...82/index9.html

Red Leader

Yep, I think that's the general idea.

nthn32

Are you going to be MIG or TIG welding the new angle/plates in?