Is this the end of my Ex?

[sweaver76]

I need advice on my 2000 xlt 4-door.

it has a 3" body lift. The underbody is starting to rust under the passenger and cargo areas. The frame is still stout, but the body rails are rusting in the rear half.

The rest of the specs....122k miles. no rust on painted body, just undercarriage. SOHC 4x4 with lots of new parts...exhaust manifold to tailpipe is new, wheel bearings , new rotors and brake pads, and suspension/shocks, struts, newer Yoko AT 32x11.5 tires on MT wheels, interior is loaded and in great shape. Leather is nice. Truck runs great! ...so this is the only issue.

So...thats the history. The advice needed......
Is this a reasonable repair? Cost estimates? DIY experiences?

Thanks guys/gals.

 

[corkey]

cheapest route to fix it may be to find a stocker on craigslist and put all your stuff on it,,

fixing the body rail my be out of the question as far as difficulty to access the rusty section,,
as in you would have to separate the body from the frame to do it right,,

 

[ponkotsu]

I lived in WI most of my life so I know all about rust. To me, the rust was always what did them in. You can replace suspension parts, brakes, repair engines forever. Once the vehicle has the "cancer", there is no way to repair it. Now that I live in Colorado, I have a vehicle that has only some surface rust on the underside. It's great to be able to remove a bolt without dragging out the torch.

You can't "fix" the body pan. All you can do is patch it until there is no place left to put the patches.

I like the suggestion above. Buy a good solid truck with a blown engine and move your stuff to it. If you really like Explorerers, it might be worth your time to bring one from a more friendly area that you know is clean.

 

[obie]

Those are all reasonable suggestions. But then there's always doing it the way I've been doing it if you don't like reasonable

 

[koda2000]

anything can be repaired/restored. the question is, is it worth it? the answer to that question depends on several factors... do you love your truck? can you do the work yourself? can you find the part(s) you need at a reasonable price? do you have the time and tools to do the repair?

rust repair is most easily repaired by replacing the effected part(s). if you can find a rust-free donor vehicle, you can cut out the part you need and weld it into your vehicle. that's gotta be less work that transferring all you good parts to another vehicle.

so, what do you want to do?