@OBiE0311
Thanks for that! Several of those I’ve seen. I’ve really been leaning towards Land Cruisers, but I’ll admit it’s tough to shell out $6500+ for a car with 265k miles on it. What are your thoughts on that?
My 97 Tacoma has 317k+ on her now and is still my daily driver. I was planning on building her into a more robust overland truck but a couple of things got in the way of that.
1) I wanted to have the option to have more than 1 friend along for the ride.
2) Finding upgrades for a 97 single cab Tacoma was difficult. Very few options for sliders (even fewer bolt on), bumpers, and the suspension is just odd enough that it's difficult to do right.
3) The 3.6l v6 with 317k on the clock did not like towing my 3k lbs trailer here in the mountains. It's fine on the flats when I picked it up down in Longmont but a couple of long steep hills made it apparent that it would not be a fun tow vehicle to the locations I wanted to go.
The 265k would not concern me much on a Toyota with a detailed service history available. I'd take it to a Toyota shop that I trusted and have it looked over if they give it the thumbs up go for it.
Some additional thoughts on the LC links I gave you:
The 1999 Toyota Land Cruiser for $6995 with 234k miles:
I drove a friends 99LC last summer, over to Capitol Reef and all around the park, It was a supercharged v6 with similar shocks and tires to this truck. Great truck. We'd removed the 3rd row and the 40 side from the 2nd row seats to fit 3 photographers each with full camping and photo gear. Aftermarket roof rack was a big+ here with this much gear.
* The K&N Cold Air Intake System concerns me. These if not properly installed and maintained can allow lots of dust into the engine.
* Old Man Emu shocks - the default upgrade and good on rough roads and the hwy.
* Find out how much of the work was done by Slee (Window sticker) These guys know these trucks The more work they did the more comfortable I'd feel with the mileage.
* The cracks in the gauge cluster peak my interest an would prompt questions.
The Toyota Landcruiser for $6500 in Colorado Springs with 293k miles:
Not much info in the listing. Looks to be a basically stock truck.
* 907 mi in 2000 likely a dealer test drive car for the first year of it's life. Might have some sought after stock options. Check for locking Diffs (look for more than the switch! some folks have been known to install the switch so folks think the Diff locker is installed.)
* They say they have it's history, ask to see it. Get the Vin and log on to
https://www.toyota.com/owners/parts-service/history# to see any work done by a dealership or owner who logged their 3rd party work (rare)
If you are interested in a Land Cruiser head over to RedLine (
http://redlinelandcruisers.com) and talk to them. See what they charge for a truck inspection for any you find in the Springs.
If you find some in the Denver Area you'll need to come up during the week but get in contact with Slee and see what they charge to do a pre-purchase inspection for any Denver Area LC's.
All that said I paid more than you listed as your upper limit for my 2006 4Runner last month mostly because it was low miles with a good service history and likely never off road.
Are you planning to go to the Front Range Overland MeetUp today? (
https://www.overlandbound.com/event/february-front-range-overland-meetup/ ) I'm planning to be there for the first hour or so talking with others about trucks places etc... If you do come look me up. There should be a good variation in the types of rigs and owners to talk to.
Boort
