GuitarMike

Hey! Great forum, this is my first post. Hope it's in the right place... I've been lurking for a week or so, learning tons. I had an '88 pickup years ago, but never really did much to it other than starter motor - it was in great shape. Loved that ride!!

Recently I picked up a 'well-loved' '93 4x4 pickup, 22RE, 183k, 5 speed manual tranny (type unknown yet). IFS. Didn't pay much...the underside is a little "ROUGH" you might say. The frame is scaly and I know it's going to need some welding. It's already had a long plate put in behind the cab, driver's side. Body work is in my territory, no problem making it look ok again...but the drivetrain and strength of the frame is going to be most important! I am hoping that if there's enough meat left in the rails that some of the mount locations for various things can be rebuilt (?)

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I have a list of BAD that I need to prioritize, and was wondering what the forum might think:
To Drive:
- needs a catalytic. Someone stole it, and in doing so bent the exhaust manifold. So I have to remove all that, take it out and have a buddy weld a catalytic in, and replace. Hopefully that's all in the exhaust section! When I drove this home (2 hrs) I nearly died from the exhaust stink...

- light oil leak around tranny bell housing (clearish)...traced to a bolt near the exhaust pipe. Either tightening it up, or pulling tranny to replace rear seal...ugh.

- leak around rear of drive shaft at front side of the rear pumpkin. Pinion oil seal, probably.

- Last but CERTAINLY not least! Control arms have gotten pretty rough. Think the guy must've parked in a pile of salt & sand. I'm looking at 2 new uppers (at minimum), and new front shocks.
Welding needed: pass side shock mount is toast, and the rear frame rail that drops down to hold the back of the lower control arm(s) should be cut out and replaced. Is this even do-able????

If I can get this stuff done, it becomes a winter driver...later it can be improved upon. Sticker is good until April and in winter I drive 10 miles here and there but not much more (Maine...). I want the 4x4 mainly to get up the damn driveway in the snow and ice!

I'm jumping the gun...my friend is a certified Toyota tech who LOVES anything with a 22R or RE, he can lay hands on parts for free/next to nothing, and he's coming up to have a look on Sunday. Just needed to start the whole process off by posting the typical newbie "OMG my truck is rotting away!" post....it's driveable now, and will go thru winter, so I am interested in doing much improvement in the spring/summer of next year.
So much to do, so little time!!!
All suggestions welcome except "burn it"! lol
Thanks

Not too bad from this angle:

Ouch - where the catalytic goes...scaly/rotty under there!!! New long piece of flat stock is on the other side of this location....about 4' worth.


Skanky front end....everything must go! Control arms are junk now...

jskijoe

Congrats on the truck and welcome! Have you gone under and started poking with a screwdriver on all the rust? It would be good to see exactly how deep the rust goes in all those areas including the CAs. Surface rust is just that unless in penetrates so you may not need to replace the arms...
One thing I don't miss about my truck enduring east coast winters is the road salt...

Cyberman

Looks like you should strip the truck down to the frame... like I did.

Check out my thread in my signature.

GuitarMike

Thanks for the replies, guys. Good advice...I've knocked a bunch of rust off...I s'pose when it's not raining, it'd be good to go at it with a putty knife, screwdriver, etc. and get off what I can! I don't think you can punch thru the CA's, but they're pretty baked. Where they mount is all scaly and must be weak. Right in that area it's pretty cancerous...and at the extreme rear of the frame. The rest seeeeeeems ok, but I have yet to determine if that's true...

I love the strip job! Wow, I'm impressed! Dunno if I'd go that far...what I'm picturing is pounding off the scale, maybe hitting it with some 80 grit paper or whatever will work, and painting it with 'something' (Ospho? Rustoleum?? any advice on that?). I am hoping that anything really bad can be re-welded/patched for strength. Or else this will end up my parts truck for after winter, and I'll have to find a good frame! (doh)

When my buddy can take a look over the weekend, I'll know more. He's had the bug for a long time, and has seen it all, like some of you guys, LOL! Just hoping I didn't waste my $ on a ride with low potential....sticker is good thru April, anyway!

HawkStrong16

This looks just like a truck I almost bought for the motor over the winter.
Does it have bald BFG all terrains? lol

But I agree, sounds like it needs to be stripped down to the frame and built up

TNRabbit

You want to treat the frame with POR-15. Nothing else is the same.

pruney81

Get all the rust off and get down to bare metal as best you can, sand paper or a dremel tool or similar grinder would be best then paint it with POR-15.

Cyberman

Or sandblast...

subi_stout

yay for POR-15. Good to have if you live in CNY

GuitarMike

Sounds like POR-15 might be the product then. I'm a house painter, do metal roofs a lot. Right up my alley. I can work on that while by friend does a new rear main seal, oil pinion seal, and helps weld a few places....not really a fair share of work, though, LOL!

Maybe he needs his house painted? he he. Gonna look up a distributor for POR-15....
At any rate, it'll be a good winter driver if I can get a shock mount welded in before then and take care of those leaks! And maybe can be more after next March or so. Winter jams everything up around these parts!

skypilot

iTrader: (1)

You can get POR-15 on ebay.

I would do a frame off, & sent it to a sand blaster, but I think you'll find that frame is simply too thin to save. What you will pay to save it you could get another truck.

Look carefully before you leap.

GuitarMike

Good winter driver and then parts truck, maybe...

TNRabbit

You might find a rolled truck w/good frame for cheap...

wmayota

Get the POR-15 Marine Clean, too. Or the POR-15 will not stick. Learned the hard way, and when your paying $150 a gallon, it is worth it. POR-15 can be found at NAPA. Clean all the rust inside the frame, too. These things rot inside out since Toyota thought it would be genius to leave all those plug hole in the frame. Topcoat the POR-15 with Rustoleum or rubber undercoating or something, its UV sensitive and if your gonna be working outside with the body off for a while... When your all done, drown the frame on hydraulic oil. Spray inside your frame, inside your rocker panels, fender wells, go to town on the thing. If you have an air chisel, bang the scale off with that. If you find cancer, it'll go right through thus taking care of two things and saving you time. x2 on a grinder.

slacker

iTrader: (1)

couple of frames I have done with POR 15



and my Trekker frame






VERY happy with the POR treatment


.

GuitarMike

Slacker, that's one NICE-lookin' frame!!!
Good advice, too, if I decide to make this one into "a build" and restore it....

Update:
My buddy came by last night, and gave me some good news! He says even tho it looks ugly, it's all just scale...I need to have a cross member (the round one behind the gas tank) cut out and replaced, which we can do once I get it on the road. I have to scrape and wire-wheel the rust off the frame...he suggested just hitting it with something like Rustoleum after that, for now - I need to get it on the road for winter and time is short up here in the North Woods!! POR-15 is too much $, but MAYBE next year when I start having time (this will come back off the road then, and the Ranger will go back on for work).

He says control arms are fine, just ugly, and I only need new shocks up front. A pass. side mount can be welded in along with the cross member; driver's side is ok.

Need a new rear main seal, valve cover gasket (& cam seals), oil pinion seal in the rear. Since my bud is a Toyota tech, I am in luck, just have to put it on the road and take it over his place I'll hold the tranny while he does the seal, ha ha....

Today I'm replacing the gasket on the manifold to down pipe to see if that stops the exhaust leak...after that, a new catalytic and will clamp the exhaust back together until we can zap it.

I'm very glad to hear I didn't toss my $$$ away on a total piece of crap, LOL. A piece of sheet metal is in order, too, until I can put new fenders on in the spring...

pruney81

The POR-15 isn't that expensive and will definitely be worth it in the long run. A quart is only 40 bucks and it goes a long way. Plus, it would probably only take a few hours to wire wheel the loose rust off and paint over it with the POR.

GuitarMike

...you're right, pruney. I'm a house painter; I oughtta know that stuff ;o)
Now I'm thinking that at the end of the day, when I have 60 hrs. into this in sweat equity, I probably would do well to make it last as long as possible!

Replaced the exhaust gaskets between manifold and down pipe today...I THINK I got a good seal...it's quieter and doesn't smell AS bad now ;o) Still needs a converter, which may be contributing to the smell. Nothing in the cab, tho. Repair 1 done, and valve cover gasket set is sitting on the workbench waiting!

GuitarMike

Good news! I got under there and pounded all the scale off...now it looks almost normal. It needs the round cross piece behind the gas tank (buddy can weld that in), and a new cross member under the transfer case (junkyard). Everything else is doing pretty well! The built up scale really scared me...must have sat for a while doused in that Halite road salt crap.

Going to take a wire wheel to it on a drill, and then apply the POR-15. I know a strip/build up would be best, but it's what I'd call "middle of the road"...not a frame I think I can make 'like new' again, but one I could probably get a few years out of. Much nicer than the Ranger I'm currently driving ;o) For $500 in parts, I'll be back in a Yota with new clutch, no leaking, and a 22RE that has same miles as my Ford...

I want to find the CHERRY frame next year, and start building up from the ground, the right way. But happily, looks like this one will carry my butt around pretty well til then!
Thanks for the info - any suggestions as to the POR-15 application? Just any frame parts get it brushed on after wire wheel and a dusting?

JBurt

Just a thought, you might want get an angle grinder with a wire wheel instead of a drill. It would probably go a lot faster. Make sure you wear a good mask to keep all that rust from getting in your face. Thats good news about the frame and good luck. Take lots of pics