The Toyota Landcruiser Owners Club

[eamonn051]

Hello all.
I took my 2003 LC4 to have the chassis painted by a car restorer. He called me today to say that it wasnt worth doing due to the large amount of ROT in the rail just under the drivers feet. He has said that I should get rid of her or replace the entire chasis. The thing is absolutely perfect in every other way. starts, stops drives. everything working perfectly.
Does anyone know who can do this type of work and how much are we talking about here.
Can I get a second hand chassis and have it galvanised before fitting it.
What else should I replace if it is stripped to this level.
I cant get over this as the car is absolutely perfect with only 150K miles on it.
Any help here would be great.
Thanks

[Google]

[mike adams]

Hi
Could you post a couple of pictures? I have never seen any LC chassis rust out at the front first. They seem to always go at the rear. That's my experience over 30 years LC ownership. If it is only one section it could be cut out and patched up. I should get another opinion. Get the LC up on a ramp and have a look all over it underneath. Most early LCs from 1975 to 1990 had the body rot to pieces and fall off  long before the chassis went. I am sure you could find another chassis but a lot of work to swap them over - lots of rusted engine mounts etc.
Regards
Mike Adams

[Juddian]

Yes i too am surprised the chassis itself should have rotted through, are you sure it isn't the body undersill which are prone to rotting through at the ends unless they receive some treatment.

No earthly reason why a new chassis can't be bought, painted properly, then the body and running gear swapped, but it's going to be a hell of a weeks work for someone, more like two weeks i would have thought, the cost will be horrendous, if yours is so bad you might be better buying another Cruiser with a decent chassis which isn't running well (or at all with a blown engine or broken transmission)or has some panel damage and swap your good mechanicals and/or panels onto a solid chassis.

I'd be more inclined to find a good car welder upper before any of that and get his opinion, almost anything can be saved by these fellers, maybe give the chassis a good wire brushing and chip the heavy rust off so the welder can see exactly what the score is.
Car restorer sounds more like a chap who restores ancient Mercs and others cars, but could be entirely wrong there.

[Edward]

I would get a second opinion. Go under the car and check it out for yourself. Don't really believe that you need a new chassis (i.e. should be able to repair that bit only).

[eamonn051]

Hello again and thanks.
I took the cruiser to another guy today. He lifted her up and said that all he could see was what he considered to be "normal" rust on a 13 yr old chassis. I have also made an appointment with a guy who does all types of vehicle welding. I will give him a look at it as well. He said he will put an inspection camera into the chassis and I can see a video of whatever he finds. I will post the video when I get it next week. I have a price of €2000 from a guy who scraps cruisers to put a new chassis in as well. I like the idea of a cruiser with a blown engine etc etc. I really hope that I dont need to do anything other than paint it though. I think that my car restorer guy may be a bit of a perfectionist. If she needs a bit of welding so be it. Can you suggest what I should paint the underside with. So many products on the market.
Thanks for all the advive and I will let you know what happens next.
regards from Ireland

[Juddian]

Hi Eamonn.

I've had great success with Bilt Hambers underbody waxes and cavity waxes, well worth a look on their site.
The Collie i'm selling now...don't ask, it wasn't meant to be sold just an LC5 came up in the right condition mileage etc that i had to snap it up...i put around £200 worth of BH's finest products into.

The first thing is to remove the loose and flaking rust, thats either by shot blasting (though i'd be wary of what damage the grit can do when it gets into seals  etc) or by hard work with chisels scraper and wire brushes, then i sprayed on zinc paint, then two pack epoxy onto the worse rust (especially the rear axle), then final coating of the underbody hard waxes and  cavity waxes in, well, the cavities.
If you have access to a compressor and spraying equipment you can save a lot of money by buying their bulk packs.

If you search my posts you'll find better descriptions, not sure if the rust prevention thread was on 90 or 120 series forums though.

In England there are several specialists who waxoyl or dinitrol the underbody's for you, generally its a £400+ job for a big 4x4, i had a new Hilux so treated by pros in 2007, long since sold too, but to be quite honest i think i did a better job meself, and i know the product i used is superior to what went under the Hilux.
Don't know about Eire, me late Mothers family are from between Ennis and Kilkee but never heard anyone mention pro rustproofers or the like.

At one time people would spray old engine oil underneath and into the chassis, i've always been wary of this cos oil can perish rubber joints bushes etc.

Good luck with it mate, doesn't sound half as bad as the concours feller was saying.

[BriComp]

I had my 120 serviced in April and the mechanic suggested getting rid of it as rust was starting to flake on the chassis.
I diddn't want to get rid of it so got Overland Cruisers to have a look and treat with anti-rusty compound.
Now looks matt black all over, just as it should do. They said that my chassis rails were FULL of dirt. So as part of the de-rusting process they steam cleaned everything. Unfortunately that caused the sump to leak..that was rusting as well, obviously on it's last legs.

Check out Overland Cruisers web site at overland-cruisers.co.uk, click on Rust, Rust, Glorious Rust!!

[eamonn051]

hello all,
I found a man in Blessington Co. Wicklow who had a look at the chassis on my cruiser. He could find only one piece of welding to be done. This was the front tow ring and nothing else. He then washed and scraped the whole thing and treated the rust, which he said was only surface rust, with an inhibitor and then sprayed the whole underside with a sealer. It all cost me the sum total of €400, which was brilliant. I then took the machine and put it through our CVRT test. It passed with flying colours with not even one advisory. The guy who looked after the underside advised that I have it treated every two or three years and that it would cost about €200 then. Thats exactly what I intend to do. I changed the oil etc yesterday. I had a slight warp in the front discs and bought two new ones and new pads. Have now discovered that the RHS caliper has a seized piston so I will replace that on Tuesday. The only other problem with the car is that the aircon doesnt work. Having read all the comments about that I think I'll forget it. Thanks to all for the comments and the help.

[eamonn051]

hello all,
I found a man in Blessington Co. Wicklow who had a look at the chassis on my cruiser. He could find only one piece of welding to be done. This was the front tow ring and nothing else. He then washed and scraped the whole thing and treated the rust, which he said was only surface rust, with an inhibitor and then sprayed the whole underside with a sealer. It all cost me the sum total of €400, which was brilliant. I then took the machine and put it through our CVRT test. It passed with flying colours with not even one advisory. The guy who looked after the underside advised that I have it treated every two or three years and that it would cost about €200 then. Thats exactly what I intend to do. I changed the oil etc yesterday. I had a slight warp in the front discs and bought two new ones and new pads. Have now discovered that the RHS caliper has a seized piston so I will replace that on Tuesday. The only other problem with the car is that the aircon doesnt work. Having read all the comments about that I think I'll forget it. Thanks to all for the comments and the help.

[Edward]

Great news that you were able to get it fixed. Re: A/C usually a re-gas sorts it out. I have had to replace a A/C pipe one time, but again not a big issue. A good A/C specialist should be able to sort it out.

[Juddian]

Rustproofed my 120 last week, was i a filthy wretch when that was over or what    

Roughly £230 in Bilt Hambers finest waxes went under and inside, had to buy another £45 worth of the hard wearing wax to finish the wheel arches off, i think i've done a better more thorough job than the pros, and probably saved meself £200/250.
Satisfying job  

The vehicle is in extraordinary condition underneath so wanted it to stay that way, the only part that's suffered is the engine sump guard...which is a disappointing flimsy thing, not a patch on the solid sump guards found on a 70/90 series, was going to get it welded up but in all honesty not sure the bloke can do much with it, am probably going to buy a steel ARB underbody protection set instead.

[Branc]