Hello and I live in San Diego CA and test drove/borrowed 2004 4Runner V8 AWD from Dealer and bring back to dealer tomorrow if I want to purchase it. Upon looking at undercarriage, I saw rust on the following (see photos below):

1) rear axle differential
2) lower shock mounts
3) lower spring perch on rear axle
4) exhaust piping
5) gas tank skid plate

What was strange was that I found no major rust towards the motor and front differential. The carfax said that car was registered in New York, Utah, and Canada. I'm thinking that the salt on the roads caused it.

Question: Is this rust normal or ok? I think it is abnormal and planning to bring to local off road shop to get opinion. The truck has 91k miles and offered at $13k which seems like the dealer might know of the rust. Thanks.

Mike

 

that looks like minimal rust to me considering it was on the east coast (i lived in NY for 6 years)
You might ask them (dealer) about the frame recall just in case...might be able to knock a little more off the asking price

 

Thanks Robb. Should I remove the rust since it may be an issue in the future? The front and rear shocks were replaced with Bilsteins. It looks like some things were removed despite of rust.

 

Looks like it's mostly surface rust, not too bad. You should be able to take care of it now so it doesn't get worse. I'd look into rustbullet-ing it.
There are no frame recalls for 4runner's, as they were built in japan. the frame recalls are on the 1st gen tacoma's that were built in the US with Dana frames....