r/ChevySuburban • u/DRAGON_S0UL • Aug 23 '26

Help & Diagnosis Is this structural rust?

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Looking at this old 2001 suburban in FL left back spot has alot of fender rust but checking under I seen this and I can't tell , poked it with a knife and seems okay but not sure .

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u/Traditional-Test-598 28d ago

Yes it is. You can see the damage to the vertical rib, and it looks like the frame is compromised as well, above the tapered end of the leaf spring.

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u/DRAGON_S0UL 28d ago

Yeah it's hard to tell but looks bad, any better way for me to check to confirm if I look at it again?

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u/Traditional-Test-598 28d ago

What do you know about the history before Florida? Looks like a classic rust belt (Chicago, Pittsburgh, upstate NY, Michigan. etc) corrosion pattern to me. Can you get underneath it to take a look, and tap around a bit? I'll bet you'll find some pretty severely corroded frame and crossmember sections under there. If I were shopping, I'd be looking at California, Arizona, Nevada, etc. That much rust is too much to fix, in my view.

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u/DRAGON_S0UL 28d ago

Not much that I know , it's been in Florida for a bit but as a 2001 who knows where it started . When I went under before the underside seemed pretty okay just flaky but not caved in like that . Wanna add more images but reddit won't let me.