A 100 is expensive and a labor of love (MUDD appreciation thread) (1 Viewer)

[nukegoat]

"Expensive" is subjective.

As directed by everyone here on mud I bought the newest, lowest mileage, best maintained vehicle I could find (and paid a lot for it). Immediately I had AHC issues (luckily I was saved by another 100 series enthusiast, no cost other than destroying a pair of tires) and then the brake booster s*** the bed within the first 2,000 miles to the tune of $772. Repairing the PO's ham-fistedness has got me quickly adding to that figure even though the baselining was 100% done just 40k miles ago. I was hoping that once I have it sorted out I can keep the costs under $300 a month or so but I'm already doubting if that's possible. So f*** you guys, it's all your fault

Not a chance

 

[boca1]

Owning any 20 year old vehicle with hundreds of thousands of miles can be expensive, but its not just 100 series. The difference is 100 series owners stare at these threads on mud all day and panic fix parts before they are even broken.

I have seen 100 series go well over 200kmiles with little to no maintenance.

Maybe I am the only one who thinks you don't need to put a lift kit from and accessorize your truck from bumper to bumper to make this truck capable of 95% of trails. I see way to many threads of new 100 series owners, first post is always "what is the biggest tire or advice on lift kit"

not jjust 100 series, I see brand new taco's with 10k in mods that have never seen dirt

 

[ClassyJalopy]

these are just what I remember from the top of my head. my 7500 initial rig is now past 3 times that in total cost in mods and maintenance (in 1.5years of ownership)...

BUT I feel like it will last another 20 years and 300k more miles, I daily drive this rig 70miles roundtrip each day.
This is not a classic for the feint of heart or wallet, but it is easy to work on if you are semi-ok with tools AND the information held here on mudd.

Aah the cycle of life goes on! I wouldn't count on it not requiring any additional upkeep - just not realistic.
Just keep saving up for the next failure man - steering rack, brake booster/accumulator, rear AC lines, fuel pump, radiator and on and on. Everything is 20 years old, all bushings are tired, and everything is just plain old. Luckily you live outside the rust belt otherwise you would get to enjoy rust repair too!

If you choose to take your truck off road you will have the aging components fail sooner than later - but on smooth tarmac they may last a little while longer.

Everyone who drives a 100 series pays up, either upfront like @FxFormat or bleed by a hundred cuts like a lot of others. Ask @gregnash , @87warrior , @OwnerCS and @MongooseGA . No one wants to add up what they have invested in their trucks. Enjoy it while you can afford it and off load it to the next sucker when you can't. Circle of life!

 

[MongooseGA]

You made me do math for just what's been done to mine this Summer alone.

It's more than most people would pay for their 100 to begin with.

 

[BullElk]

If you had to take it down to what you actually needed to do to keep it on the road reliably I think you'd be surprised by how cheap it was to keep running.

^^^ Without a doubt. 99% of LC/LXs are not expensive to own unless the owner chooses to sink cash into.....because it is not mandatory. The personal preference expenses are unfairly portrayed as a huge cost of ownership. That's insane. Not to mention the total waste of OCD "baselining" cash. How did so many LC/LX owners get convinced into thinking baselining is a "given" after a purchase? Just nuts.

 

[ClassyJalopy]

^^^ Without a doubt. 99% of LC/LXs are not expensive to own unless the owner chooses to sink cash into.....because it is not mandatory. The personal preference expenses are unfairly portrayed as a huge cost of ownership. That's insane. Not to mention the total waste of OCD "baselining" cash. How did so many LC/LX owners get convinced into thinking baselining is a "given" after a purchase? Just nuts.

I agree that it is unfair to count the upgrades towards the cost of ownership.

But baselining is required for at least a few things such as fluids and front bearings, brakes, timing belt (if due) and suspension issues (thinks, clunks and leaky CVS, racks etc.)
A few of us were stranded on road with the most common failures such as fuel pump/relay, starter, brake booster, radiator, ignition lock cylinder and even the alternator. Those things do cost real green money to fix!

 

[OwnerCS]

Aah the cycle of life goes on! I wouldn't count on it not requiring any additional upkeep - just not realistic.
Just keep saving up for the next failure man - steering rack, brake booster/accumulator, rear AC lines, fuel pump, radiator and on and on. Everything is 20 years old, all bushings are tired, and everything is just plain old. Luckily you live outside the rust belt otherwise you would get to enjoy rust repair too!

If you choose to take your truck off road you will have the aging components fail sooner than later - but on smooth tarmac they may last a little while longer.

Everyone who drives a 100 series pays up, either upfront like @FxFormat or bleed by a hundred cuts like a lot of others. Ask @gregnash , @87warrior , @OwnerCS and @MongooseGA . No one wants to add up what they have invested in their trucks. Enjoy it while you can afford it and off load it to the next sucker when you can't. Circle of life!

Ha! I actually didn't spend much on the initial purchase. So low that I don't want to talk about it. I planned to spend from 10k to 12k to turn it into what I want.

I would rather put some $$$ into a 20-year-old 100 than buy something new (or much newer) and take a big hit on depreciation. Also, I would still be modding a newer vehicle anyway with armor and wheels. That would happen either way.

 

[MongooseGA]

^^^ Without a doubt. 99% of LC/LXs are not expensive to own unless the owner chooses to sink cash into.....because it is not mandatory. The personal preference expenses are unfairly portrayed as a huge cost of ownership. That's insane. Not to mention the total waste of OCD "baselining" cash. How did so many LC/LX owners get convinced into thinking baselining is a "given" after a purchase? Just nuts.

I 'baseline' every vehicle I purchase. I don't know what was or wasn't done, and even with receipts, I still don't know by whom the work was done. I purchased my LX with ~218k on the clock- not exactly the shining example of "you've got a while before you need to worry about 'X'". This is the same reason I have a 100+ piece order in to baseline my 1991 560SEL that's been in storage for years. Sure, I could run it as it is, but it's not "right" as it is. I want my vehicles to be "right".

Beyond that, some people are more likely to tolerate a vibration, a creak, or a hiccup more than others. I do not let items in my vehicles fester unless I know exactly what it is and what risk exists by not addressing it immediately. I do not tolerate vibrations or squeaks or creaks that aren't supposed to be there. I do not just shrug and say "oh well" when a non-essential electrical accessory stops working. I do not see a leak from anywhere and think "uh, guess that means there's fluid in it ha ha". I do "while you're in there" for items that are, at this point, known 250k+ mile, 15+ year old items. I recently had my CVs replaced, and decided to replace the 'ok' hub flanges as well, and instead of just repacking bearings, I replaced. Mine were 'ok', but I'll be damned if I'm going to spend a figure with a comma in it for a given job and put parts back on that are just 'ok' when they interact with my new parts.

And now you know why I have over $40K in my 100. (Granted, that's significantly beyond just maintenance costs)

 

[87warrior]

Aah the cycle of life goes on! I wouldn't count on it not requiring any additional upkeep - just not realistic.
Just keep saving up for the next failure man - steering rack, brake booster/accumulator, rear AC lines, fuel pump, radiator and on and on. Everything is 20 years old, all bushings are tired, and everything is just plain old. Luckily you live outside the rust belt otherwise you would get to enjoy rust repair too!

If you choose to take your truck off road you will have the aging components fail sooner than later - but on smooth tarmac they may last a little while longer.

Everyone who drives a 100 series pays up, either upfront like @FxFormat or bleed by a hundred cuts like a lot of others. Ask @gregnash , @87warrior , @OwnerCS and @MongooseGA . No one wants to add up what they have invested in their trucks. Enjoy it while you can afford it and off load it to the next sucker when you can't. Circle of life!

Man...you made me do it. I tried to recall what I have done and recorded what I consider the bare minimum to keep my 100 going.

1999 100 series was purchased in 2015 with 246,000 miles from the original owners widow. Had a stack of maintenance records from the Toyota dealer up to 230,000 miles, when I assume the original owner passed away and his son started driving the 100. Purchase price was $6,500. As of this posting I have put 95,000 miles on the Cruiser.

555 Ball Joints	$179.00​
Toyota Steering Rack	$480.07​
Toyota Shocks	$176.76​
Denso Ignition Coils	$430.24​
Toyota MAF	$97.53​
Denso Spark Plugs	$68.64​
Whiteline Steering Rack Bushings	$41.73​
Toyota Denso Re-manufactured Alternator	$282.46​
Toyota CV Axles	$809.60​
Toyota Hub Flanges	$104.92​
Toyota Rear Upper Control Arms	$307.88​
SPC Rear Lower Control Arms	$249.95​
Timken and Koyo Wheel Bearings	$126.80​
Denso O2 Sensor	$43.43​
Toyota Rear Driveshaft	$349.31​
Aisin Timing Belt Kit	$167.81​
Aisin Fan Clutch	$84.78​
Toyota Radiator	$463.04​
Toyota Brake Booster Assembly	$2,479.26​
Toyota Denso Starter	$168.68​

And the total? $7,111.89 All labor done in my garage, by me, so there are no labor costs. This doesn't include preventative maintenance items like the heater tees, radiator hoses, serpentine belt, 4 bearing repacks, two sets of tires, the ever ending oil change supply for the motor/trans/tcase/diffs or any mods.

Dear lord, please don't let my wife find this

 

[katit]

I count every 0.01 I spend on LX be it tools I bought or supplies. So far less than $15k total everything including purchase. I think I will be somewhere around 18 when all done but I think it's worth it, car actually "appreciated" during this year and I feel pretty good about spending money on it. I doubt I can go and buy one today in a same shape for 15k

 

[Mike NXP]

I wonder how much of the above repairs were needed and how many were just PM.

In the same breath, I could dump just a much money into most any rig and keep it running just as long. So its not a 100 series specific issue,the problem is if you want a vehicle to last over 200k miles be prepared to pay the piper

 

[katit]

Interestingly I personally never owned used cars other that BMW which I maintained. So, in my book LX is not very expensive to maintain. Parts prices on lower side comparing to BMW. Maybe there is other cars that is "cheap" but I don't know those, so...

 

[FxFormat]

I paid through the nose for mine up front, but everything has been done by the dealership previously so i didn't have to touch anything expensive. Only minor stuff like heater tees and Axle C clips and spent money on mods.

 

[87warrior]

I wonder how much of the above repairs were needed and how many were just PM.

In the same breath, I could dump just a much money into most any rig and keep it running just as long. So its not a 100 series specific issue,the problem is if you want a vehicle to last over 200k miles be prepared to pay the piper

If you are referencing my above list, I assure you what I listed was absolutely necessary for repairs of a failed or failing part over 5 years and nearly 100k miles.

It gets even more exciting after 300k miles.

 

[OwnerCS]

The LX baseline project has followed the same part-for-part pattern as my other projects with similar age and mileage.

Though there are some parts I've had to replace where other restorations seem to have held up for over 29 years compared to the LX.

1) Instrument cluster stepper motors.
2) Tilt and Telescopic motors.
3) Door actuator motors.
4) Power steering rack

 

[ClassyJalopy]

The LX baseline project has followed the same part-for-part pattern as my other projects with similar age and mileage.

Though there are some parts I've had to replace where other restorations seem to have held up for over over 29 years compared to the LX.

1) Instrument cluster stepper motors.
2) Tilt and Telescopic motors.
3) Door actuator motors.
4) Power steering rack

Just pray the brake booster doesn't crap the bed - that sucker makes everything else look cheap!

 

[ClassyJalopy]

Interestingly I personally never owned used cars other that BMW which I maintained. So, in my book LX is not very expensive to maintain. Parts prices on lower side comparing to BMW. Maybe there is other cars that is "cheap" but I don't know those, so...

Having owned 10 or so used BMW with miles comfortably in the six figures, I can't remember any of the parts being particularly expensive, especially if you are willing to buy the parts from OEM without BMW logo on them. Admittedly, I never bought a v8 one so perhaps those are a different ball game.

 

[OwnerCS]

Just pray the brake booster doesn't crap the bed - that sucker makes everything else look cheap!

I am..

 

[FxFormat]

Just pray the brake booster doesn't crap the bed - that sucker makes everything else look cheap!

You can usually just replace the motor and booster assembly found on eBay for around $600. I did that for my Friend's LX and it's been running fine for over a year. I fear a failed rack the most, it's expensive and not fun to replace

 

[katit]

Having owned 10 or so used BMW with miles comfortably in the six figures, I can't remember any of the parts being particularly expensive, especially if you are willing to buy the parts from OEM without BMW logo on them. Admittedly, I never bought a v8 one so perhaps those are a different ball game.

I wasn’t buying OE parts but good quality OEM and it felt like about same what I pay for OE Toyota parts