anyone has a HDJ81?

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CYRUS

CYRUS

Joined
Nov 1, 2005
Threads
36
Messages
133
Location
YVR
I'm planning on purchasing my self a JDM land cruiser diesel HDJ81
i was wondering if anyone here has that truck and want to share their experiences

things im curious about:
-how's its wheeling capability being such a heavy truck?
-how many L/100km do you get out of a tank?
-how's its road manners when lifted? (thinking of going 4" lift with 35s on but can also go 6" lift with 37s on. not sure yet)
-hows the OEM front, center & rear electric lockers perform?
-what are the option i can get for lift kits on these trucks besides Slee's http://www.sleeoffroad.com/index.html
-by the way, can i even use the slee's lift kit for the HDJ81?
-with such high torque on diesel motors, do i need to change the gearing when i stuff it with bigger tires? (if im correct HDJ81 pushes 170hp @3600RPM and 269ft/lb @2000RMP)

thats pretty much it for now...
comments, suggestion, erratic out burst... i would like to hear them all as long as its about the LC
notooth.gif


thanks in advance
beer_cheers.gif
 
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Some thoughts on the HDJ81

You are going to hear "search is your friend" from some of the responders to this thread, because most of these questions have been answered before, but here's my point of view:

-wheeling capability being such a heavy truck?
With mild mods (2 1/2" lift, shocks and a set of tires) one of the most capable 4wd vehicles ever made.

-how many L/100km do you get out of a tank?
Depends on use and conditions but most 1HDT's go between 10.5 and about 12.5 l / 100 km. More under hard off road use or towing. Worst I've ever done is 15.5 l / 100km (100% city, stop and go in heavy snow / ice, short trips whole tank).

-how's its road manners when lifted? (thinking of going 4" lift with 35s on but can also go 6" lift with 37s on. not sure yet)
Road manners are fine, but will deteriorate the higher the lift you go. No problems though with either of your suggestions. See the slee site for comments on your options above. For most, a moderate lift and a good set of 285-75-16's is all you will need.

-hows the OEM front, center & rear electric lockers perform?
They are very, very good and not known for problems.

-what are the option i can get for lift kits on these trucks besides Slee's http://www.sleeoffroad.com/index.html
-OME is the most popular.

-by the way, can i even use the slee's lift kit for the HDJ81?
Yes.

-with such high torque on diesel motors, do i need to change the gearing when i stuff it with bigger tires? (if im correct HDJ81 pushes 170hp @3600RPM and 269ft/lb @2000RMP)
Huge varying opinion on this. I have discussed this with 1HDT powered 81 owners, most say the 35's are fine with stock gearing but I don't think you'd like 37's and stock gearing, and with 37's your costs are going to go up astronomically.

Most people who buy the 80 seem to use it more for expedition use than heavy bush work because of its size. But it is an extremely capable rig, and even in stock form, with lockers, there are very few trucks that can match it.

I think if you are going to get really serious about hard core off road use, you'd be better off to buy a shorter wheel base beater style truck, and maybe tow it to your off road area of choice with your 80. Then you can beat the tar out of your offroader, scratch it, mangle it, and drive your reliable 80 as a daily driver. There are trucks for sale on BC 4x4 that people have put 35-40K into that you can buy at a huge discount, and that are built to do just about anything you can imagine, that you would feel a lot better about taking into the bush and abusing than a nice mint JDM HDJ81.
 
thanks for answering all my questions Martin

i dont think im going hard core off roading. the most off roading it will see would probably going camping, fishing, snow boarding etc etc.

is there any OME lift kits available here in lower mainland? or do everyone just orders them from these guys http://www.man-a-fre.com/default.htm

i do agree, i dont think i would want to take the HDJ81 to the rocks. i was thinking of buying my co-workers FJ40 and do that up as my rock crawler/toy but the HDJ81 would be my all around everyday commuter

by the way, what's the stock diff gear on the HDJ81? the said if i was going 35's it would be good if i changed it to 4.56 so i still get good fuel economy. or is that an useless upgrade?
 
seriously, for the "wheeling" you will be doing (from the sounds of it) you don't even need a lift. there are a few places that sell a lift if you feel you still need one.
Dan at 4wheel auto in edmonton
steve at extremebends in vancouver
rob milson in vancouver
rob at radd cruisers on the island
 
Stock HDJ81's are 4.11's. J Colvin runs 35's on his with stock gearing and he says it's fine and he also gets good mpg. (about 11 l / 100Km)
 
this is what i thought also but someone posted in one of the threads that the 5 speeds got different gearing... when the white 5 speed one arrives at the end of the month i am going to check the axle code and see...
 
Been running 33's with a 4" lift fand the stock gearings still great as a dd and work rig - but I'm going to go to 31s or 32s as it helps in towing. Mileage is still between 20 and 24 mpg..

Other than that I'd suggest finding a truck set up as close to your perfect rig as possible and focus on the mods later if needed.

Good luck - you'll love wheeling in an 81!
 
Wayne, I doubt I have even 1% of your knowledge about these trucks! But I have read in several places that the 4.11's were put in both std and auto. I wonder if there has been some kind of mixup with gearing because the std trans ratios were definitely different from the auto? I look forward to hearing your answer to this question.
 
like i mentioned this is what i beleived as well... i will post it up once i see the stampings...
cheers
<BTW, i think you know more than you are letting on...>
 
stock gearing

i still have my stock gearing with my 33's and i dont like it , though my stock gearing is i believe 3.73 or there abouts , i will be looking at 4.11's as soon as possible , cyrus i was warned about the slippery slope and didn't heed the advise , but for each thing you change it makes for other changes ,
eg lift kit need bigger tires , bigger tires , need gearing , gearing lift and tires need more power .

allthough my truck too is a daily driver , and i like to do light wheeling with my wife and kids so i have to make comprimises as i build this rig eventualy it will get there though .

good luck with your hunt for the 81 . kevin
 
thanks for all that help guys

the reason why im lifting my everyday truck is that i dont think i can accomodate another project besides modifying what i have
the Mrs. is a little annoyed with my Lotus 7 project as it is so i dont think i can have a "full time" wheeler truck for another project

toynut, 3.73 on a HDJ81 did you say? or is in on your BJ60?

crushers, is it ideal to buy HDJ81s from japan that already have lift kits on them? i've seen a few of them being sold with lift kits but i wasn't sure what kind of lift kits they used and if they're only of esthetic purposes.
 
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I know you're asking Wayne, but from what I've seen out here in B.C., most of the lifted trucks which come from Japan seem to have issues that need to be addressed. Although they build great trucks the Japanese aftermarket add ons are not always all that great. It depends on the truck but unless you are buying it from someone who really knows their stuff (like Wayne or Outback) take any assurances that everything was done properly with a grain of salt.

I've seen part OME conversions, swaybars completely removed with brackets hanging, shocks that don't fit or are broken, and springs that don't match the truck or equipment on it. If you can get a truck at a minimal "extra" cost it may be worth it. Some of the monster lifts are horrific. Ateb had one in recently which had all kinds of weird stuff welded on the frame. They had to do a lot of work to sort all that out, at co$t. Just my opinion. You may actually be better off getting something close to stock. Although a mild botched lift isn't really going to do any harm.
 
I've never seen anything to suggest that any HDJ81 ever had anything but 4.11's stock, but I know Wayne is looking into that, and if he finds otherwise, he'll let us know. I think in the thread above, from his sig line, the poster is referring to a 60 series.
 
that was exactly my suspision about their lift kits.

even my cousin who's in Philippines told me dont get lifted trucks from japan. he's a big off road nut too and when ever they ship trucks from Japan with lift kits they always end up ripping them all off the building a new one.

i dont know what Wayne would have to say about that...
 
I'm sure Wayne can speak for himself just fine, but I'm sure if you purchased one of his trucks, that you would know exactly what was on it, and that if there were any issues, he'd correct them. I'm not certain if trucks brought in from other importers are messed up because the importer doesn't know any better, or just that they might think everything done in the japanese aftermarket matches the original build quality of the OEM (Toyota). In other words, a convoluted way of saying, you generally get what you pay for. You'd think being so close to Australia, you'd see better Japanese market suspension mods on their vehicles, but it seems more often than not, it's a "looks" thing and not so much for function. My truck, originally, was actually not bad - it had OME springs and Rancho 9000 shocks. Too bad the front springs were too light for the truck and 2 of the 4 shocks were seized and or leaking. Not to mention the sway bars and their brackets had been totally removed.
 
Morning,
the only unit i brought in with a rediculice amount of lift was for a close friend that saw the truck at auction and just had to have it.
it turned out to be a very high end lift. it had remote resevoir shocks, adjustable tracking bars, proper drop on the arm mounts to keep the caster correct. it was a joy to inspect. the estimated cost for such a lift was aroudn $4-6000 (normal OME lift for an 80/1 is aobut $1500 installed)
the rest of the trucks with lifts were minor lifts and very well executed. no issues.
i stay away from heavily modified trucks for a couple reasons. usually they are butchered and i LOVE to modify trucks myself. i get to incorporate my ideas into the mod and i get to enjoy the work.
i have watched as the middle of the road importers bring in more and more junk (although to be fair i have seen some pretty nice higher milage units for sale). sadly the trend is slidding south fast. We only bring in the high end low km units that we stand behind. this way we can supply the customer a unit they can be proud of and our customers do not want any issues unresolved and are willing to pay extra for the piece of mind.
if you are looking for lower end unit with higher km then there are a couple importers i can refer you to.
cheers and good luck in your search.
seasons greetings
 
My 80 came lifted from Japan and frankly, I'm glad for the fact because it's not very smart to do a lift of any significance with anything less than a complete quality lift kit. That said, I did have issues to resolve in the beginning, but issues that were the product of the age of the truck. I had to change all TRE's, stabilizer bushings, shocks and correct some wiring. The closest thing I had with lift related issues were the shocks and I'm pretty sure that shocks need to be changed somewhere between 3 and 5 years after installing depending on use.

I use my 80 as an expedition vehicle and in it's present configuration it is overkill. I think stock with 1" spring spacers and 33" all terrain tires will be comfortably adequate for expedition use.


Kalawang


CYRUS said:
that was exactly my suspision about their lift kits.

even my cousin who's in Philippines told me dont get lifted trucks from japan. he's a big off road nut too and when ever they ship trucks from Japan with lift kits they always end up ripping them all off the building a new one.

i dont know what Wayne would have to say about that...
Click to expand...
 
hey kalawang, i might go back to Philippines early late Jan next year. where about are you from in Phil if you dont mind me asking...

hey crusher/Wayne, do you think you'd get a chance to import lifted vehicles again but done right? i have inquired a couple of importers but im not sure which one to go for.
what can you say about these guys
http://www.maxoverdrive.ca/
http://www.risingsunimports.ca/index.html
http://www.terra2imports.ca/ (my buddy said terra2 is really iffy, what you think?)
 
shoot me an email private and i will tell you EXACTLY what i think of these guys...
cheers
 
The truck that i purchased falls into the hdj81 with lift category, but happily it is a high end lift with with all the proper components. Front,rear lower, rear upper control arms, front/rear panhards all adjustable, and drop brackets at the front to correct caster. Has lowered front/rear swaybars and front/rear double cardan drive shafts. Seemed they also slapped in some aluminum spacers on the spring mounts to lift it even higher, about 8 in total. I could drop it bout 3-4 inches just by removing the spacers which would leave me with the lift i was pretty much seeking in the first place. Overall im pleased as this has taken care of all my lift expenses minus getting new drop brackets as they are too long as they are now. Other tidbits include full 3 in stainless exhaust, turbo timer, pyro on the side of steering column.

Cheers
Mark
 
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