Choosing a 100: miles vs mods trade-off

[Stuckinthemud]

Hello

Having owned 4Runners and and an epic '83 pick up I want to get involved with a Land Cruiser when I get back to Canada later this year. As a long time lurker on this site (and first time poster) I am interested to know how you guys think about paying up for a well maintained/built hundy vs higher mileage.

I ask as I was looking at this rather fetching example on eBay (with which I have no connection/affiliation and can't buy it anyway as I am overseas at the moment) which looks and sounds great but also is banging against 270k miles.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Safa...Cars_Trucks&hash=item2a2e70c226#ht_500wt_1021

I appreciate there is not a "right" or straightforward answer to my question but I am trying to figure out how to value the hard work people have put in to their rigs against their remaining life and the maintenance I will have to put in to it keeping it up to standard if I buy it.

Any thoughts most appreciated. Thanks.

 

[7schulz]

Low miles and well maintained , then you can build to suit your needs, plus I've had more failures DDing built rigs that I've bought on here than normally used street rigs. Even extremely well maintained wheelers have more wear and tear. IMO

 

[OregonLC]

The one you linked to would be a great buy, just for the parts. The mileage is a bit concerning, but only to the extent that we don't know what has/hasn't been replaced. Up around 250-300 I would expect things like all suspension bushings, steering rack, differentials, u-joints, transmission to be approaching their design life. Some may have already been replaced. And I can only assume a truck like that has been wheeled, maybe hard. Driving it would be the only real way to tell, assuming you have a seat-of-the-pants reference to what 'normal' feels like. Having all those parts already bought and depreciated would be very tempting, especially if you could do your own wrenching when necessary to fix the other wear items as they come up.

 

[Stuckinthemud]

Thanks very much for your responses. Agree re suspension etc. the emphasis always seems to be on engine/transmission with little consideration given to the suspension and rest of drive train (I dont mean on this site but generally)I wince at thought of baked differentials etc, especially given my pretty basic wrench skills and fact that I have even less time. This means paying someone a lot or spending time that I could be out on the backroads trying to fix it. So the other trade off is time spent fixing vs time spent using it. I enjoy the latter more than the former. As for low miles, I totally agree. I am looking from afar until I can actually deal so your views are hugely valuable to me. Cheers.

 

[bonze]

Low miles and well maintained , then you can build to suit your needs, plus I've had more failures DDing built rigs that I've bought on here than normally used street rigs. Even extremely well maintained wheelers have more wear and tear. IMO

I agree with 7schulz. Go with the low miles and well maintained, and have the peace of mind and gratification of doing the mods yourself or overseeing. Doing the mods and sharing the experience with fellow mud'ers is have the fun.

 

[lhommec13]

Surely the owner/seller of that built rig is a mudder! Speak up and identify yourself

 

[Sverige]

The seller has been tying to get rid of tat truck for a long time.

 

[OregonLC]

Wonder why he doesn't just part it out. Would think he could get:

$500 Front Bumper
$800 Rear Bumper
$400 Sliders
$400 Winch
$400 Drawers
$500 Misc
= $3,000

Then sell the rig for $6,000 and be done with it.

Or conversely, someone looking to mod would do well by buying it and moving the parts over.

New those would have been:

$1000 Front Bumper
$2000 Rear Bumper
$800 Sliders
$900 Winch
$900 Drawers
$1500 Misc
= $7,100 and that's being conservative.

 

[Kigiin]

My first thought would be to look for a bit lower mileage. However, if well maintained (documented), I agree it is fetching - especially considering all the mods. What rack is that?

ps - jeez, that undercarriage looks fantastic, compared to my rust belt rust bucket.