I'm looking at an 03 FX4. The body looks great, no rust until you look underneath. I know there will always be rust, but I just want to see what you guys think.

Mechanically, it is fine, drove great, 86,000 miles. Interior is in great shape. It has been offered $10,000 with an undercoat.

Here are the pictures:











Muffler:

 

That is normal. How are doors and rockers?

And where you at that has snow still?

 

The underside pictures I took, the pictures of the whole truck are from the dealers ad. No more snow here.

There is no rust on the doors or any of the body other than underside, and under the running boards.

I am just concerned, I'm new to the truck world and don't want to pick something up that is falling apart underneath.

Here is the driver side rocker, a little rust, nothing sand paper and rust paint can't fix. None on the passenger side.

 

Looks to be all surface rust, nothing structurally damaging. Like you said some sandpaper, a new coat of paint, and an underbody coating and it should be good to go.

Just make sure there's no holes in the bottoms of the doors or the rockers, those are the real common places to get rust in and it'll spread like cancer from there. As long as there's no holes or spots that look like you could apply very light pressure and push threw it should be fine though.

Might need some routine maintenance done though if it's all factory parts with 86k.

 

Yea make sure you cant push through the bottom of the rockers and you should be fine

 

Do NOT undercoat it till all the existing rust has been removed/treated. I'd suggest if you buy it, get under there with some POR-15.

 

clean. my truck undercarriage is a lot worst.

 

Thanks for the input.

In the spare tire picture, the driver side shock looks a little rough. Anything to worry about?

 

Hi, this reminds me of my 97 I bought back about 10 years ago, body and interior excellent shape, lots of rust underneath.. I have ended up over the years replacing every foot of brake line, and also the transmission cooler lines. Also the AC lines look very rusty as well, although they have not leaked yet.. I would take a look at that stuff if you can, undercoating and even rust converters will not help those....

 

Looks pretty good compared to my truck

 

Shocks look factory so it's probably time to replace those too.

Has any maintenence been done on it? Such as ball joint's, tie-rods, etc? If not it's probably gonna be time for those soon too.

 

I paid 10 grand for my truck 5 years ago and the underside of it is still way cleaner then that. I'd pass. But all the vehicles in your area might be like that so in that area that might be a good deal.

 

Mines a little worse than that.... It depends on how much you pay. As stated the tie rods and all are going to have to be replaced. My wheel bearing did too in the front and many other parts

 

Looks real good on the outside & interior.

But as stated above check the lower inside of the doors, the bottom plate on the rocker panels, also the underneath where the step bars attach. All places I found rust on the NE Ohio trucks I looked at last summer. Also check the front cab mounts, I had rust on my old '98 there.

I ended up finding a real clean '01 in Florida and had it shipped up north. Tax, title AND shipping I was right under $9k. Most of the rusty trucks up here were that or more. Was kind of nervous not test driving before I bought, but I dealt with a reputable dealer and had confidence in them throughout the transaction. Something to think about.



If you go that route, just be sure to por-15, rustproof, undercoat everthing before it ever sees salt....

 

check the bed cross members for rust too, as well as the very back corners of the body panel behind the rear wheel well.