I just saw this on Craig's List. Look at that: The horizontal crack about an inch from the bottom of the frame, running for a couple feet forward of the place where the frame folds. I've seen that elsewhere. I've seen holes near the spring shackles, or the shackles rusted off. I've seen front shocks hanging down through the suspension where the attachment pin has rusted off. My DD Pablo has a decent frame, but my parts truck Trixie was condemned for frame rust. As a northern driver, I think it's important to be aware of the weak points, where rust is going to set in, and maybe some thoughts on prevention and repair. So show me some damage. Show me rust and cracks and frame welds and how you fight back at frame rust. I wanna see more pictures.
I would say best way to fight it, especially if your cutting into things, would be what burnzy did and back half your truck... Well he started with a back half and ended up a new frame http://www.toyotaminis.com/forum/build-up-project-threads-19/luxus-2300/ But I will say I'm def going to take a look this weekend, being my truck was originally a souther Cali truck rust should be slim to non...
If I had a nickel for every 2nd gen I saw just like that in the Buffalo area Here in NJ or back when I was near Chicago... Very very common bad spot...
Slow SR5, my Jedi skills are no match for that kind of wizardry. I'm reading that thread in awe. For the moment, that kind of work is what I'm trying to avoid.
Then simply Maintainance should aid in prevention. I met a guy at seam a few years back with a truck with a full bare frame. I asked him how he kept it from rusting, his answer was lots of WD-40. This is the truck: The three cars in the back, Acura NSX, Nissan 180sx, and the Scion xB, were my shops builds for sema that year. To some pics I'm sure we have all seen:
