A well used, new to me, 2006 Cruiser

[SAH]

As the story goes, look for a southern, rust free, one owner vehicle. I found one. Local, we had a few mutual friends, and the cruiser was a one owner, one family vehicle. While he didn't have maintenance records, I felt as though if it was a one owner with 293k, he kept up with the vehicle well.


As advertised, it needed $2000 worth of work to pull the dash and take care of AC not blowing cold and heat not blowing hot as well as tires in not so great shape. A timing belt/water pump job was due as well.

Long story short, I had a small opportunity window to look the vehicle over, but at the price, I would have bought it knowing what I know now anyhow.

A 293k one owner rust free 2006 decent condition vehicle for $6k is what I got.

 

[nukegoat]

Nice. Not being an LX, I guess night view was never a factory option?

 

[SAH]

Interesting first picture you may say. Seems like that's not a parking spot, a place to look at a vehicle, nor a garage.

You would be correct. After sitting in the PO's office parking lot for the last 4-5 months, it is my hypothesis that the unseasonably warm weather for the last 4-5 months really got the fuel (ethanol) broken down and caused the fuel pump to crap out. This picture was taken within view of the exit ramp that I wanted to get to. Within 2 miles of the shop I was headed to. Lucky for me, the PO loved the vehicle and didn't have a clue this would happen to me. He forked over nearly the entire cost of the fuel pump job which was nice because I was going to have to have the tank dropped anyway to fix the fuel sending unit as well. Obviously, this was an exceptional thing for the PO to do being that he already took my money. A church going man. So- I left it at the shop. Toyota V8 day 1.

 

[aging fleet]

Solid price for an '06, congrats. You probably know this now, but you don't have to drop the tank to swap out the fuel pump, there is an access panel under the second row seats.

Hope the next installment has her rolling under her own power.

 

[SAH]

Here are some pictures mid-job. I was told I'd have to spend nearly the same amount on some repairs as I paid for the vehicle.
CV Axle boots had blown, and for the same amount of labor (roughly) it made more sense to just do the whole axle on both sides as they would eventually get torched, sooner rather than later, being that they had nearly 300k on them. I thought about doing them myself, but my basement dirtbike cave doesn't accommodate the size of the 100, and I go to Kansas to chase ducks in T Minus 4 days (2500 miles round trip).
Heater core was leaking so coolant level was low, but this was an anticipated expense.
AC Evap core was a "while we're in there" kind of job, plus AC needed serviced anyway.
Rear brake pads are nearly gone (still haven't taken care of those.... 2500 highway miles won't require much braking)
Timing belt and water pump got taken care of with a nice surprise.

 

[SAH]

A leaky crankcase gasket was replaced with the timing belt/water pump job, but the big news was a seized tensioner idler pivot boldt damaged threads in the block. Mechanic said it was nearly finger tight and a time bomb to destroying this beautiful japanese masterpiece. Fortunately, it didn't slip out of there and a time-sert (I love time-serts) was used to replace the soft aluminum.

 

[SAH]

Lastly, I had to put mud tires on it as this is not my daily driver, but a drive anywhere and pull my duck boat kind of rig. So, here are some pictures with 275/70/18 Nitto Trail Grapplers. Balanced and aligned after turning up the torsion bars to get it close to level. The cruiser is dirty right now, maybe some clean pictures tomorrow. This truck is a real looker in person.

Also installed the BT45 Toy USA Spec and we're good to go with some bluetooth. Only problem is the front speakers sound blown. A minor, I'll get around to it at some point. For now, it's mechanically tight and straight. I'll do diff fluids and maybe a tranny service after the trip this weekend.

What do you guys think?

I'll remove the running boards tomorrow and get some pictures after a wash. Anybody have pictures with a matched (20%) tint up front and a windshield tint as well? I'm considering one.

 

[G-Cat]

Looks good. Please pull the port-installed fender garnishes when you pull the running boards...

 

[boca1]

welcome to the obsession, keep it running at any cost

 

[nukegoat]

welcome to the obsession, keep it running at any cost

Even your family. 2006 land cruiser is more important than life itself

 

[boca1]

Even your family. 2006 land cruiser is more important than life itself

almost, but I don't have night vision so my family is more important

 

[95Fantasma80]

Looks good. Please pull the port-installed fender garnishes when you pull the running boards...

reminds me of an 80 series, i say keep it... not many have them so its a unique look.

 

[SAH]

Solid price for an '06, congrats. You probably know this now, but you don't have to drop the tank to swap out the fuel pump, there is an access panel under the second row seats.

Hope the next installment has her rolling under her own power.

I sure didn’t know that. Yikes

Nice. Not being an LX, I guess night view was never a factory option?

Not that I can tell. Definitely not on my list of priorities

Looks good. Please pull the port-installed fender garnishes when you pull the running boards...

I am also planning on doing that, just not sure how much buffing is going to have to go into it.

 

[nothappening]

Not that I can tell. Definitely not on my list of priorities

How do you guys drive at night without nightview?

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[Couvi]

The truck looks great, how you liking those tires?

 

[Usterzai]

Interesting first picture you may say. Seems like that's not a parking spot, a place to look at a vehicle, nor a garage.

You would be correct. After sitting in the PO's office parking lot for the last 4-5 months, it is my hypothesis that the unseasonably warm weather for the last 4-5 months really got the fuel (ethanol) broken down and caused the fuel pump to crap out. This picture was taken within view of the exit ramp that I wanted to get to. Within 2 miles of the shop I was headed to. Lucky for me, the PO loved the vehicle and didn't have a clue this would happen to me. He forked over nearly the entire cost of the fuel pump job which was nice because I was going to have to have the tank dropped anyway to fix the fuel sending unit as well. Obviously, this was an exceptional thing for the PO to do being that he already took my money. A church going man. So- I left it at the shop. Toyota V8 day 1.

View attachment 2113122

Great to know that there are some good people out there. My 99 LX PO knew the starter was bad and did not tell me. When I brought it home 5 mins later would not start, ignored me completely when I sent him messages. To my bad luck it always started when I did all the extensive tests and driving around.

 

[SAH]

The truck looks great, how you liking those tires?

They look awesome and that’s what I bought them for, maybe occasional wheeling and needing some more grip on muddy dirt roads or getting to a hunting spot. There’s more road noise but not bad. Not sure how much I need to adjust speedo but got 12.17 mpg on the highway running between 72-78. Not sure how much worse it is with the M/T

Great to know that there are some good people out there. My 99 LX PO knew the starter was bad and did not tell me. When I brought it home 5 mins later would not start, ignored me completely when I sent him messages. To my bad luck it always started when I did all the extensive tests and driving around.

That is very unfortunate that you took precautions and it only failed after you handed him your money. I’ll put more emphasis on church going man for the reasoning behind PO giving me some money.

 

[suprarx7nut]

Very good find! I like the later years more and more.

 

[SAH]

Don't know how to classify this as a "build" but it may be a slow build.

Took the 100 to N Ga to some areas where I have done some dirt bike riding in the past, so luckily I know quite a few areas suitable for the vehicle. Very pretty scenery and great weather for windows down and seat heaters.

What an awesome vehicle. Looks great without running boards.


I'm looking into buying extended sway bar links as I'll eventually lift and it looks like those may add some travel (which would have helped this weekend). Can anyone talk me through that?

 

[SAH]

Today, did the fluids in all 3 diffs. Oil was changed a few hundred miles ago and haven't touched the tranny, power steering, etc. so not necessarily a "fluid baseline".

Front fluid was torched. Plenty of paste on the magnetic plug. Very glad to have some fresh oil in there. Transfer case was a similar story but not as much on the plug. Rear diff was almost clean oil. Definitely didn't need to be in there but peace of mind I guess.

My uncle was one who talked me into a cruiser (sort of) here is his and mine. His has a nice 340k on it and is a 2003. He's had nearly no problems out of it, just "consumables".