Rate My Bed Rust

Hi everyone!

My aunt has offered I adopt her '02 Tundra (extended cab, V8, automatic, RWD, mid trim). It has about 400,000 miles but is well maintained (I actually like her mechanic). It drives amazingly well. I'd like it as my second/third vehicle for some occasional light truck work, towing, maybe camping. The frame looks pretty good for a Midwest truck (similar to other threads I saw), maybe needs a cleaning & some prevention, but this bed rust is... A little concerning to me.

Thoughts? Should I adopt this high mileage truck, & how concerning is this bed rust considering the frame looks good & there's no other major rust? Should I try and fix it? Or should I just run while I still can?
Thanks.

 

Before you ask, yes, that is the driveway. There are like 3 or 4 areas that have rusted through but most of the bed bottom is pretty rusty from underneath (worse than the frame, I suspect the frame has been replaced maybe). It's an Illinois truck, I'm from Wisconsin so this looks pretty good for year and milage to me (you should see my buddy's RAM 1500, it's more rust than body at this point).

 

Pictures from underneath the truck would do better judgement, but looks like you might need a new bed, sir
But other than that she should serve you well

 

You’re fine. Mine’s much worse. Plastic bedliner hides it. You can always learn to weld and patch it.

 

I second this. Or take your new found love of welding and build a flatbed!

 

Notice how the rust out seems to be in the wide valleys. Sure, for a rust belt truck, it may also be rusting under, but I suspect that roll-in/spray-in liner is the actual culprit that led to what you're seeing. People go nuts for bed liner coatings, but many of them are huge cancer sources.

Just like powdercoat, it's not difficult for water to bypass the coating, then sit there. Sure, looks good, durable, I've even gotten them on my trucks. But with the number of times I've seen beds rot out after water inevitably manages to penetrate and work its way under, I'll stick with a blown plastic liner, cleaned regularly.

And yes, plastic liners can rub away at paint underneath. Yes, you need to clean under them sometimes. Small price to pay.

I can't judge the level of rust. Since it's in flat-wide spots, welding in a patch wouldn't be tough. I'd be interested in seeing the bottom.

 

4 out of 10.

My mantra is that it's ok if the stuff you put in it doesn't fall through it and the moment stuff does fall through I cuss myself for not attending to it the year before.

 

Thanks everyone, that really allays my biggest worry. I think I'll do a little more poking around the frame but it sounds like a free Tundra is a good deal, milage is just a number & a little bed rust never hurt anyone.

I agree with this assessment. A few of you wanted more pictures from underneath so next time I can I will grab a few, but I do think sitting outside many years & rain pooling in the troughs may be the primary issue. I may have overstated the rust below a bit, but there is some there.

 

5/7

 

Friday poll!

 

@shifty` Plastic liner is probably what caused this rust to begin with. ANY truck in the rust belt should pull the plastic bedliner IMMEDIATELY. And I've restored and patched multiple beds. This one looks repairable but would be worth seeing shots of the underside of the bed too. If a lot of rust is eating it's way up from underneath then the bed is toast.

 

I’ve seen cases of both plastic bedliner and bedliner coating covering rust slowly eating through from the underside. The plastic bedliner would just provide support for items so they don’t fall through the bed on an already destroyed bed floor. If the bed was pristine, a bed mat would be the best approach to detect rust eating through early.

 

That defies basic logic, think about it.

Plastic liner only comes in contact with the high spots of the bed, but the rust here is clearly centered in the low spots. A couple other trucks on here are the same, all with spray-in or roll-in liners, and the rust epicenter always in the valleys of the bed, where water settles when it eventually gets under the liner coating, as it always eventually does.

Reality is, spray-in liner will never be able to match or exceed the bond appreciated between factory paint and metal, and it requires you to damage (abrade) the OEM paint to apply it. The lack of bond is the killer it allows water to get under the coating, and can't get out. A lot of times you'll see initial water entry around irregular spots or joints, like at the head of the bed bolts.

Plastic liners allow air flow and the bed channels to remove water and dry. When you see rust eat beds away on those, it's usually at the crown or high spots of the bed floor OR you'll see it eat away the floor along the cab side, where water pools because the owner fails to clear out debris, and water can't drain out of the bed. Rarely ever in the middle. Yes, the liner friction can rub paint, but it takes eons to rub thru.

Spray-in and roll-in liners are popular, but they're a recipe for disaster. Plastic liners will always be better, but you MUST pull them periodically clean underneath, wash the paint, and wax it. Paint is still paint, it needs paint attention. I do mine every other year because I'm garaged with a tonneau.

 

@shifty` Basic logic is that the plastic liner holds in moisture. Any spray in liner that is properly applied will not hold moisture underneath. And yes, "Damaging" the OEM paint in the bed is a MUST but that's never something I worried about. When I bought my truck used the OEM paint finish was already ruined by the plastic bedliner, and the bed had rotted through as well in one corner. Maybe it works down south, but the plastic liner is terrible up north. Just holds all the sand, salt, and moisture under it. Absolutely terrible.

 

Perhaps I see somthing that is not there...but looks like there are 4 primary areas or rust that show a pattern of something that was once bolted in and then removed without proper treatment of the drilled holes... should be easy to remove the bed and patch those sections.

 

If what you said was true, everyone OEM on the planet would ship their trucks from the factory with spray-in bed liners.

But ... they don't, they ship them with blown-plastic liners because they do a better job at protecting from the elements and corrosion, offer plenty of breathing room for moisture evap, and save body panels from dents. Just like anything else on a vehicle, there's liner maintenance for the owner. If you don't do the maintenance, you'll see issues of varying severity depending on your climate/conditions.

After decades, manufacturers are still putting blown plastic liners in beds from the factory, not topical liners. Gratned, I haven't bought a new truck in 15 years but I've owned plenty, and when I was shopping for my current truck, I saw a plethora of OEM drop-in liners on trucks less than 10yo. If spray-in liners were as effective as you say, why do you think OEMs still opt for plastic over spray-in or roll-in liners? They intentionally want their customers to have their beds rot out?

I don't think so. Most spray-in liners are garbage, rust waiting to happen. The OEMs know it, it's why they don't use them. Dealerships will apply them because it's popular with the customer, but I've never seen an OEM do one without laying some form of paint over it.

 

@shifty` one word. PROFIT. Drop in bedliners cost around 200$ where a professional spray in is 800+ ... If spray in was cheaper they would be doing that. I've tried to sell two drop in bedliners and NOONE wants them up here. Also like I said, depending WHERE you are drop in could be a good option. If your in a place with no snow/road salt then you should be fine with a drop-in. If your up north then drop-ins belong in the dump. There is not one solution fits all for this. It's completely dependent on climate.

 

Retail cost, yes. Assembly-line-wise, no. Assembly-line you're talking tens of dollars for product per truck, not hundreds. But this still ignores that no OEM would possibly want something that will intentionally rot out the truck. Especially not for Toyota, with the frame rot issues, it'd be brand suicide to do that.

This must be the answer. This is why OEMs are installing them. They want their truck beds to rust prematurely, and for the owners to clog landfills because nobody wants to buy used liners in the rust belt.

If there was no demand for them, they would've died long ago. If they actually caused major rust-through issues like spray-in and roll-in liners do, OEMs would've ditched them long ago for the spray-in. Edit: Toyota has paid out tens or maybe hundreds of millions alone on frame recalls, they'd never want that for beds!

I think the rust-through problems you cite with drop-in liners in the rust belt has nothing to do with the liners. It's entirely a byproduct of lazy owners who can't handle routine maintenance of occasionally lifting out the liner, spraying, washing, and waxing, then reinstalling the liner.

Hell, I think spray-in and roll-in liner'd owners would see less rust-through of this caliber if they did the same, just deck-brush, UV seal and wax the coating. But they're still eventually going to have a pinhole, seam, or crack that'll let water get under that skin and rust it inside-out.

 

@shifty` Do you really think Toyota or any auto manufacturer will hold itself responsible if YOU decide to leave the cheap plastic in there for years and it makes your bed rot? NOPE. Because they know the plastic liner can EASILY be taken out and it's up to each owner to maintain their vehicle the way they want too. You seem to think the OEM paint is sufficient for preventing rust but it's not at all in northern climates. All it takes is one grain of road salt to get under that bedliner and it finds a tiny little scratch and BAM RUST! If you really think a piece of plastic is better at preventing rust then paint/spraying then more power to you!

 

This was my bed June of 21 when i was having ARE topper painted and other things. While my 04 was born in Indy, it lived it’s whole life in W TN. I was somewhat surprised of the condition considering I last had the liner out in 09.
Since I’ve bought in 09, it’s always parked outside. Where mine was spared was having bought the ARE days after purchase, so my experience can’t be judge in comparison to those without topper.

 

As with all things, it is with proper care. Most rust up north happens from the inside out. Typically starting at the edges and seams, where the highest potential for penetration exists ... just like with spray-in liners. Both paint and liners are directly exposed to the elements.

That's the whole point: The plastic liner helps reject the elements. Why do you think OEMs install plastic liners in the wheel wells? Why do you think Toyota started using full-underbody liners under their vehicles now, or have you not seen those yet?

If spray-in liners offered nearly the protection, they'd use those. Oh wait ... they did, as part of the 1st gen frame recalls. You had a choice: Frame swap or coating. If you opted for coating, that's it, you're done. You know how many pics of 1st-gen'ers have seen of coated frames that rusted from the inside out?

Coatings are inferior. Hands-down. There is no contest. The OEMs know this, it's why they are expanding the use of liners and decades after coatings hit the scene, they still don't use them in production.

 

My truck bed looks almost identical. Yes, mine is a southern truck, and lived in the mountains of Birmingham AL much of its life.

But mine was an outdoor truck, almost 24/7, never in a carport, never a cover over the bed. If it'd had a spray-in liner, my bed would look about like OP's right now.

UV would've compromised the coating, it would've oxidized, split, allowed water to get trapped under the coating where it can't evaporate, game over.

 

@shifty` Now your actual trying to compare the wheel well liners to the drop in bedliner? Come on man. If you want to simp for the OEMs thats fine, just say so. But it seems like all of your knowledge about rust comes from your online research. Have you spent HOURS in the bed of a truck wirewheeling all the rust down right to the crossmembers after pulling that stupid piece of plastic out? Well I've done it multiple times on trucks that were not even 10 years old. Whatever you do down south I don't care, but if you live up north, please pull the plastic POS out of your bed. I'm really tired of seeing beds rusted right to the crossmembers.

 

I can pee the furthest!

 

My thoughts exactly. I'll go ahead and be the bigger man here.

 

I don't know why everyone is arguing but the rust on the bed starts from the underside and creeps up through the bed floor; it doesn't start in the bed and move outward; this has been documented in at least one TSB for the 2nd gen and the 1st gen suffers the same issue.

Anything over that bed floor just masks what's actually happening from the underside of the bed.

I'll post below my holey bed, but it's not from my bedliner that caused it.

 

Try not to laugh...

 

Adopt meaning she'll hand it down to you with no money involved? Then who cares, free truck. Even at $500 thats a decent truck so long as the frame doesnt have holes.
Cheap way is to get some flat metal and pop rivet it in place. Proper way is a bed swap.

FWIW my 01 has some rust forming around the bolts but the frame is clean.

 

Fill it with empty beer and used parts. Outta sight outta mind.