FZJ80 Newbie with questions (1 Viewer)

[hubris]

I'm the proud new owner of a 93 FZJ80. It's in awsome shape with 110 K miles and is pretty much stock except for some kind of aftermarket muffler. It's pretty much a daily-driver, but I will be taking it off road, and even on some sane southern Utah trails.

I have a couple questions:

1. I don't know the details of it's maintainence history. What if any maintainence should I do / have done?

2. (Related to question 1) Is there anything in particular that might be wanting replacement? What about upgrades?

3. Lockers. If I ever decide to get some (mine doesn't have), can I add the stock version, or should I go with air-lockers?

4. I've heard that flushing an old auto tranny can be bad. Does my '93 tranny count as old?

Thanks

hubris

 

[landtank]

1,2 search on birfield repack

3. This is something I've never read but if it were my truck I'd look into an autolocker in the rear and a LSD up front. No experience myself but it would be a hands free alternative and I'd imaging work pretty good for mild to medium trails. A freind of mine has autolockers front and back . I hated riding in that thing. Driving on the road was exhilerating.

4. Flushing with a chemical is bad. But there are systems that just swap out the fluid which is much safer. I've done this and then adopted a 10k cycle of drain and fills on the tranny w/M1

 

[xl715]

Lets see: 1)With out knowing the history of any newly perchased used rig, I personally do all service work right after purchase, all fluids ect. That way you know how long the fluids have been in thier.
2)A front end tear down and regrease may not be a bad idea.
3)Putting stock lockers in a rig that didn't come with them will WAY out cost putting in ARB's stock electrics are better, but not worth the money it would take. If you REALLY want stock lockers, sell your truck and buy one that has them!!
4)how black is the tranny problem? If the fluids is still red then a flush probably wont hurt anything, however if the fluid hasn't been changed since the factory installed it in 93 then flushing it will free up all that sludge and plug everything up-very bad. It would be a judgement call based on fluid condition.
Welcome, and in only a short while you will be well acuainted with every gas station you come across!!

 

[MoJ]

Recently read an article in a 4WD mag regarding the rear autolockers on the new Chevy Colorado - they hated them. They would engage at inopportune moments and cause the vehicle to lurch forward, hitting a rock in their case.

 

[PHAEDRUS]

Hey there Newbie!!!!
first off what part of Utah are you living in? I ask as I am a former native and there are some really good guys who live around you probably.
to your questions,
1. plan on a weekend and do the birf repack as listed earlier, also check out all of your brakes and do a complete fluid swap, if there is green coolant in the rad leave it green but if it is still toyota red have it swapped as well. search under just the 80s section and you will find some great info on all of these.
2. see question 1 you will probably want to replace or at least inspect and repack the wheel and kingpin bearings on the front look into birfeild repack in the tech section you can and should learn how to do this.
3. Rick is right on this one unless your better half or anyone who desnt know the truck ever drives it in winter. you already have decent limited slip front and rear on the truck so my advice would be to wheel it a while and see what you think. throwing in a locrite or other ratcheting locker in the rear diff on snowy roads takes some getting used to. I would not recomend this route if the better half will drive the truck in snow unless you teach them how to use it properly.
4. I would just change it out now without a power flush do it a few times over the next few months and you should be ok.
other than that I think you will be surprised at what the truck will do in its stock form.
Dave