Advice sought

[unsung]

I've been looking for a 95-97 Land Cruiser but I'm not having success finding a decent one without paying a fortune.

Locally there is a nice looking one but it is a 2004 and has 215,000 miles. Having spent a considerable amount of time researching and trying to find an 80 I really don't know anything about these. It seems they are not as desirable as the 80's but I'm not very sure. Can anyone offer some advice? Thanks!

 

[OverLandCruiser76]

I've been looking for a 95-97 Land Cruiser but I'm not having success finding a decent one without paying a fortune.

Locally there is a nice looking one but it is a 2004 and has 215,000 miles. Having spent a considerable amount of time researching and trying to find an 80 I really don't know anything about these. It seems they are not as desirable as the 80's but I'm not very sure. Can anyone offer some advice? Thanks!

Does that one comes with the in line V6 EFI engine? I'm asking because here in Venezuela they came with that engine until Toyota stopped selling them. If it does, down here they are very desirable because that engine is extremely reliable, runs cool enough so that it isn't damaged when fully submersed and easy to repair! Plus tons of torque and power for off-road use.

 

[unsung]

I'm going to look at a 1997 with 280k miles tonight.

 

[NorthStar96]

There are many 80 series Land Cruisers for sale. where are you located? you might have to drive some to get it home but they are well worth the trip.

 

[unsung]

Chicago.

I'm torn now between trying to rebuild one that I can get for $2k or just picking up a 04-06 for $14k.

 

[NorthStar96]

http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/cto/5751306768.html
http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwi/cto/5769330458.html
http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/cto/5727854856.html

heres 3 real close to you......look harder. :-)

 

[unsung]

Red one is junk, second in Indiana I saw and has frame rot and bad interior, third I considered.

It isn't from lack of trying, thanks.

 

[OverLandCruiser76]

In my country, a land cruiser like that in good shape sells between $25.000 to 35.000. [emoji88][emoji88]

 

[FamilyAdventuresOverland]

They're hard to find with low miles. You'll pretty much get what you pay for though. I spent $2500 for mine and it had 237k on the clock. Had to install new carpet, fix all of the oil leaks, brakes, axles, rust, etc... Some people want crazy money and they're either rusted out or have blown head gaskets. You can find deals out there, it just takes time. If you're not very mechanically inclined, it would be worth it to spend the extra cash on one that has had there work done.

 

[MOAK]

If they are in good shape at all, you're gonna pay between 10 and 14k. I payed 11 for mine 3 years ago and have been offered 14 for it as it sits. Right now, the power steering pump leaks, the LSVP leaks, my front and rear mains leak, and my tc cover gasket leaks. These leaks are all very small & normal, so I'll address them all this winter. The rig is also going in for minor body work and a new paint job this week. The decision to dump some money into it was made after I had it inspected by my local Toyota dealership. They allowed me to walk under the rig and have a conversation with the inspecting technician. I asked straight up if he would have any problems driving it to Alaska and back? He said, replace the P/S pump and the LSPV and all will be good to go. ( The oil leaks amount to a quart every 1500 miles). As the rig burns no oil, ( leak down test) and compression is very good, (175 - 185 lbs) the tech and the rep concurred that our rig is good for easily another 150k miles. ( BTW, I'll be doing all my own work so I'll easily save a couple of grand in labor ) Did I mention our rig has 255,000 on the odo? My advice? Take the time to find a RUST FREE rig from down south or out west that has been well maintained, pay the 10k or so, do some minor maintenance, be very happy.

 

[SLO Rob]

I've been looking for a 95-97 Land Cruiser but I'm not having success finding a decent one without paying a fortune.

Locally there is a nice looking one but it is a 2004 and has 215,000 miles. Having spent a considerable amount of time researching and trying to find an 80 I really don't know anything about these. It seems they are not as desirable as the 80's but I'm not very sure. Can anyone offer some advice? Thanks!

What area are you in? I just posted one in the for sale thread...

 

[Murphy Slaw]

It's unreal how those things hold their value.....

 

[Saints&Sailors]

It sounds like the three that were linked earlier were in pretty rough shape. The low number of photos on all of the ads leads me to believe that their interiors are all trashed and/or the owners aren't trying very hard/don't know how to sell them. For example, not a single one of those vehicles were washed prior to being photographed and the lighting blows in every photo. The sellers can't expect to get top dollar if they aren't going to market the vehicles accordingly.

Option #1: Take your time and be willing to drive 500+ miles to check out other rigs as they are posted on Craigslist. You'll make a couple road trips to check out vehicles that will end up being garbage but maybe there's some cool parks you can check out on the way making the trip worth it. I know that being in Chicago makes finding a decent one tough (I'm originally from there so I know how bad the rust can be).

Option #2: If you don't want to wait, I'd throw a really low offer on one of the three that were linked from Craigslist. Offer $1500 cash and you'll come over right now to pick it up. Sometimes people just want the leaking hunk of metal out of their driveway so it stops leaving oil stains. The advantage of this is that (i) you'll have enough money left over to fix whatever is necessary to get the thing reliable, (ii) if you dent a door or damage something you aren't terribly upset because it was cheap, and (iii) you'll learn A LOT about the vehicle doing all of the maintenance making you more prepared on your next overland trip.

If you're not very mechanically inclined, this could be a good project for you to learn more and practice. Somewhere (maybe it was in the vehicle builds forum?) there was a guy who picked up an old Land Rover for ~$1800 and then used the savings to start doing maintenance and upgrades. If something were to happen to my Jeep, this is the route I'd probably go - find something fun for dirt cheap and then start doing all the maintenance and upgrades myself so that I am very familiar with the vehicle. While I love my Jeep, I'm not terribly brand loyal and, in this scenario, I'd consider almost anything under the sun to fit the bill (e.g. Toyota, Lexus, Jeep, Land Rover, Mercedes ML, etc.).

 

[SeekingThrills]

It's unreal how those things hold their value.....

You should see how much the low mileage factory turbo diesels are still going for in Australia! I don't know whether they get the prices they ask but it's not unusual to see them up for $25,000-$30,000 and upwards! The FZJ's aren't as desirable down here and go for anything from $3k-$10k depending on mods and condition.

Shame you guys missed out on the FZJ105/HZJ105's , it's essentially an 80 series chassis, solid axles all round with a 100 series body and a 1fz-fe with coil packs instead of a distributor or the dirty old underpowered but ever reliable 1hz..

 

[unsung]

It sounds like the three that were linked earlier were in pretty rough shape. The low number of photos on all of the ads leads me to believe that their interiors are all trashed and/or the owners aren't trying very hard/don't know how to sell them. For example, not a single one of those vehicles were washed prior to being photographed and the lighting blows in every photo. The sellers can't expect to get top dollar if they aren't going to market the vehicles accordingly.

Option #1: Take your time and be willing to drive 500+ miles to check out other rigs as they are posted on Craigslist. You'll make a couple road trips to check out vehicles that will end up being garbage but maybe there's some cool parks you can check out on the way making the trip worth it. I know that being in Chicago makes finding a decent one tough (I'm originally from there so I know how bad the rust can be).

Option #2: If you don't want to wait, I'd throw a really low offer on one of the three that were linked from Craigslist. Offer $1500 cash and you'll come over right now to pick it up. Sometimes people just want the leaking hunk of metal out of their driveway so it stops leaving oil stains. The advantage of this is that (i) you'll have enough money left over to fix whatever is necessary to get the thing reliable, (ii) if you dent a door or damage something you aren't terribly upset because it was cheap, and (iii) you'll learn A LOT about the vehicle doing all of the maintenance making you more prepared on your next overland trip.

If you're not very mechanically inclined, this could be a good project for you to learn more and practice. Somewhere (maybe it was in the vehicle builds forum?) there was a guy who picked up an old Land Rover for ~$1800 and then used the savings to start doing maintenance and upgrades. If something were to happen to my Jeep, this is the route I'd probably go - find something fun for dirt cheap and then start doing all the maintenance and upgrades myself so that I am very familiar with the vehicle. While I love my Jeep, I'm not terribly brand loyal and, in this scenario, I'd consider almost anything under the sun to fit the bill (e.g. Toyota, Lexus, Jeep, Land Rover, Mercedes ML, etc.).

After the experience I had last night at the dealership looking to buy a new tacoma I'm leaning towards rebuilding one of the lower prices options out there. I figured I needed to explore all avenues.

I'm pretty decent with a wrench, at least enough so that I'll save a lot of money.

 

[unsung]

They're hard to find with low miles. You'll pretty much get what you pay for though. I spent $2500 for mine and it had 237k on the clock. Had to install new carpet, fix all of the oil leaks, brakes, axles, rust, etc... Some people want crazy money and they're either rusted out or have blown head gaskets. You can find deals out there, it just takes time. If you're not very mechanically inclined, it would be worth it to spend the extra cash on one that has had there work done.

Where did you buy the carpet kit from?

 

[WCO_Ryan]

while not as desirable as the 80 Series the 100 Series is a very capable and reliable rig. A lot of it comes down to what you want to use it for. For the same price as a decent 80 you can get a newer, bigger, more powerful 100 series.