My '88 4Runner with 336,000 miles is just beginning to show some rust on the left front and both rear sides immediately above the wheel wells. I had hoped to eventually try and return it to its former glory with a paint job and new decals, but if the rust is only going to progress I'm not sure it's worth the money to have it repainted. I'm not worried about the front fenders as they can be easily replaced when the time comes. The rear is of greater concern.
Any advice on how to effectively deal with the rust would be appreciated.

 

sawsall fenders. install bigger tires. problem solved.

lol i think you can get patch panels for them. most of the time underneath deeper is where it can get ugly.

 

I agree with PPB. When I did my 4Runner, what seemed like a small spot on the surface was a hole when all the rust was removed. I ended up cutting out and fabbing replacement panels out of a tailgate I got from the body shop.

Good luck.

 

Take a look at fiberglass replacement panels from www.toyotafiberglass.com/toyotafiberglass.htm You can get stock, flared or high-clearance versions. Great quality, no rust and reasonable price. I have a full set of high-clearance panels and door skins on my truck

 

thats actually very cool. ^^

 

Pyroboy,
Thanks a lot. That should do the trick. One question--how hard is it to remove the original rear quarter panel? Does it unbolt or do you have to cut it off?

 

Pyro, that is a sweet looking truck. I was following the progress of the panel replacement on this thread - at my request Slacker (from ToyotaFiberglass) was kind enough to post up pics of it.

 

There are many spot welds to be drilled out to do the full panel but I believe there is an 'overlap' patch panel available. Best to talk to Corey at Toyota Fiberglass. He's the man when it comes to these things.

Check out my build thread, linked in the post above, for all the details on my truck.

 

I prefer the complete fiberglas bed. I have one and I LOVE it

 

Only way I've found is to sandblast the rust out, prime with epoxy, and paint.
I've done this on a couple of vehicles I've restored and they're still rust free after 5 years. If you blast you will be left with holes where the rust was. If the holes aren't that big you may be able to cover them with fender flaires. Also might be able to fill with JB Weld if you were on the cheap??? Just a thought...

I've also bought a fiberglass box from Corey. Nice stuff and never worry about rust ever again! it's also portable and can be swapped to a different truck if your current rig wears out...

 

I used a wire wheel, took out all the old fiberglass bondo.. cleaned it up down to the metal

Duct-tape on the back side of the rust hole, then mix up some bondo-glass, and slather it on.
It's one helluva lot stronger than regular body filler, and has the fiberglass hairs mixed in.

I did this, filled all my rust holes, sanded, added more bondo as needed, then smoothed and sprayed some bedliner over the bodyline on the bottom.

 

The only real way to do it is to cut sand the paint off around where the rust is forming to see how far under the paint it has spread. i hade a couple larger size spots on my 94. when i sanded the paint away to see how far it spread it got alot bigger. Then you have to completely cut all the rust out so it can not spread any further. rust is like a plage that will just keep spreading if you dont get it all. Then finally you have to weld new sheet metal in and paint it inside and out so that it wont rust for a long time. That is the way to fix it right and for a long time. One thing to warn you about on my 94 when i took off the plastic gaurds on the front of the rear wheel well it was completely rusted out on both sides of the truck. basically if there is anywhere that water or dirt can get caught and get water soaked if it doesnt get cleaned out on a regular basis(what happened with mine)

edit: not that the other ways are wrong just with bondo the rust will almost always come back may not be for 5-6 years but it will most likely come back

 

The other problem is chrome wheel opening mouldings. You need to remove and clean behind them and add a rust preventer like Rust Check. That's what finally killed my rear quarters... I got lazy and didn't clean them. Rust Check kept the inside mint but the outside rotted.

 

I cut the rust out then fiberglassed from the inside out.http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/.../061111052.jpg

 

Thought I would post some recent pix since the truck is mostly done, for now.

http://photobucket.com/albums/ll49/S...avis Lk 111030

 

I recently have undergone some body work on my '95 pickup (bed wheel arches, cab corners, doors) so I thought I'd share my perspective. Though bondo is quick and dirty I don't believe it's meant to fill rust holes. I chose to cut out the rusty section with a cut off wheel on the grinder and patch weld in new 22 gauge metal, welded solid. I then ground down the welds and skim coated some bondo so it looks more pretty and primed and will paint. I also painted and sprayed rubberized undercoating on the back side of the bed. If I have to do it again though I probably would buy some wheel arch replacement pieces and weld those in versus trying to form my own with little metal working tools. Good luck!, fiberglass would be cool too but metal is cheap and if you have a welder......