Boy, how did I end up after Landpimp.
I originally had a 1974 FJ40 I bought in 1979. I loved that truck and stupidly sold it in 1984. I almost bought another one in 1986, but didn’t have the funds and was about to get married and buy a house. I bought a Jeep Wrangler in 1993 because I missed the experience and wasn’t sure I wanted a 10 year old vehicle. Although the Wrangler was much better on the highway, I was disappointed in how it handled in bad weather and off-road and bought a GMC Jimmy to replace it. For years I would see an FJ40 on the road and talk about it while driving with my wife and kids. My wife got tired of hearing about it and told me to just go buy one, she didn’t think I would actually do it. I looked for about 2 months around the Denver area.
I bought my 1977 FJ40 in 2003 from what turned out to be an unreputable person. I bought it from John Napier. We agreed on what I thought was a good price of $4500 after test driving it. The selling point to me was minimal rust and a strong engine. Lots of other cruisers I drove had lots of rust, and you could tell the engines were tired. They wanted $8K to $10K and I had decided to spend no more than $5K because I figured I would be putting some more into the truck. When I bought my rig it was primer grey (Originally freeborn red by interior) and had diamond plate installed. I told John Napier that I wanted to take the Diamond Plate off, patch what rust was there and paint it red. He told me he could do that and we negotiated another price and 2 weeks. The waiting was long and drawn out and my and others story can be found using the thread linked below. I since found out that others had similar problems. After weeks of waiting I went up there and stood over him and helped him do the work for 2 days on my truck. Finally I brought it home.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=14007
The first thing I did was to go through the truck and fix what needed fixing and baseline all the fluids. Then I installed bigger tires (33x9.5x15 BFG AT’s) I picked these tires because I don’t have power steering and heard these were good tires for it. I have not been disappointed.
I next installed a Tuffy Center console and had to deal with the shifter banging and the rear heater hoses.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=6394
I originally had a 1974 FJ40 I bought in 1979. I loved that truck and stupidly sold it in 1984. I almost bought another one in 1986, but didn’t have the funds and was about to get married and buy a house. I bought a Jeep Wrangler in 1993 because I missed the experience and wasn’t sure I wanted a 10 year old vehicle. Although the Wrangler was much better on the highway, I was disappointed in how it handled in bad weather and off-road and bought a GMC Jimmy to replace it. For years I would see an FJ40 on the road and talk about it while driving with my wife and kids. My wife got tired of hearing about it and told me to just go buy one, she didn’t think I would actually do it. I looked for about 2 months around the Denver area.
I bought my 1977 FJ40 in 2003 from what turned out to be an unreputable person. I bought it from John Napier. We agreed on what I thought was a good price of $4500 after test driving it. The selling point to me was minimal rust and a strong engine. Lots of other cruisers I drove had lots of rust, and you could tell the engines were tired. They wanted $8K to $10K and I had decided to spend no more than $5K because I figured I would be putting some more into the truck. When I bought my rig it was primer grey (Originally freeborn red by interior) and had diamond plate installed. I told John Napier that I wanted to take the Diamond Plate off, patch what rust was there and paint it red. He told me he could do that and we negotiated another price and 2 weeks. The waiting was long and drawn out and my and others story can be found using the thread linked below. I since found out that others had similar problems. After weeks of waiting I went up there and stood over him and helped him do the work for 2 days on my truck. Finally I brought it home.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=14007
The first thing I did was to go through the truck and fix what needed fixing and baseline all the fluids. Then I installed bigger tires (33x9.5x15 BFG AT’s) I picked these tires because I don’t have power steering and heard these were good tires for it. I have not been disappointed.
I next installed a Tuffy Center console and had to deal with the shifter banging and the rear heater hoses.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=6394
Last edited: