Hey all,
First time posting, long time lurker. Hope I can contribute something to this awesome forum at some point in the near future. I'm a proud owner of a 1997 Toyota 4runner 3rd gen. I've put nice 5100 bilstein adjustable shocks all around, nice duratrac wrangler 265/75/16 tires on the truck. I also invested in a bunch of off road recovery gear (Compressor, Maxtrax w/ mounts, rotopax (2x 3gal) w/ mounts, shovel w/ mount, roof box, nice platform swing away mountain bike rack, etc. So I have a bunch of stuff I'd like to keep going as it's only been around for about a year tops... but alas, my pocketbook has grown more and more annoyed keeping the 186k mile body and frame free of Minnesota rust and I'm just not really willing to shell out the time/money to do a frame swap or something crazy on this vehicle at its age and risk of other complications. They are awesome, they are fun, they don't deserve 15k in repairs to make them last another 5years. Just my opinion. So this brings me to my current situation. I want to sell cheap or part out the 4runner and get a 2001 LC 100 series with 215k miles. It is at my toyota dealer here in Oregon and seems to be in really good shape. 1 owner, 17 years. The manual had a small grocery list in perfect cursive lettering with healthy food on it. (don't know why that matters but stuck in my head...) Seems like it was pampered and driven pretty lightly, albeit frequently over the past decade and a half. The t joints that I've read have been known to fail near the rear of the engine block are pristine, the brake pump/compressor functions as it should, the dealership did the timing belt and water pump right before putting it on the lot, new battery, new fluids, no rust on the frame or body, no rust in the tailgate, interior leather and all controls look like new, (not armorall but just like they have been used lightly). All lights, windows, transfer case, shifters, moonroof, doors, locks etc. work well. I took it for a test drive around town and on the highway and it drives very nice and smooth but is definitely a bigger rig than the 4r, brakes and throttle are definitely more sensitive than my old t4runner too... What else should I be checking out when I go to look tomorrow?? I can see the front wheel bearings are rusty through the chrome wheels but things don't seem to have much play and it handles nicely. I put in a semi low ball offer on a 10,990 lot price of 8,500 and they met me at 9000. With Oregon there is no tax
. That's the lay of the land. Rusty 1997 t4r, nice 2001 LC100 with high mileage, a bunch of parts that I'd like to reuse, not a ton of dispensable cash, but enough to invest in a new rig.
Pre-Owned 2001 Toyota Land Cruiser Four Wheel Drive SUV
So... The question.
-Should I get this used car? Is it right for me? I look to the sage advice of the forum for guidance in this time of decision... It is in nearly perfect condition from what I can tell. I love the LC platform and intend to build a good dual purpose (off road + on road) rig for the following reasons:
1. Go explore the US countryside for hiking, rock climbing, mountain biking, and general backcountry camping that gets us away from the crowd. I love being out a little bit from civilization. Don't need to go totally into the middle of nowhere and have an unexpected breakdown or something that ruins a weekend. Somewhere in the middle of "out there" necessity.
2. Don't need super crazy rock crawling capability. I'll likely get a dirt bike or a ATV for serious offroad trails in MN and WI in the next few years and tow it behind on a small utility trailer. I drive in snow, ice, sand, gravel, about 40% of the time (it's winter for 5 months every year in MN) and on city and highway pavement about 60% of the time.
3. Mods/Upgrades: I'd likely take off the running boards, put on some sliders, add some additional skids for the times that I'll try my hand at a line I'm not really experienced with, get my roofrack sorted with maxtrax, shovel, roofbox, and add an ARB or similar front winch mount bumper as I drive in the land of 10,000 lakes and 100,000,000 deer/moose etc. I also built a really awesome sleeper/cooking box that is in the T4r that I may want to reuse or modify to fit the new rig.
4. "us" = me my lady and my labrador dog with kids in the 5 year future. Would like a good set up that we won't grow out of too quickly. I intend to do a couple of long trips across the US and possibly to SAmerica (pan american hwy) and would love to build a rig that was up to the challenge. The high mileage (215k) is the only thing that scares me here. mPG is part of the bargain for the reliability and capability of the platform in my opinion. I drive with 3-4 people, a trunk of outdoor gear, and a few dogs, for 3-4 hours almost every weekend of the year. This should be a good rig to take people and gear to wherever I want to go.
5. Aside from the mods, I would like to get something that I can build up as I go and use the parts I've invested in the t4r if at all possible. This is a big question as I don't know if there's any way... or reason, to put 5100 adjustable bilstein front and rear shocks with OME 2881 front coilover and OME 2906 rear springs into a LC 100. Is there a possibility with this to help out the stock suspension or am I being stupid in thinking this is possible?? I'd like to use my tires and/or rims if possible. They are stock rims but would save me 1k in new rims and another 1k in new tires. I love the duratrac in snow, sand, and ice and they are suprisingly quiet, they are heavy though. There are road tires and some weird aftermarket glammy rims on the thing now... They need to go regardless. I may upgrade in the future but these do just fine for the moment.
6. I haul a 5x8 trailer (~2000lbs) full of band equipment about 20 days a year. I haul a heavy pontoon, speedboat, sailboat, and other watercraft about 10-15 miles about 5-10 days a year when we put in and out at the cabin in Wisconsin. I plan to get a 4x4 ATV or dirt bike in the next few years. Would trail this behind in utility. (Thought about a Tundra for just loading that stuff in the bed but can't really do the whole full size pick up thing just yet both price wise and the size of the thing. It won't fit in my garage...)
7. I'd like to not spend more than 3-4k immediately after purchase with upgrades. a 12-13k total for the rig from used lot to my garage. I'd like to bargain with the dealer to get them to do any install of parts or preventative maintenance that is recommended for a vehicle of this age/mileage. The history on the vehicle is kind of spotty so that has me wondering what should be done before I drive off the lot. Again, it has only had one owner who bought it new in 2001 and just sold it this year to get another LC. The carfax is just regular maintenance/check ups and there are sometimes years in between entries in the carfax. Again the thing looks and drives like a dream but don't know if that raises red flags for you all.
Thanks in advance for all of your help. There is great wisdom in this forum and I'm hoping you all will be friendly to my naivety, honest in your advice, and creative with your ideas. I'd love to join the crew, just looking for a good entry point that won't screw me over.
First time posting, long time lurker. Hope I can contribute something to this awesome forum at some point in the near future. I'm a proud owner of a 1997 Toyota 4runner 3rd gen. I've put nice 5100 bilstein adjustable shocks all around, nice duratrac wrangler 265/75/16 tires on the truck. I also invested in a bunch of off road recovery gear (Compressor, Maxtrax w/ mounts, rotopax (2x 3gal) w/ mounts, shovel w/ mount, roof box, nice platform swing away mountain bike rack, etc. So I have a bunch of stuff I'd like to keep going as it's only been around for about a year tops... but alas, my pocketbook has grown more and more annoyed keeping the 186k mile body and frame free of Minnesota rust and I'm just not really willing to shell out the time/money to do a frame swap or something crazy on this vehicle at its age and risk of other complications. They are awesome, they are fun, they don't deserve 15k in repairs to make them last another 5years. Just my opinion. So this brings me to my current situation. I want to sell cheap or part out the 4runner and get a 2001 LC 100 series with 215k miles. It is at my toyota dealer here in Oregon and seems to be in really good shape. 1 owner, 17 years. The manual had a small grocery list in perfect cursive lettering with healthy food on it. (don't know why that matters but stuck in my head...) Seems like it was pampered and driven pretty lightly, albeit frequently over the past decade and a half. The t joints that I've read have been known to fail near the rear of the engine block are pristine, the brake pump/compressor functions as it should, the dealership did the timing belt and water pump right before putting it on the lot, new battery, new fluids, no rust on the frame or body, no rust in the tailgate, interior leather and all controls look like new, (not armorall but just like they have been used lightly). All lights, windows, transfer case, shifters, moonroof, doors, locks etc. work well. I took it for a test drive around town and on the highway and it drives very nice and smooth but is definitely a bigger rig than the 4r, brakes and throttle are definitely more sensitive than my old t4runner too... What else should I be checking out when I go to look tomorrow?? I can see the front wheel bearings are rusty through the chrome wheels but things don't seem to have much play and it handles nicely. I put in a semi low ball offer on a 10,990 lot price of 8,500 and they met me at 9000. With Oregon there is no tax
. That's the lay of the land. Rusty 1997 t4r, nice 2001 LC100 with high mileage, a bunch of parts that I'd like to reuse, not a ton of dispensable cash, but enough to invest in a new rig.Pre-Owned 2001 Toyota Land Cruiser Four Wheel Drive SUV
So... The question.
-Should I get this used car? Is it right for me? I look to the sage advice of the forum for guidance in this time of decision... It is in nearly perfect condition from what I can tell. I love the LC platform and intend to build a good dual purpose (off road + on road) rig for the following reasons:
1. Go explore the US countryside for hiking, rock climbing, mountain biking, and general backcountry camping that gets us away from the crowd. I love being out a little bit from civilization. Don't need to go totally into the middle of nowhere and have an unexpected breakdown or something that ruins a weekend. Somewhere in the middle of "out there" necessity.
2. Don't need super crazy rock crawling capability. I'll likely get a dirt bike or a ATV for serious offroad trails in MN and WI in the next few years and tow it behind on a small utility trailer. I drive in snow, ice, sand, gravel, about 40% of the time (it's winter for 5 months every year in MN) and on city and highway pavement about 60% of the time.
3. Mods/Upgrades: I'd likely take off the running boards, put on some sliders, add some additional skids for the times that I'll try my hand at a line I'm not really experienced with, get my roofrack sorted with maxtrax, shovel, roofbox, and add an ARB or similar front winch mount bumper as I drive in the land of 10,000 lakes and 100,000,000 deer/moose etc. I also built a really awesome sleeper/cooking box that is in the T4r that I may want to reuse or modify to fit the new rig.
4. "us" = me my lady and my labrador dog with kids in the 5 year future. Would like a good set up that we won't grow out of too quickly. I intend to do a couple of long trips across the US and possibly to SAmerica (pan american hwy) and would love to build a rig that was up to the challenge. The high mileage (215k) is the only thing that scares me here. mPG is part of the bargain for the reliability and capability of the platform in my opinion. I drive with 3-4 people, a trunk of outdoor gear, and a few dogs, for 3-4 hours almost every weekend of the year. This should be a good rig to take people and gear to wherever I want to go.
5. Aside from the mods, I would like to get something that I can build up as I go and use the parts I've invested in the t4r if at all possible. This is a big question as I don't know if there's any way... or reason, to put 5100 adjustable bilstein front and rear shocks with OME 2881 front coilover and OME 2906 rear springs into a LC 100. Is there a possibility with this to help out the stock suspension or am I being stupid in thinking this is possible?? I'd like to use my tires and/or rims if possible. They are stock rims but would save me 1k in new rims and another 1k in new tires. I love the duratrac in snow, sand, and ice and they are suprisingly quiet, they are heavy though. There are road tires and some weird aftermarket glammy rims on the thing now... They need to go regardless. I may upgrade in the future but these do just fine for the moment.
6. I haul a 5x8 trailer (~2000lbs) full of band equipment about 20 days a year. I haul a heavy pontoon, speedboat, sailboat, and other watercraft about 10-15 miles about 5-10 days a year when we put in and out at the cabin in Wisconsin. I plan to get a 4x4 ATV or dirt bike in the next few years. Would trail this behind in utility. (Thought about a Tundra for just loading that stuff in the bed but can't really do the whole full size pick up thing just yet both price wise and the size of the thing. It won't fit in my garage...)
7. I'd like to not spend more than 3-4k immediately after purchase with upgrades. a 12-13k total for the rig from used lot to my garage. I'd like to bargain with the dealer to get them to do any install of parts or preventative maintenance that is recommended for a vehicle of this age/mileage. The history on the vehicle is kind of spotty so that has me wondering what should be done before I drive off the lot. Again, it has only had one owner who bought it new in 2001 and just sold it this year to get another LC. The carfax is just regular maintenance/check ups and there are sometimes years in between entries in the carfax. Again the thing looks and drives like a dream but don't know if that raises red flags for you all.
Thanks in advance for all of your help. There is great wisdom in this forum and I'm hoping you all will be friendly to my naivety, honest in your advice, and creative with your ideas. I'd love to join the crew, just looking for a good entry point that won't screw me over.
. Or like a Chick-fil-a or Hobby Lobby on Sunday where they're busy with holy matters. They're really easy to take off unless you have a ton of rust.
... thinking about next steps and not shooting myself in the foot with this, What do you all recommend for a simple dual battery set up? There’s a ton of room under the hood so I assume someone makes an all in one with a connect/disconnect pack to link batteries/alternator right? I’ll do some searching first... should be fine with factory torsion bars.
