I took off the underbody panel today on my 2013 Gen 3 and found the "REINFORCEMENT SUB-ASSY, SIDE RAIL, REAR LH;REINFORCEMENT, FRONT SUSPENSION MEMBER, LH (51108-12010)" to be very rusty. The right-hand rail looked fine for its age. Two questions: Why might the left side be so much worse than the right? Does anyone here have any experience replacing this part? It seems like it is just bolted on and I'm hoping it is as simple (ha!) as unbolting the rusty one and swapping in a new one.
Amayama is significantly cheaper for me, $105~ CDN, with shipping: Checking a US Portland, Maine dealership price (through Toyota USA parts site), the part alone is $109~ USD. lots of road salt in you’re area? It takes periodic attention to the underside, rustproofing measures, to at least slow the rust down. From the factory it seems like a thin coat of black paint is all the ferrous steel gets, and it doesn’t last long. If it was mine, I would thoroughly brush the new one with boiled linseed oil (or something like Fluid Film, if you want) before installing, do the same to the area it’s bolting onto, and the connection bolts after install. I can dig up the bolt torque specs in a bit.
