Did I make a bad decision on my purchase? Not even sure I should post this here? (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Aug 20, 2018
Threads
4
Messages
15
Location
Apollo Beach, FL
I need an opinion on the truck that I bought. I will give you some background and then I want you to give me an honest value on this vehicle. The truck has been in the SE its entire life mainly in FL. I admit I didn't know enough about these trucks prior to purchasing one. I just knew I wanted one after watching Mike on Overland Bound instead of a Jeep to get into Overlanding. It doesn't overheat and drives nice on the highway.
The truck is a 94 FJZ80 with 242k on the clock. My buddy has a repair shop and was given the truck to cover costs for other work that he had done. He was driving it and the driver side birfield melted down. He replaced the birfield and with the axle and all of the other parts. He has also replaced the:
New AC Condenser
New AC Evaporator
New AC Dryer
New AC Compressor
New Hoses
New Radiator- hole in core
New Alternator
New Plugs & Wires
New Belts
New Master Cylinder
New Pads & Rotors
New S/S Brake Lines
New Struts for Rear Hatch and Hood
Here is the situation it needs tires, dry rot, front bumper banged up, missing rt bumper corner, neither of the side mirrors work, p/s mirror needs to be replaced. Here are the biggest ?, the CLD light doesn't come on or work but will go into low range. Both the rear and font diff lights just flash. Don't know if this is due to the CLD not engaging. With all of this what do you think is a fair price?
 
I need an opinion on the truck that I bought. I will give you some background and then I want you to give me an honest value on this vehicle. The truck has been in the SE its entire life mainly in FL. I admit I didn't know enough about these trucks prior to purchasing one. I just knew I wanted one after watching Mike on Overland Bound instead of a Jeep to get into Overlanding. It doesn't overheat and drives nice on the highway.
The truck is a 94 FJZ80 with 242k on the clock. My buddy has a repair shop and was given the truck to cover costs for other work that he had done. He was driving it and the driver side birfield melted down. He replaced the birfield and with the axle and all of the other parts. He has also replaced the:
New AC Condenser
New AC Evaporator
New AC Dryer
New AC Compressor
New Hoses
New Radiator- hole in core
New Alternator
New Plugs & Wires
New Belts
New Master Cylinder
New Pads & Rotors
New S/S Brake Lines
New Struts for Rear Hatch and Hood
Here is the situation it needs tires, dry rot, front bumper banged up, missing rt bumper corner, neither of the side mirrors work, p/s mirror needs to be replaced. Here are the biggest ?, the CLD light doesn't come on or work but will go into low range. Both the rear and font diff lights just flash. Don't know if this is due to the CLD not engaging. With all of this what do you think is a fair price?

You want to start overlanding in a hammered LC with 242K? If your budget will support get everything reliable enough to overland without issue I would take the money and start with something in better condition.

You said you bought it, what did you pay?
 
A used 80 series Land Cruiser may look like a really great deal to someone who doesn't know anything about these trucks. But may very well be a total piece of junk to the person who does know what their looking at. So we need some photos, it's kind of hard to even talk about putting an accurate value on your truck, without seeing some photos.
 
i don't think 242k is that big a deal. i bought one with 298k and then slapped a SC on it without the mandatory $6,000.00 rebuild that people seem to think neccessary .

in my experience the locker issue is likely the switch on the t-case that senses that the center diff is locked. very common on older trucks where that switch hasn't seen a lot of use.
 
It’s hard to say if you made a bad buy without knowing what you paid.

I look at my cars and trucks like this: I own it and I can put a lot of money into something I own, and plan on keeping, and still be money ahead because I’m not paying the bank. I run around in a 350Kmi Camry and a 215Kmi Sienna, they run like swiss watches because I do maintenance as required. The money stays in my pocket, not some bankers.

As long as there isn’t cancer eating away at the undercarriage, everything else is repairable/rebuildable.

OK so you put a new AC system in, it’ll probably go another 15 years.

You changed out the entire coolant system, probably get 8-10 years out that before you have to touch it again, short of the occasional hose or water pump.

You changed out the brake lines and calipers, another 15 years of worry-free driving, as long as you keep up with maintenance.

See where I’m going with this? By the time you drop $6-$10K in a used truck and new parts, you’ve got another 10-15 years of life on the truck. Sure beats paying the bank $500-600/month for 5 years. ($30k without interest!). $20K buys a lot of fuel for camping trips and adventure.
 
I was was somewhat in your situation. I paid too much for a single owner low mileage rig. I'm pretty sure it sat in someone's yard for a million years before I bought it. My fault for buying it sight unseen from a Toyota dealer out of state. I have dumped a zillion dollars into it to get it baselined. I'm far enough into it where I can't have any regrets now lol. Everyone above is right, these things can take a fortune to get them where they need to be if they have not have the best prior maintenance. I am lucky enough to have a husband that supports this project so I have not had much push back on the massive flows of cash leaving our bank account, haha. I have had a few people tell me I should have just cut my losses and started with a better example but I was already too emotionally connected to the project to let "Pam" go. What does the underside look like?
 
I’d go over it with a fine toothed comb.

Replaced with what? New parts? Junkyard parts? Chinese parts? Toyota? Who did the work?

If it’s not documented and not oem or sourced from vendors like cruiser outfitters or wits’ end, I stay away.

Usually the numbers will add up. There is no free lunch unless nepotism at play.
 
I bought my 1997 80 series ten years ago for $3000.

I have put OEM parts in it when things needed refreshed. I have spent at least $9,000 not including my shade tree labor. Consumables, lifts (that weren’t necessary for how I drive the vehicle), big tires that sucked mileage down to single digits, bumpers, winches, lights, and cup holders. God, the cup holders.... hopefully I can reign in the inner child when it comes time for new tires (and be sensible rather than looking for bad-a$$ery).

Things need worked/sorted out in the beginning of any used vehicle relationship. Figure out your use (overlanding) and build to suit.

Sure, you can find lower mileage vehicles. Mine had 198k then and 340k now.

Assess what works for you and your budget.

And pictures. We demand pictures.
 
The trucks value is in the eye of the owner. Im not sure you could put a price out there that everyone on here would agree is a good price. i know that everyone here would ask more for their truck than they would say the exact same truck is worth if it was for sale. I think your wasting your time looking for someone to help you with buyers remorse. At one time or another all of us have wondered how we got so deep into this project
 
The trucks value is in the eye of the owner. ... At one time or another all of us have wondered how we got so deep into this project

AMEN, Brother!
 
I need an opinion on the truck that I bought. I will give you some background and then I want you to give me an honest value on this vehicle. The truck has been in the SE its entire life mainly in FL. I admit I didn't know enough about these trucks prior to purchasing one. I just knew I wanted one after watching Mike on Overland Bound instead of a Jeep to get into Overlanding. It doesn't overheat and drives nice on the highway.
The truck is a 94 FJZ80 with 242k on the clock. My buddy has a repair shop and was given the truck to cover costs for other work that he had done. He was driving it and the driver side birfield melted down. He replaced the birfield and with the axle and all of the other parts. He has also replaced the:
New AC Condenser
New AC Evaporator
New AC Dryer
New AC Compressor
New Hoses
New Radiator- hole in core
New Alternator
New Plugs & Wires
New Belts
New Master Cylinder
New Pads & Rotors
New S/S Brake Lines
New Struts for Rear Hatch and Hood
Here is the situation it needs tires, dry rot, front bumper banged up, missing rt bumper corner, neither of the side mirrors work, p/s mirror needs to be replaced. Here are the biggest ?, the CLD light doesn't come on or work but will go into low range. Both the rear and font diff lights just flash. Don't know if this is due to the CLD not engaging. With all of this what do you think is a fair price?


For the truck in that condition with all that work (assuming it's QUALITY work...) you should be in the $6K-$8K range. Without pics, it could be more or less.

I paid way less than that, but then threw $6K worth of parts at my truck to make it my DD.

YMMV How deep are your pockets. These are NOT cheap trucks. They CAN be extremely reliable, but it does not come cheap. You get what you pay for. My experience with MY truck is that it spits out aftermarket parts and only likes OEM parts with the exception of a FEW. Those few parts are well documented on the forum.

Good Luck! Hope you get to where you want to be!

Opinions are like A-Holes. This place has a lot of both. Butt also a lot of great advice and help.
 
Getting out there is more important than the rig of choice. If you are not too deep into it yet, then you can look into selling it and look for another one that has been maintained properly. But at least, you are doing what you want to do instead of wrenching on it.

nvm, misread your post :D
 
Looks like this vehicle wasn't well maintained. However, it doesn't mean that it is a lemon or that you should run. I'd do some more analysis as to what else needs to be done (why doesn't the CDL work, etc.) before I ran away. The nice thing is once you get something working (like your A/C system), you know that it probably won't give you any issues for a while. Good luck.
 
Welcome to Mud, the most OCD place on earth. :flipoff2: Now get to work on your new mistress and post some pics ASAP. We LIKE pictures of LandCruisers.
 
So I don't think the stuff you listed sounds that bad and it sounds like your friend has taken care of many of the major systems (axle, radiator, brakes...).

- Tires rotted. Yup, you'll need new ones, but that was going to happen at some point. Put ones you like on and call it good.
- Bumper damage. Ultimately that's cosmetic and won't prevent your Cruiser from running great. It might not even matter, if you get aftermarket bumpers.
- Mirrors. You should be able to adjust them by hand with a little pressure on the glass. Not perfect but they will work. Why does the passenger one need to be replaced?
- Diff locks. Did you say if it even has F/R lockers? The lights might flash but that doesn't mean you have them. Do you have the dial on the left side of the steering wheel? Only a small percentage came with factory F/R lockers. For the center lock, could be the actuator or even the bulb that lights up on the dash. Are you sure it's not coming on? Drive it around in a dirt lot in 4L in random directions. Can you hear the tires skidding on sharp turns (which tells you the CDL is working)? Also, it's normal to have to drive a bit to get the CDL to work if it hasn't been used in years. Mine works a lot faster than when I bought it. It definitely wasn't going to engage if you were sitting still. There is also the possibility that someone did the 7-pin mod which de-couples 4L from automatically locking the center diff. In that case, you would need a switch to control the CDL, it won't come on by itself in either range.

The question is, of all the maintenance your friend did, is there any major work that needs to get done? That could make a bigger difference than the stuff above.
 
Well your first mistake was listening to anything OB Mike says.

Secondly, if it needs a lot of work and you can’t do it yourself, better have deep pockets, ignore the problems, or buy a rig in better shape
 
in my experience the locker issue is likely the switch on the t-case that senses that the center diff is locked. very common on older trucks where that switch hasn't seen a lot of use.

I'd totally roll with this advice, simple way to check is to unplug the connector and put in a paperclip switch it to low and see if the CDL and ABS light up. I had the same situation on the triple locked beat up 80 I brought from someone that clearly hated it, also from what I recall the front and rear's will only flash if the CDL light doesn't come on so once you've trouble shot the CDL issue you can move on to testing the lockers. For me I needed two new switches which I brought for $20 each from Napa as neither my CDL position switch nor my rear locker switch worked (they use the same part) but I tested them all with a paperclip to ensure the center was in fact locking and that I could trip the front and rear lockers into engaging.
 
My CDL light never came on when i bought my truck. so i exercise the button a few times when i took it out to the trail the 1st few times and finally it came alive and now it has been running flawlessly for the past couple yrs. It just need to see some use for the most part.
 

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