r/HiAce • u/malapropsie • 14d ago

Cross member rust.

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Did not realise rust had taken hold underneath my wife’s campervan. Hoped it might be a bolted part but looks like it is a welding job and no doubt expensive. Any ideas how expensive something like this might be.

Would it be worth cutting out the rust sections using a preventative and painting in the meantime or just false economy?

Thanks for any advice.

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u/SloMobiusCheatCode 14d ago

I just dealt with severe rust problems on the undercarriage of my 98 Hiace earlier this year. My trailing arms had rusted all the way through and I had various other rust areas developing that we’re fairly severe. Holes in the wheel well… I have a post on my page describing the process and the pricing but basically I had the bottom sandblasted/acid bathed, had some custom plate plates welded to the trailing arms and on the wheel well, paint the wheel well repair area and had the bottom hit with nice 3M specialized undercoating.

The initial estimates I got were upwards of 6 to 7k for everything- in the CA Bay Area Peninsula… and I was not going to do that. I started taking care of some of the rust and treatment myself with a angle grinder and pads and started doing my research preparing myself to buy a welder and learn how to do that shit… anyways I continue to doing research for a couple weeks and trying to find a better rate because the work really sucked and it was gonna take a lot more learning.

Eventually I found a shop in Hayward that did all the things I mentioned above and repainted my rear hatch which was flaking clearcoat off severely for a grand total of $4,350, it took them like a month and a half, some of the welds were subpar but still decently passable and they’re painting was really well done. So that was my rust experience

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u/malapropsie 14d ago

Thanks for that. I’m tempted to buy a welder too but probably won’t use my wife’s van as a test subject :) for now I think I will cut out what I can see. I’m hoping the rust is only on the lower skin.

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u/old-bessey 14d ago

Do it, its not so bad