BJ 60 vs Hj 60 help me decide !

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

toynut

toynut

10 Year 15 Year 20 Year
Joined
Dec 3, 2005
Threads
269
Messages
1,143
Location
Coquitlam B.C.
i am replacing my tired but Trusty 84 bj 60 5 spd with 435,000 kms , i want air conditioning and somthing with little rust . that i can use as a daily driver and to haul my kids around camping once in a while .

ive narrored it down to 3 vehicles .

a. 1985 Bj 60 5 spd a.c. ,belton suspension, 280,000 kms clean $8400 obo

b. 1986 Hj 60 auto a.c. , 350,000 kms $8500 obo

c. 1986 Hj 60 auto a.c. , 275,000 kms $10,000 obo

i was planning on an automatic so my wifey could drive it , but the bj with the belton is looking pretty good . what do you think ?

thanks for the input kevin
 
I pick the BJ60.

Reasons, five speed. IMHOP better engine once turbo'd. Belton kit(one less thing to spend yur money on) all 60's that old need suspension. sepcially canuk ones. So that saves you 2k.

The KMs on choice b are too high and you risk having to rebuild unless the owner was really good maintainer,
the KMs on choice C are ok, but then you are paying 1500 more, for arguably not a whole lot more of truck.

I really really dislike auto trannies. The HJ60's with autos will not get anywhere as good of fuel mileage as the BJ60 with a 5spd.
But I would take the savings and put a turbo on it.

Anyhow thats my take on it. Another important choice is body shape, which IMOP is very important. Unless you like bodywork.
 
None of the above. I would spend a few more $1000s and get a LJ78 or similar low klm JDM and get 10 years out of it.
The other 3 will be like buying your 60 back and in a couple of years you will be where you are now:D

Ill be honest ,I dont know what a LJ78 costs in Canada but Im guessing around $15K
 
Basically what Brownbear has already said.

But if I were to go with a "none of the above" option as RoscoFJ73 has done, then it would be an HJ61 (like the one he sold in his sig) or an HDJ81. But...either of those are well beyond the value of the three trucks that you have narrowed it down to, and there's no reason that a clean, well cared-for CDM BJ60 will not provide decades more of faithful service that a JDM would. At least the 3B's head will last longer than the 2L-T's...:D :D
 
well i went out tonight and test drove checked out all three of these rigs , what a disapointment the hj 60 with 350 k kms got about five minutes of my time,i crawled under and found the frame to be made of swiss cheese after calling and talking to the owner and him raving about its great condition and how the frame was solid and it was in realy good shape this is a guy that has two land cruisers , the second hj 60 was alot nicer and the frame was solid but it was starting to decay around the wheel arches , the BJ 60 was decent enough the a.c. worked the frame was resonably solid exept for a dime sized rust hole near the arch at the shock mount tube , the belton springs with the greasable shackles look nice and the truck rides alot smoother than my 60 but i found the steering sloppy and it was running on trd wheels with spacers which i am not exactly happy about allthough that could be fixed easy enough the engine bay was extremley clean but it did seam to hesitate a little bit in third when i accelerated maybe it was just me ?

so i am leaning towards the 60 i might offer $6000 and see what happens it would require about $1500 in body work to make it like i want it and another couple of grand to turbo it .
 
toynut said:
well i went out tonight and test drove checked out all three of these rigs , what a disapointment the hj 60 with 350 k kms got about five minutes of my time,i crawled under and found the frame to be made of swiss cheese after calling and talking to the owner and him raving about its great condition and how the frame was solid and it was in realy good shape this is a guy that has two land cruisers , the second hj 60 was alot nicer and the frame was solid but it was starting to decay around the wheel arches , the BJ 60 was decent enough the a.c. worked the frame was resonably solid exept for a dime sized rust hole near the arch at the shock mount tube , the belton springs with the greasable shackles look nice and the truck rides alot smoother than my 60 but i found the steering sloppy and it was running on trd wheels with spacers which i am not exactly happy about allthough that could be fixed easy enough the engine bay was extremley clean but it did seam to hesitate a little bit in third when i accelerated maybe it was just me ?

so i am leaning towards the 60 i might offer $6000 and see what happens it would require about $1500 in body work to make it like i want it and another couple of grand to turbo it .
Click to expand...

did you say it already has a rust hjole in the frame? I would strongly advise against it then.
 
OEM 16" steel wheels can be bought at any Toyota dealer here in Canada for around $90/ea. They are heavy, but tough...and they look great on Cruisers.

Any chance you could test drive that BJ60 into a shop and have a compression test done? Did you pull the crank tube as the truck was running to see how much blowby there was?(I'm trying to remember, but I think on the 3B it just goes straight down to the ground and does not return to the intake hose like on the 13B-T.)

Good luck.

*and as Jan has stated...take a careful look at the frame, especially around that "small" rust hole. You'd be surprised what you might find.
 
You will likely find that just about any Canadian 60 will have the same issue with the frame. In my opinion, of the 3 trucks you are looking at the 85 BJ60 is the clear winner despite the hole in the frame. As Stone mentioned.. a compression test is not a bad idea to see where the engine is at. Check for 5th gear popout by running in 5th and cycle the throttle slowly loading and unloading the drivetrain. If it has done some towing or has been lugged in 5th it may pop out, not a cheap or easy fix.
 
overall its sad but i think my 84 bj 60 is in better shape than these other ones ive looked at apart from the 85 bj 60 with the belton lift springs . and i have mine up for sale for $2000 , i cant see paying $8000 for another Bj60 , i would be better to have my 3b rebuilt and turboed and i would be ahead ,spring over, arb air lockers id still be under $10,000 , i feel quite confused as to what i should do i test drove a 2000 suzuki grand vitara this afternoon 5 spd 24 valve v6 fully loaded very nice asking $ 12,000 i really wanted another cruiser but i am starting to be tempted back to buying a gas powered vehicle :eek: . please help i need an intervention .
 
If you're willing to spend $12,000 for a Grand Vitara then you're not too far away from a JDM like Roscoe mentioned earlier.I just picked up a clean 89 HJ61
5spd with 145k in Vancouver this week for a little over the asking price of that Suzuki. You won't find any Canadian trucks around here with a good frame and they'll all be high mileage.Stay away from the HJ automatics, they're gutless. My wife and I have had no problems adapting to the RHD.
You might also think about picking up a clean U.S. FJ60, usually in the $2500 to $3000 range, and swapping in your 3B. Happy hunting. Pete
 
Wherlwind said:
You might also think about picking up a clean U.S. FJ60, usually in the $2500 to $3000 range, and swapping in your 3B. Happy hunting. Pete
Click to expand...

This is what I would like to do for my next truck.

My $.02
I bought a bj60 with a good body and a somewhat rusty frame. By the end of the next winter and after a heavy pressure washing blew holes through the frame I realized it was much worse than originally thought. I'm in the process of replacing the frame and it is a big job, but not that difficult.

I think replacing a gas pot with a JDM motor with a turbo would be as easy a job. I bet if you did the work yourself you could have a LHD cruiser with a rust free body and frame and a low mileage, turboed motor for under $12k, maybe even cheaper. I also think this would be a lot less hassle than chasing rust that you will never be rid of.
 
Not all canadian frames went bad. My truck was solely Calgary truck its whole life and the frame is not too bad. I've been all over the whole frame with a hammer and much of its orginal black paint is on it. I only had one negative spot on the frame where the channel is at the rear, my inner channel was puffing out a bit.

So I think you can find decent trucks. I paid 10k for my 84 Bj60. it was more than I should have looking back. But after starting my mini overhaul I realize how decent of shape this truck is. I got a strong frame and minimal rust on the body.

I think even clean FJ's will soon show there stripes when you get them to canada and they spend a winter here. Toyota knew nothing about seams and corrosion. And that goes into the 90's too. SO JDM cruisers are just 5-10 winters away from being the same.

Oil them every year!
 
toynut said:
...i test drove a 2000 suzuki grand vitara this afternoon 5 spd 24 valve v6 fully loaded very nice asking $ 12,000 i really wanted another cruiser but i am starting to be tempted back to buying a gas powered vehicle :eek: . please help i need an intervention .
Click to expand...

Well, if that gas powered vehicle that you're thinking of is the Grand Vitara, I'd love to see how much time and money it would cost you to try and do all those mods that you have described to get it trail ready (ARB, spring over, etc.). Ripping out that IFS and swapping in a proper SFA alone would take thousands of dollars and lots of time. And in the end, you will have a built Barbie J**p that cost you more money than a mint HJ61.

If your body and frame on your BJ60 is still good, then I would be tempted to go the route that you have described with the engine. Another possibility is to swap in a fresh 13B-T, and sell your 3B to recoupe some of the costs. There's some good feedback about some guys who have swapped in a 13B-T into their wagons.
 
I like the idea of bringing up a US 60 from AZ or some other dry place and swapping in your 3B. They can be had fairly cheap and you can sell off the parts you don't need bringing the cost down even more. There is a lot of info here as to how to do the swap. I'm in the middle of doing one myself and am turboing at the same time. It is sooooo nice to work with a Cruiser that has NO rust. I've not needed penetrating oil on one single bolt and am not covered in rust flakes after being under it working.
If you already have a 3B and a place to work and some time to play with go for that option.
TMTOTM
Peter
 
You don't need to go to Arizona to find a rust free truck . My 85 FJ came from Seattle. It spent it's first ten years in San Fransisco and the last ten in Seattle.Washington state doesn't use salt on it's roads. I thought at first I would have to go farther south and was very surprised to find one so near.
Like Brown bear mentioned the important thing to do once you find a rust free truck is keep them well oiled. I Fluidfilmed my frame inside and out and all the usual rust areas when I got my FJ and after one winter here in Williams Lake of no washings it is starting to get surface rust. Maintaining it rust free is a continual job.
Pete
 
Stone said:
Ripping out that IFS and swapping in a proper SFA alone would take thousands of dollars and lots of time. And in the end, you will have a built Barbie J**p that cost you more money than a mint HJ61.
Click to expand...

That great truth ..

I thought in auto tranny when you buy a new car .. coz you know all cares for auto trannys and is new .. !

But in a old car you never know whats up with the tranny coz maybe the previus owner never change the oil .. or always drive with OD ( not the HJ-60 tranny but ) on .. etc
 
well i am probably going to buy another bj60 there are two that i am looking at right now both have decent frames and ok bodies they both are sporting ome dakar springs with the greasable shackles , one has under 200k the other just over, the cheaper one has a.c. they both have 5 speeds . my wife is due in september with our second child , so i will be buying and parking my truck right away as we will only need one vehicle till she heads back to work , while its parked i will put in an arb in the rear , leave the front open and consider doing the turbo . :D

oh yeah a set of 33's :cool:

thanks kevin by the way my 84 bj is 4 sale $2000
 
Have you considered a 70 series from Japan? When I got my HDJ81, they had a 74 series at Penticton Toyota that looked nearly brand new with about 70K on it. I think they wanted 12,900 for it and it seriously looked like it just rolled out of the showroom. I didn't see what engine it had in it, but I think for a few bucks more, you can get something far, far nicer than an old rusted out overpriced local truck. Actually the HJ61's can be had with the old (and very good) 4 litre turbo diesel for about the same price. More than likely the mileage would be around 150K which for these trucks is nothing. Just take a good look at what's out there before you drop your money. Because 8K can turn into a whole lot more once you start repairing and modifying. Might as well spend that money on a better condition truck in the first place.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom