Rear strut weld crack

Hi guys, new here. Just started looking into 1st gens. Just looked at one today. I have read the wonderful buyers/ owners guide written on here (not that I remember all of it). The truck looked good, frame seemed rust free, most everything checked out.

but the rear left side strut bracket weld is cracked, basically all the way through. Will add pics. Couldn’t find anything else like it on here but I also don’t know where to look. Anybody have any idea how much it will cost? Or just any advice in general. I’ll call some shops to get a quote tomorrow but I figured I might as well ask on here as well.

another question I have which is also probably a dumb one is, what’s the longest size shock that would fit in place of that strut without much/ if any modifications?
Thank you guys!!

 

If you have a welding school nearby, they might glue it back together for free. Otherwise i'd look for a half decent muffler shop. Little bit of grinding, little bit of welding, be good as new.

 

^^^x2

 

Lots of folks running bilstein 4600 or 5100 rear shocks. I wouldnt really go any longer, unless changing out bumpstops.

 

Awesome thank you guys!

yeah the Bilsteins seem great. Was thinking I might take this as an opportunity to upgrade the rear.

 

Bilstein 4600 or 5100 would be the way to go.

I've got KYBs on mine, seem fine, but I don't put a lot of miles on it, so time will tell...

To me, it looks like that perch may have been welded on again once before, could be wrong though.

 

First off, welcomg to the forum and good on ya for catching this. Looks like it's a low rust frame in general from that pic, seeing the backing plates, etc. Wonder why that weld cracked, what the owner did? Wonder if the truck got tagged on that side at some point? It also looks like that's already been re-welded at least once. My factory welds are way cleaner and I'm looking at that rusty spot where it looks like someone cleared the metal once prior to weld it.

Looking at it from the perspective of sale and negotiation, this is a great thing. I'm sure you could talk that down $1k, knowing that's what it'd cost to get an install a new axle housing. Even if you got the most expensive welding shop nearby to do it, I doubt they'd charge more than $150-200/hour at 2hrs labor. But I'd push it to the buyer on it.

Other things you can talk down on, if timing belt hasn't been done for 6-7yr/60k-70k miles, that's in your near future and stealership will charge $1500 (+/- $250).

EDIT: Or did you already buy it, and you just found this?

 

agree,looks like its been done already....wonder why originally, and if this is the 2nd time why, other than bad prep and weld

 

I'm thinking bad prep work, and maybe the welder was run too hot (more brittle weld?)

 

I'd say, rapid cooling and, maybe, wrong filler material. The axle housing is a lot of metal that conducts heat well. I'd do a few touches just to heat it up well and then run the main beads. And relief the stress in between by knocking the seam with a hammer.

 

No I have not bought it yet haha that would have been unfortunate. He says the timing belt and ball joints were done by the previous owner (buddy of his). He’s owned it for a year ish and hasn’t drove it much. I’m gonna bring it into a shop before I buy it tomorrow and I’m hoping they can give me insight into how much longer those two will last. List price was 6k, he said he would be willing to drop it bc of that. here’s the listing: https://cars.ksl.com/listing/9361322

As far as the weld goes yeah I don’t know anything about welding but it looked like a crappy weld to me. Everything else on the rear end seemed solid. But idk my stuff so that’s why I’ll have a shop look it over. Any other advice?
Thank you guys!

 

I like it. & you might be able to use that $1k to help swap in a sequoia rear axle.

 

I agree with @Mr.bee and I also notice, there's no LSPV out back. Maybe it was deleted and replaced with a manual prop valve for the rear brakes?

Anyway, if he'd get to $5k, assuming you can loosen the timing cover belts on one side and confirm the belt is, in fact, free of cracks and obviously new-ish, $5k seems like a pretty fair price. Clearly someone has been huckin' it though, hence that cracking in the first place. And @bmf4069 did you have the exact same mount break loose hucking your truck at T2S, or was that someone in your group? The truck needs a hell of a lot of cleanup from all that fine, fine desert dust.

 

HUCKin' it in uTAH?

i'll see myself out.

 

Around here they won’t touch your vehicle unless it’s 10 years old or newer. Don’t want to scare off the new kids (according to their instructor).

 

Ours didnt care, but i went to highschool when the good teachers were deployed with the reserves, fuckin off in the middle east instead.

 

Oh okay yeah the guy said the abs light is on, and from what I understand that’s what the lspv does right? What would fixin that look like?

Oh no the mod sickness is infecting me

 

Not really. The lspv changes the pressure available to the rear brakes based on load (height) the abs light is probably gonna be a sensor or wire problem

I suck at searching, but i'm pretty sure its mentioned in the super thread.

 

ABS light would be on because PO pulled the ABS fuse, most likely. A lot of people have issues with the sensors after lifting their trucks, it feels like. Or maybe he replaced the rear axle and that's why there's no LSPV, and he removed the ABS/wheel speed sensors out back.

But to that point, you're basically buying someone else's (well, two POs) hackfest. You may be hunting down stupid shit they half-ass fixed, or full-ass broke. It's the nature of the beast. Pay 2x as much for something unmolested, or buy someone else's "project" for half that.

If your intent here is to really offroad it, that's the perfect truck for it. I'd start by lopping off both lower shock mounts and go mid-travel or long travel. If you don't have the tools or expertise, may need to hire a shop.

 

Yes sir, that was me! Easy 10 minute fix.

Yes sir, that was me! Easy 10 minute fix. I can't get the pic to load but it completely broke the shock mount off. I recompressed the shock and Bruce welded it back.

 

We have the expertise. Its our job to aim this man towards success. Lots of others can learn from this journey.

 

This is just a guess, but i dont see a bump stop above the axle, could just be the angle but....
If the bump stop was missing, and the rear was loaded heavy and the rear springs compressed to the point it bottom the rear shocks out, then the bracket for the lower shock becomes the limiting point of the suspension. Once the shock is bottomed out, all the weight of the rear is being pushed against that lower shock mount and could/would peel it off the axle like that.
Its been welded before as you can see the rust on the axle side of the crack at the top, that was welded before and not painted over.
I would still venture to say, lack of bump stops, loading it super heavy OR flexing it and stuffing the tire in the fender at max compression, would put the load against the lower shock bracket and cause it to peel off the axle tube like that.
This is a good reason to install new bump stops and even taller bump stops.

 

Oh yeah that’s a great point, I don’t remember seeing bump stops. I’ll check the fender to see if it looks like the tire hits it at compression. 2” hydro bumps??

Great to hear that it’ll make a good off-road build. I do have a slight obsession with prerunners, not that I’ve ever owned driven or been in one but I digress. gonna use it to tow firewood as well, but I’ll sacrifice towing for off-road any day.

I most definitely don’t have the expertise. I understand bike suspension well but trucks are way more complicated. There is an off-road shop that does custom build and stuff right down the road from the truck so Ill try and take it there for the pre purchase inspection potentially. What kit would you guys recommend? Or just lower mounts? I’m down for as long of travel as I can get, but I doubt I have the budget for much.

 

You'll get wildly variable recommendations on what to get. The big thing though, is to get bumpstops. And if you want one for lifted purpose, the Hilux stops fit our trucks but are taller. Toyota p/n 48306-35110, you'll need two. You'll need to order from Partsouq or Amayama, Partsouq does have a presence on fleaBay if you feel more comfortable with having it as a known mediating platform, it's one of the rare times (/people) I'd say it's OK to order from on there. There are other sellers I DO NOT trust on there.

But as far as kits ... all depends on what you're wanting to do, man. And more than that, how much budget you're willing to throw at it. You can have a pretty decent lifted setup for $1½k-2k (not including wheels), a very respectable lifted setup for $3k-4k, but I think once you start getting into mid/long travel, you'll be spending quite a bit more. Some folks would feel stupid paying more for wheels/tires/suspension than they paid for the truck.

 

Sweet thank you. Would hydro bumps be viable? or not until I have more travel?

 

No experience with them at all.

 

Seems like it's pretty common for the rubber to separate from the metal mount it's attached to.
You'll want new U-Bolts if you pull that apart to replace those.

Part number 48306-04010 for bump stops. Apparently it is now discontinued. I personally bought some about 5 years ago, must have been phased out, gonna have to find another option or find a place that still has them in stock.

Used the EPC site @shifty` always recommends now that I finally had a picture of my door tag with the frame number.

 

48306-35110 (Direct link to Amayama, who is shipping out of UAE or Japan, your choice ... Partsouq is viable option, check their fleaBay listing on this part number)

 

I'm not saying it won't work but it is known to be taller than the stock one right?

 

Supposedly, yup. I haven't gotten off my ass and ordered yet, so not sure how much taller. I want to say someone else on here said half inch?