78 FJ40 For Sale - Northeast

Location

United States

I’ve decided to try to sell my FJ40… it has been in my family for 24 years, and was bought new before that by my father’s business partner in 1978. It has about 80,000 miles on it total, and has been totally redone over the last ten years by me basically as a hobby. Most of this time it was in storage and driven occasionally in the summer as a second or third car. My original idea was to use it purely for offroading/hunting/camping however a few years ago they prohibited motor vehicle use for all the trails and roads in the Adirondacks so there is not much I can do with it anymore. Not to mention I’ve moved and now it just sits in my dad’s barn untouched.

This Cruiser is very valuable in parts, almost all of it has been replaced/upgraded over the last decade and in that time I’ve probably put under 2000 miles on it total. I have about ten pounds of receipts from the day it was bought forward. It should definately go to someone mechanically inclined, as it is not stock and is as most of these things it’s a constant work in progress.


-stock 4-speed tranny and stock transfer
- aluminum tub, grille, tailgate, front side panels
- durabak coated steel body parts (cowel, fenders, hood)
- new steel fenders
- durabak coated frame
- 2F, Rebuilt by Man-a-Fre, less than 1000miles on rebuild (runs great)
- non-usa carb and distributor from SOR
- EZ wiring harness
- LED front and rear turn, park, stop, and reverse lights
- CCOT HFS springs (4" rear, 2.5" front)
- New Heckethorn shocks, Ford front shock tower mod
- MAF shackle reversal (lifts 1.5” front)
- New shackles (greasable),shocks, tie-rods, relay rod, rod ends
-All new brake lines (steel braided to axles), fairly new brakes
- Lockright rear
- 33x12.50 Super Swamper TSL
- 6to1 header
- power steering (mini truck, chevy pump), JT Outfitters kit
- New front and rear bumper, rear spare tire carrier from Hummer H2
- New starter motor, coil, water pump, and alternator
-New Centerforce clutch

Extras (separate):
-Hard top in decent shape but must be rebuilt/painted
-Excellent vinyl seats from a Nissan Maxima to be fitted (very similar in size and appearance to stock seats)


Known Negatives:
- Front doors are rusted through at the bottom. They are doors from a 71 which I found at a junk yard and was using as I could never find the doors which the original owner had taken off.
- Cannot get the hazards working properly with the EZ-wiring harness
- There is a rattling noise coming from the clutch bellhousing which cannot figure out.
-Not really so much of a negative but the frame which had rusted through on the bottoms of the boxed portion on the center has been cut out and rewelded. It’s quite solid but understandably some folks don’t like this so it should be mentioned.

I don’t think I can possibly list everything about this truck, so if your interested please ask questions or even better come out and see it!

I’m asking $10,000 which is probably half of whats gone into it in the last few years! Located in East Aurora NY 14052

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[gerhar]

No interest at all in this? Too much $$? Noone in the Northeast?

 

[SouthBostonFJ40]

You asked, so here goes...


There's plenty of us in the Northeast, but your truck is priced high for one that has the known negatives that you listed and cosmetically has some things that most cruiser enthusists don't want like the diamond plate and the aftermarket truck lights. It would take a lot of body work to fix the lights.

While a 78 is a very desirable year to use to start a renovation, no one is going to pay anywhere close to $10K for your truck in this economy.


You should post up a "What's this worth?" thread or throw it on eBay and see what you get.

 

[diggity]

Appears to be priced way high given known issues and current market. However with that said, my brother
had one in overall worse shape than you describe and sold it on ebay for 6k about 8 months back.

Good luck.

 

[toomanytoyzz]

$10,000 is WAY too high for a truck which had a repaired frame due to rust. I'm sure if I was to get under it I could find some more rot or soon to be rot. I would cut your asking price in half. The market is soft for cruisers along with just about every collector car due to the financial crunch. I would just hold on to it until the market gets better.

 

[stainless 40/45]

When will reality set in with the cruiser folks, not to be rude or a jerk but if anyone on the east coast pays that kind of money for what you described I will eat my hat. You have to almost give stuff away here on the east coast,west coast might be a different story. This is how I see it East coast is lockrites West coast is ARBs for the most part. Lower your price so us welfare reciepients like me can afford it.

 

[gerhar]

Fair enough... got my answer!

I wasn't really sure what to ask for it as i've seen fjs in worse shape go for more out here. still, I feel i need to clarify on this rust thing... this is not a rusty cruiser at all and it's never been driven in a winter here. The frame repair I mentioned is in the middle of the truck (at the transmission and a bit back) where the frame is partially boxed. The portion that was rusted were the inner C-channels, and it was due to mud getting in there over the years and plugging up the drain holes so the water/mud could not get out or dry up quickly. The rest of the frame is quite good... i'm not saying there was no surface rust on it but it is quite solid. When the work was done we wire-wheeled the whole frame, prepped it with solvent, coated with Zero Rust, prepped with zylene, and then coated with Durabak. I have a lot more pictures I will dig up.

As for cutting the price in half... there's more money than that under the hood. The rear lights and holes from them can be fixed with aluminum quarter panels if those are not liked (I even have some new stock lamps.)

Maybe I could part it out... while these days there is understandably not high demand for collector cars i'm sure people would like deals on parts for the ones they have. I just wanted to avoid ending up with more of a mess of Cruiser parts than I already have. If there is interest in the major stuff on it somewhat locally (engine, axles, body parts, cage, wheels/tires, etc.), the rest I could throw on ebay and ship. Let me know if there are folks around who want parts and could pick them up.

Otherwise you can consider my price flexible, a "best offer" sort of thing.

Here are some more pics... they are older but th truck has barely been driven since then. The softtop is no longer mine, and the bare aluminum side panels have been painted black since then. i will take some this weekend of the engine bay and suspension and such.

 

[stainless 40/45]

Once again not to be rude or obnoxious,that rig is worth about $4000 tops. You should of left the add pictureless you might of been better off. Tough market I'm giving stuff away,no joke. I had 2 friends over today just taking stuff,actually I don't mind cause pretty soon the stuff is going to the dumps.

 

[40Flipper]

I've learned from experience and you probably now now that MUD is the last place to go for top dollar for a cruiser. generally we think we know too much and most have too much experience with these trucks and are extremely critical....myself included. I'm probably more guilty of that than anyone.

I truly wish you luck on the sale. eBay will likely net you more than MUD. just speaking from experience.

You have a ton of good parts so parting it out would likely net you more $$$ in the end but it's a HUGE pain.

 

[stainless 40/45]

I've learned from experience and you probably now now that MUD is the last place to go for top dollar for a cruiser. generally we think we know too much and most have too much experience with these trucks and are extremely critical....myself included. I'm probably more guilty of that than anyone.

I truly wish you luck on the sale. eBay will likely net you more than MUD. just speaking from experience.

You have a ton of good parts so parting it out would likely net you more $$$ in the end but it's a HUGE pain.

I would have to agree,the folks here on mud are very informed and in my opinion want something for nothing,or at least they are in there minds ruthless negotiators.

 

[allfoden]

Northeast

Where exactly are you in the northeast? Definately worth $5K IMHO.

 

[woytovich]

I think this is easily a $7500 truck, and would be a DEAL at $5000...
In my opinion.

 

[gerhar]

it's located south of Buffalo, 14052.

7500 would be reasonable I think. 5000 is too low i'd rather part it out then... I've been looking at receipts for desirable parts on there and cutting the prices in half to get a conservative estimate of what I would get parting it out, and I get past $5000 pretty quick.

 

[allfoden]

FJ40

you have a pm

 

[gerhar]

replied i think. unless you sent two? seems like you wrote this after i already replied

 

[allfoden]

FJ40

another pm

 

[stainless 40/45]

My apologies,that rig after carefull reading and a bettter pair of glasses is most certainly worth the $7500 and more if you were on the West coast. I hope you sell it quickly and are you open for trades.

 

[gerhar]

My apologies,that rig after carefull reading and a bettter pair of glasses is most certainly worth the $7500 and more if you were on the West coast. I hope you sell it quickly and are you open for trades.

are you serious? sorry but after the "you would have been better off not posting pictures" comment that post is pretty shocking.

what you got to trade?

 

[JJS]

That's definitely nice for an eastern rig. $10k is a bit steep right now, but I think that $7500 is more than reasonable.

 

[bsmith123]

Whats it worth?

Below I listed just some of the stuff you have on your rig, some are estimates but the point is even at a short count you are over 12K and I know there is probably a few thousand more at least so I can understand how you feel. But it would not hurt for you to do a full accurate price list to sink the point home

Here is what I think might help you---not trying to be critical but basically a list of negatives to overcome and get it's true value up


The appearance is the main problem, you'd be better off with a stockish color I think. Not too many like black. The fender plastic is not everyones cup of tea- you could get the metal eshans ones, but this is liveable I suppose. are the wheel wells cut? if not maybe you could lose them altogether. The lights--LED lights look okay there I think though some do not like them---they do move em up and out of harm. The white wheels dont work for me with the black paint.

do you have build pics? I dont see any photos of underneath or the engine or the interior

-You mention a rusted through frame--I am one that does not like that but if it was isolated show the quality of the repair and how the rest is good to build confidence in the frame (especially bare metal pics if you have em) or at least say you can promise a full inspection of the frame will satisfy anyone.

The clutch rattle and the Hazard lights--- I know you are just being honest but fix em, you dont need to be advertising problems with a 10k price

The extras---either throw them in or dont mention them---you are just giving me haggling info with that

Your rig is kinda in between--not a fully decked out hardcore wheeler with all the goodies, and not a pretty painted weekender if you know what I mean

For the most part it is a presentation prob I think. Mud has it's own taste norms too--- on EBAY I just looked at rigs between 9 and 11k and yours has a lot more invested than what I saw

Problem is ya know some sweet stock looking rigs pop up at 5-7K but your rig does have a lot of brand new, good quality stuff
although it may be a little of an ugly duck. If it had a stock looking body and shiny paint plenty would be oooohing and ahhhhing for sure.

Best of Luck




soft top and bows $1000
- aluminum tub, grille, tailgate, front side panels AUQULA $3000
for tub alone
- new steel fenders ccot $389
- 2F, Rebuilt by Man-a-Fre, less than 1000miles on rebuild $ 3400
- CCOT HFS springs (4" rear, 2.5" front) lift kit about $1000
- non-usa carb from SOR $1000 new
- CCOT HFS springs (4" rear, 2.5" front) lift kit about $1000
- 200-300 for distrib $300
- EZ wiring harness $170

- Lockright rear around $300
- 6to1 header MAF $425
- power steering (mini truck, chevy pump), JT Outfitters kit $399
-New Centerforce clutch $340


Over $12,000

- New Heckethorn shocks, Ford front shock tower mod
- MAF shackle reversal (lifts 1.5” front)
- New shackles (greasable),shocks, tie-rods, relay rod, rod ends
-All new brake lines (steel braided to axles), fairly new brakes

- 33x12.50 Super Swamper TSL


- New front and rear bumper, rear spare tire carrier from Hummer H2
- New starter motor, coil, water pump, and alternator