Drifters 80 (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Aug 23, 2014
Threads
32
Messages
143
Location
Maine
Grew up in Maine where we lived on a farm and my dad loved land cruisers. Learned how to drive in an FJ40, then drove his 62. Now that life has changed for me, I'm out of the house, and doing my own thing, I have been looking for an 80 series. At first I wanted a 100, but after a lot of thought, I knew that the 80 was the right way for me.

I've looked on MUD for the last few months, along with Craigslist, Kijij, Ebay and more. Just trying to find a cheap 80 that will work for me. Finally, I found what I am looking for.

Tomorrow I'm driving down to pick it up in New Hampshire. It has 363,000 miles on it, just had Head Gasket done, but needs a lot of TLC. It's 3X Locked 97 and I'm picking it up for $4400.

So, hopefully tomorrow I will be a new owner of "drifters 80"
 
X2 what he said, that's a lot of miles. Why don't you offer like $2500 and see where it goes.
 
^ agreed.
Sounds like you have done your research though, so stick to your guns. Take someone with you who knows 80s, or it sounds like you have a good background. Read Slee's intro to 80's /what to look for webpage, sleeoffroad.com and take tools. Check the birfs, oil, leaks, lockers, etc. Mine had 200,000 miles less than yours (wow!!) and was asking the same price. Cali car, no rust, lockers wouldn't engage so I knocked a grand off the price. I actually walked away, told him I was interested and had 2 other rigs lined up to see. I actually went and saw 2 other rigs, seems his price was fair to a bit high, so I offered 500 less anyway, if the lockers had worked, and 500 off cuz they didn't. He agreed and we were both very happy... Sorry for the long story, but if it saves you a grand, then send me a ih8mud sticker!!
Welcome!! :flipoff2: (official greeting)
 
P.S. Now that I think about it, the owner really only deserves the cost of the HG job, if that even, if it needs a bunch of other stuff.... I wouldn't go over the HG price tbh. (They should be happy to get the money back out of it that they just put into it)
 
You guys were all correct, I went to take a look this morning, with cash ready to spend. He was set on his price, figuring I was a gal, he thought he had me reeled in. Not so fast. Lockers didn't work, he said that sometimes they just had to warm up a bit. There was significant rust on the exhaust system, and even the frame was pretty bad with pitting. The engine bay had been steam cleaned very recently, but where it was parked had rather fresh oil spots. There are stains on the bottom of the engine where it has leaked in the recent past. Tires were at less than 20% tread. It drove OK, but AC didn't blow cold at all. He said sometimes the controller in the dash acted up.

All told, there were too many problems for the price, so sadly, I walked away from the deal and kept my money.

Sorta sucks, I was looking forward to making a deal.

Thanks to all of you for your input, the Slee page was very helpful too!

A great cruiser will come my way, maybe if I expand my budget a bit and look for something with at least under 200K.
 
I finally found a good vehicle down in New York, picked it up yesterday and drove it home. A few issues to immediately look at. P0401, P0402 errors. Rust in a few spots, mostly behind rear axle. Right front knuckle is leaking a black ooze, maybe a seal? AC comes on intermittently for a few minutes, then goes to blasting hot air. Otherwise, it's pretty good. Going to detail it this weekend, maybe take out carpet and pressure wash that too.

It took a while, but I'm glad that I found the right one for me.
 
Good stuff..post up some pics . I'm sure you will probably want to re pack the birfs soon & check bearings/ replace the wiper seals.(there are good how to posts here of the process)
 
What did you wind up getting?
 
I picked up a 97, it's not perfect, but in time, it might be close.​

dcse-2049.jpg
 
I'm going to rebuild the front right axle once I get some parts. Local dealership is killing me on prices though. I found a few places online, but not sure if that's a reliable alternative.
 
Get an FSM and read this forum about P0401 and P0402 errors. Not too hard to fix with a little diagnostic work.

A/C might just need to be recharged. But you should dye test it first to make sure there are no leaks.

Looks shiny, hopefully that's an indication that it was well taken care of. How many miles?
 
Talk to ih8mud vendors like beno, who can give you great prices on LC parts.


This. Local stealerships will bend you over hard, buddy. Best to not even bother with 'em.

Beno works out of Nalley Toyota down south someplace, I just ordered the stuff to do my valve cover gasket from him. He's a good guy and knows his Landcruisers. He won't steer you wrong.
 
Congrats. Sounds like you need to do a front axle job. There's an excellent youtube video where a fellow goes through the whole thing on an 80!

All the best,

Muddy1
 
Front axle job is finally complete, feel much better now. That's one thing done, next is to gut the interior and clean it up.
 

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