Please Help. Advice on frame rust

Looking for help because living in Colorado we never see rust. Does the photos below that I took of a 05 DC SR5 for sale scare anyone. Please explain your response because I never see this. Many thanks.

 

Yeah, that’s pretty bad all right. Stay away and keep looking.

 

The areas shown are not the normal "problem" areas, the ones highlighted HERE.

That said, the tow hitch assembly in the rear is probably the very first thing to rot to shit in these trucks and is not a permanent structure (i.e. can be removed).

Need better pics of the problem areas. The rot I see isn't horrible, but ... we're not seeing the typical hotspots. Hopefully they're not too bad. That looks like a semi-typical Colorado truck to me.

 

This was in Pittsburgh for most of its life. Reading your problem areas now.

 

This is the one that has me most concerned.

 

That bottom area in front of the crossmember looks like a welded plate that was gooped over.

 

Man, I grew up in and spent most of my adult life in CO, and I've never owned a vehicle with that much gross underneath. Run away. You can do better. Don't settle for someone's rust belt import.

 

Thanks everyone. I really thought this was the one. A bit heartbroken.

 

Not near as heartbroken you would have been if you bought it. Looking at the pics in your later post, my gut feeling is you'd be finding new rust every time you went under it. And dealing with rusted, seized and/or broken fasteners.

 

The holes are enough to make me walk away.

The fact the holes also show delamination is enough to change that walk to a run.

Even if the frame is eligible under recall, you’re out at least $1,500-2,500 in related costs.

 

a few cans of this stuff and the frame will be good as iron pyrite

 

Run Forest run!

 

Yeah, that’s not gonna show.

 

Especially after I put some flat black rattle-can over the top!

 

Bondo over it. Sand it smooth, satin black ... we've seen a couple of wack ass jobs on here, but there was at least one I remember that was extremely convincing.

 

RUN

 

I've come across that firsthand on a toyota truck i was doing a complete respray on. The frame was rust free, but upon closer inspection i noticed that there was frame damage that was filled with body filler.

 

It happens. And it's despicable. Fortunately, mostly-open framerails on our trucks, so easy enough to see if it's in the right place...

Unibody would be a nightmare.

 

I thought that any place that has severe snow, means that cars rusted there. (But Colorado is a huge state, maybe you live in south Colorado like a place like Pueblo, where it doesn’t snow)

Now I don’t feel so bad for spending 2 years in Denver with my truck. I always wondered if 2 snowy winters would one day end up coming to bite me in the ass one day in the form of rust…


Can you tell I have no idea how rust works? lol

on a different note, I do see about a 4 square inch area starting to rust right above my exhaust on the tow hitch. Wonder if I should spray it down with rust prevention spray? (Is there any prep/post work that needs to be done or do you just spray and go?)

 

It all depends on what the local/state authorities use on the roads during snow times. Some places spread sand and gravel. Others spread salt. I'm sure there are other variations.

Thing is, I know in some parts of Utah, just next door to Colorado, they do spread salt. So sometimes for hunting/camping/skiing trucks, or even work/hauling trucks, they may be registered in Colorado, but if they spend most of their time driving back and forth to Utah in the winter, then they're gonna be rotten. Utah trucks, from what I've seen, tend to be far worse than Colorado trucks. But I'm sure there's some places in CO where they actually do use salt.

 

Thanks everyone for their comments. My 2003 RCLB which has been a Colorado truck its entire life has zero rust. The truck in question was a 2005 DC SR5 that was for sale locally.

Although I'm not a black paint fan, this truck with 103k miles and a very unblemished exterior was a promising move to the DC world. I was shocked to see a boxed frame (mine is open) and so much rust.

Well my hunt continues. Looking for a 05-06 preferably limited with low miles. I love this forum for the help it provides.