Hi everyone. My name is Mike and I live in Washington state. I've always wanted a land cruiser but I've never considered getting one since they are too expensive for my beater budget (I have one "nice" car and one beater). My beater until recently was a 1989 Toyota pickup, 5 speed 22RE 2WD. Good truck but not ideal for use in winter, or rough forest roads on camping trips, though I used it for that, a lot.
Long story short, there was a land cruiser on my local craigslist with a blown head gasket and the dude was open to trades, so I thought what the hell I'll see if he wants the truck. Turns out he did (the truck was in great mechanical shape and got 28 mpg) and we traded straight across. The truck was a bit rusted (beyond permanent repair) and the land cruiser has basically no real rust so that sealed the deal for me... Not to mention IMO the 80 series is the best looking SUV of all time.
Here is what I ended up with:
248k miles, started right up and drove onto the trailer. I figured how bad can it be, I can fix it, right?
Made it home with no issues, the F150 is savage and pulled it like it was nothing! No front bumper, s**t wheels and tires...
The paint has seen better days but, it's mine!
The interior was a s**t show but it's not the first time I've gotten a nasty rig, so the first thing I did was tear it out and clean everything.
Much better!
Pretty good besides the ripped front seats...
Next was wheels and tires. Got a cheap set of steel 15" 32x11.5 from craigslist and washed the outside of the rig... I like the looks of the black steelies, always have.
Is it lifted? Seems like it. Still need to replace the wheel studs on one wheel but I figured I'd better take the engine apart and get the head to a guy I know.
Long story short, there was a land cruiser on my local craigslist with a blown head gasket and the dude was open to trades, so I thought what the hell I'll see if he wants the truck. Turns out he did (the truck was in great mechanical shape and got 28 mpg) and we traded straight across. The truck was a bit rusted (beyond permanent repair) and the land cruiser has basically no real rust so that sealed the deal for me... Not to mention IMO the 80 series is the best looking SUV of all time.
Here is what I ended up with:
248k miles, started right up and drove onto the trailer. I figured how bad can it be, I can fix it, right?
Made it home with no issues, the F150 is savage and pulled it like it was nothing! No front bumper, s**t wheels and tires...
The paint has seen better days but, it's mine!
The interior was a s**t show but it's not the first time I've gotten a nasty rig, so the first thing I did was tear it out and clean everything.
Much better!
Pretty good besides the ripped front seats...
Next was wheels and tires. Got a cheap set of steel 15" 32x11.5 from craigslist and washed the outside of the rig... I like the looks of the black steelies, always have.
Is it lifted? Seems like it. Still need to replace the wheel studs on one wheel but I figured I'd better take the engine apart and get the head to a guy I know.