How much time do you spend maintaining your 80? (1 Viewer)

[jonheld]

My wife once asked me if I had another family under the truck.

 

[KCCruiser]

Many hours. I’m not addicted though…I can quit any time

 

[Malleus]

I currently have a Wrangler Rubicon. She’s been a good vehicle for the past 5 years. But an opportunity has come up to get a 93 LC.
I’ve had various Toyota trucks (Tacomas, 4Runners, and 100 series), but not an 80 series. Back in 2009, I had a chance to pick up a 96, 3x locked with 100k miles for $10k. Should’ve bought it.

All of my Toyota trucks have been flawless. With the 80 being 30+ years old, I’m going to have to spend some time baselining it. I’m not going to do much to it. Just a basic OME lift and 33-35” tires (and regear, if necessary). I’ve done enough rock crawling with the Wrangler that I’ve realized it’s not mine nor my family’s thing, and we’re more interested in adventure type travels, deep in the backcountry of Utah, Arizona and Colorado.

So I’m wondering with the vehicle being kept stock, somewhat, and a good baselining, what I should expect to spend keeping up with maintenance.
I’ll be honest and say I’d rather not be spending the weekends on my back in the garage. I don’t get that much enjoyment or fulfillment doing my own maintenance but I always do it myself because I have trust issues and want it done right. I just don’t look forward to it.
If it’ll be like my prior Jeep ownership, I’ll pass and move to a 200. But I’d really like it to work, since I’ve always loved the 80’s.
By the way, this will be a second vehicle. I have a Sequoia for daily duties. I’d rather not relegate it to our camp vehicle.
Thanks for any inputs.

Having owned every model Land Cruiser, except a 55, I can attest that you CAN do no maintenance, for avery long time. That you should not, is not debatable, but remember, these trucks are in service in places like Columbia and South Africa, where they get no maintenance, work in conditions you'll never see here, and run for years. And years.

What you should do is drive it. Land Cruisers will take almost any amount of abuse, except rolling off a cliff (RIchard Hammond, are you listening?), without too much trouble, but what they won't survive is being neglected. As long as you're driving it, you'll see no more maintenance problems than you see with any other Toyota, and a lot less than any Jeep.

 

[Marvelicious]

Having owned every model Land Cruiser, except a 55, I can attest that you CAN do no maintenance, for avery long time. That you should not, is not debatable, but remember, these trucks are in service in places like Columbia and South Africa, where they get no maintenance, work in conditions you'll never see here, and run for years. And years.

What you should do is drive it. Land Cruisers will take almost any amount of abuse, except rolling off a cliff (RIchard Hammond, are you listening?), without too much trouble, but what they won't survive is being neglected. As long as you're driving it, you'll see no more maintenance prblems athan you see with any other Toyota, and a lot less than any Jeep.

Hammond's cruiser perfectly proves my point about buying a good one. That thing had one foot in the grave when he got it, he just stepped in with the other foot.

 

[77mustard40]

My 80 was my old man's, he bought it new in 97. It sat for several years once he got to the point where he could no longer drive and it was going to get towed out of their drive when I intervened. It was in rough shape from a combo of shade tree mechanics and driving into Mexico 2-3 times a week for its last 10 years or so. End result was a free rust-free truck that took A LOT of work and $ to get it back into decent mechanical condition. Everything I cracked open was a can of worms.

That was several years ago now, DD her and my youngest daughter got my 4Runner out of the deal. For me it was well worth it, but it sure helped starting the project for free.

 

[COS80]

Hours....

 

[hoch]

Sounds like once a good base lining is done, it’s fairly routine maintenance.
I think I will go for it. Living in Utah, LC pricing is at a premium. It’ll probably take some time to find one at a decent price without too many issues. Luckily, selling the Jeep will net a good chunk of $ for base lining.

FYI, I currently have a 2nd gen Sequoia. Slightly bigger than a 200. Great road trip vehicle and honestly, could easily be made to cover what I am looking to get the 80 for. I could easily fit 35’s with a mild lift and it would be just fine for the places I usually go.
But I’ve always wanted an 80. It’ll be nice to have a rig ready for adventures without messing with the set up too much.

Thanks again for the replies.

 

[tech_dog]

I've had my 94 for 30 years and my best answer is "not much money, not much time." Mine has been incredibly reliable.

Beyond basic maintenance, most of what I do is optional and preventative, not in response to any actual mechanical issue. I slap new parts in sometimes just because I'm "already there" and I want to keep this thing for another 30 years. I love driving my 80, and you can get a boatload of parts for way less than a new car payment. It's easy....

 

[CharlieS]

I'd also encourage you to take a realistic look at other dimensions other than time. In particular, parts availability and price. These rigs are getting old enough that there is absolutely work to do. Parts are expensive relative to other platforms, harder to find, and at times no longer available. If you are the type (like many of us on 'mud) that is willing to dig around and do the research, there are often alternative options, but it isn't like finding parts for a newer vehicle. And again, they are sometimes pricy. This is not to discourage you, but more to get a realistic perspective.

Go find/price a VAF, ECU, oem headlights, oem O2 sensors, catalytic converters and the like for a '94 for a flavor of what you have in store.

If you blow an engine and need anything more than just a head gasket you're looking at a $10K bill. A local friend is dealing with that with his '94 now. Was all going along fine, and boom, overheats, needs work, ends up being a rebuild/replace situation. $10k of engine on a car you can buy all day long for $10k in decent condition.

For anyone that doesn't buy a prime rig with a PO that did all maintenance (and likely pay the corresponding premium price), the rule of thumb we toss around is $5k of planned expense to baseline. I think that is still a reasonable number. You can spend less, but you get what you pay for in terms of reliability. And that is $5k before your "OME lift and 33-35” tires (and regear, if necessary)." I see another $3-5K there too. Heck, while you have the diffs open, why not put in $8K of ARB lockers. And it begins...

 

[Marco Lau]

I think i put in north of $20k on my 91. It was bone stock from California, one owner rig 8 yrs ago and throughout the years, i have been prepping it worthy of Rubicon style wheeling. Besides the 3-5k baselining in the beginning, the cooling system overhauls, suspension upgrades, 33s. 35s and now 37s, regearing, part-time, underdrive High/Lo range, A440F valve body upgrade, lifts, bumpers, armors, and all the accessories and electrical upgrades, gears, etc. etc. It is a beast and trail proven. Other than the 10-12 mpg avg. for the 3-FE, it is a SOLID rig you can rely on to take it remote for a few weeks and expect to drive home.

 

[mudgudgeon]

I think i put in north of $20k on my 91. It was bone stock from California, one owner rig 8 yrs ago and throughout the years, i have been prepping it worthy of Rubicon style wheeling. Besides the 3-5k baselining in the beginning, the cooling system overhauls, suspension upgrades, 33s. 35s and now 37s, regearing, part-time, underdrive High/Lo range, A440F valve body upgrade, lifts, bumpers, armors, and all the accessories and electrical upgrades, gears, etc. etc. It is a beast and trail proven. Other than the 10-12 mpg avg. for the 3-FE, it is a SOLID rig you can rely on to take it remote for a few weeks and expect to drive home.

You forgot head gasket in that list

 

[Marco Lau]

You forgot head gasket in that list

Mine is a 91. HG isn't a problem for these rigs and i have had my fair share of overheating over the many years and trips.

 

[duece71]

There is always something that comes along maintenance wise with a now 35 year old vehicle. So far I have attempted and completed a lot of the projects myself. I have a diesel, but looking at the various issues with gas powered trucks has me thinking seriously if I should get another 80….

 

[Broski]

I'd also encourage you to take a realistic look at other dimensions other than time. In particular, parts availability and price. These rigs are getting old enough that there is absolutely work to do. Parts are expensive relative to other platforms, harder to find, and at times no longer available. If you are the type (like many of us on 'mud) that is willing to dig around and do the research, there are often alternative options, but it isn't like finding parts for a newer vehicle. And again, they are sometimes pricy. This is not to discourage you, but more to get a realistic perspective.

Go find/price a VAF, ECU, oem headlights, oem O2 sensors, catalytic converters and the like for a '94 for a flavor of what you have in store.

If you blow an engine and need anything more than just a head gasket you're looking at a $10K bill. A local friend is dealing with that with his '94 now. Was all going along fine, and boom, overheats, needs work, ends up being a rebuild/replace situation. $10k of engine on a car you can buy all day long for $10k in decent condition.

For anyone that doesn't buy a prime rig with a PO that did all maintenance (and likely pay the corresponding premium price), the rule of thumb we toss around is $5k of planned expense to baseline. I think that is still a reasonable number. You can spend less, but you get what you pay for in terms of reliability. And that is $5k before your "OME lift and 33-35” tires (and regear, if necessary)." I see another $3-5K there too. Heck, while you have the diffs open, why not put in $8K of ARB lockers. And it begins...

Don’t tell my wife

 

[Dubbinchris]

Working on the 80 is therapy to me, I enjoy it, so I don't count the time. But if I did count... it's been 11 years and 3 girlfriends ago.

Mines lasted one wife, then 2 girl friends, and now currently a second wife is enjoying it with me.

 

[Broski]

10 years of my spare time one wife she has to stay because she pays the credit card bill got-a have parts !!

 

[Marco Lau]

almost 10 yrs now, and mostly 3-5 hrs on the weekend for the past 8 yrs.....this is labor of love and most ppl dont get that.

 

[OrangeCrusher]

These vehicles used to be very reliable. However my sense is that with most vehicles that are actually for sale these days, this reliability has been taken advantage of already over the past 1-2 decades, and only minimal maintenance being performed.
In addition, more and more parts are gradually failing just due to raw age vs usage induced wear. This includes many rubber/plastic parts like o-rings, electrical connectors, etc
Then as already mentioned, parts are getting harder to come by. I would say given the age of 30+ years, parts availability is actually amazing! However, there are still certain gaps that will require creativity / perseverance to get through.

I bought mine about 9 months ago. The body and frame condition was amazing - no rust whatsoever! I couldn't quite believe it. I'm from Germany originally and my family had an HDJ80 when I grew up. It was super reliable, however after a decade of use was very rusted and just worn out. I actually hadn't seen an 80 series for many years in Germany as they have become pretty much completely extinct.
So I was all the more excited now to find there are still rust free examples. I couldn't quite believe my luck and bought it on the spot . The engine didn't even run but I didn't really care, I knew all the mechanical parts are very reliable and either way could be fixed. I also was looking for a project as I really enjoy the wrenching and tinkering.

Now nine months later, I have not counted how much I spent on parts, but it's certainly more than $5k. I had the same experience as someone else said earlier - pretty much everything I touched bc it didn't work, ended up becoming a much bigger project than expected. I think the reality is that I love figuring out these challenges and this is ultimately a big reason why I bought it So I'm also not counting the time, but it is a lot.

Now, even after doing all of this - rebuilding all the axles, brakes, steering links, fixing various suspension / geometry issues, a ton of engine / fuel related things, A/C, heating, ... the vehicle is still objectively unreliable Just a few days ago I literally got stuck in the middle of traffic because the engine died because of no-spark bc of missing igniter ground (long story short, in reality took me half a day to figure out what failed). Today I drove it while raining and it started to stumble - apparently one of the O2 sensor connectors got wet bc it somehow got loose and was hanging in the rain.

The reality is that at least in my rig still has dozens such not-quite-yet-issues that will become real issues sooner than later. What I'm trying to say is, I'm sure there are many really well maintained 80s series particularly ones maintained by members of this forum, that are reliable.
However a more realistic perspective on buying one is that it will be very unreliable, expensive, require constant attention and should only be considered if this is what you want

 

[lumbee1]

I've had my Cruiser for 12.5 years and bought it for $4800. I've put more than $20K into in and I wouldn't hesitate to spend another $20K. I don't regret any of the blood sweat and tears over the years. I've always wanted a project car and fully expected to pick up a rust bucket muscle car and totally transform it. Instead I picked up a triple locked 80 series that I wanted to use only as an SHTF and camping vehicle for the kids. It has now become my 3rd child and I'm almost addicted to worked on it.

In all honesty, I volunteer to work on other people's Cruisers as well.

 

[Shoredreamer]

I’ve owned a couple 80s now and currently own and drive them both. The first one I’ve had for 16 years; the first 6 years I only changed the oil yearly had no issues whatsoever with it. I kept it stock and took it on road trips and DD. The last 10 years I dug in and began modifying it and really got into preventative maintenance thru MUD here. I’ve spent easily thousands of hours inside and under that truck keeping it tip top and It’s never been perfect (I think that’s unrealistic at this age, and frankly not in the Land Cruiser spirit), but has never let me down. I’ve always got a to do list of things that need to be done, upgrades I have and need to install and small easy or annoying fixes that get it closer perfect haha. With that said, it is a purpose built wheeler and camper and gets driven and taken on trips, a lot.

Second 80 I bought 5 years ago. It had no major issues when bought. I did only basic fluid baseline and just top off oil cuz it burns a quart every 400 miles. Think I had to do brakes and axle rebuild also. It’s relatively stock form now and I drive it as much as my first 80. It has given me no problems. Currently just burns a lot of oil & the pass front window is stuck and can’t roll down.

Both ready to drive in the driveway. Taking my first one wheeling this weekend. Yes fluids and spare parts come along too hah.

I think you have to expect maintenance and fixes to come along with any 30 y/o truck. The hard part is being aware and addressing or monitoring the potential sidelining failures vs doing basic maintenance and doing non crucial fixes. I see guys chasing and spending lots of money and time on things like common 80 leaks or a jumpy idle or superficial mods but will ignore the crusty fusible link or dried up brake hoses or free wheeling fan clutch that leaves them on the side of the road. This all can be learned with time reading this forum. If you don’t have your ih8mud degree you’re gonna be spending big bucks paying someone to fix your problems and throwing money at new parts that were unnecessary in the first place, scared to take your 80 out away from civilization out of fear of a mechanical and frustrated that the venerable LC is not what it’s chocked up to be. There’s no shortcuts to learning and keeping these trucks on the road but it can definitely be done and is the great feeling when you are mobbing a 30 year old classic on the road or trail with confidence. /