Howdy from a new LX 450 Owner

[jpoole]

What would be fair for what I listed at a shop?

I'm not able to give you a direct answer at this point so you can read the following rambling response, or not, with that in mind.

Were they going to do all of the work you listed including the dent pulling, providing/installing the new tires, etc.? What does "Diff service" include in this case (new gears/parts or just fluids)? $6k for the cooling system refresh is well beyond what I can imagine for that work, and I have a pretty capable imagination

Shop costs have gotten a bit wacky and inconsistent these days and high quotes can be the result of a variety of causes, not all nefarious. The general "make it road worthy" request that it seems like you made may be why the quote is so high because they are essentially agreeing to take on the risk of this older, unknown rig. Conversely, it's also possible that they see dollar signs and are planning to cash in without doing much actual work to the rig. I can't say either way from where I'm sitting.

I'm assuming you may not plan to do your own work on the rig, which I think is a good way to go if it fits your situation and you can afford it. I prefer to do all possible work on my cars but know that this approach isn't for everyone. In any case, the more you know and the more specific you are in your requests from a shop/technician the better the results will be. Hopefully you can find a mechanic that meets you where you are and works on your rig(s) the way you want. Ideally they are familiar with LandCruisers and know the tricks of the trade with these.

Anyway, back to your situation/topic. Even if the quote were lower I still wouldn't send the 80 in for a bunch of work just to make the initial trip home unless it was with a known very-high-reputation LandCruiser specialist shop that you wanted to take advantage of being near before retrieving the 80. If the 80 has specific issues keeping it off the road I'd trailer it and have the work done closer to home. If the 80 is driveable as it sits I'd do what I shared above and make the trip, possibly upping my AAA coverage to include a 165 mile tow if it seems sensible to do so.

Overbuilt reliability is the single best attribute of these 80s in my opinion. Generally speaking you have to do the maintenance to get that reliability but that doesn't mean you can't lean on the 80 from time to time to get you where you, or in this case it, needs to be so that you can catch up on the maintenance on your own terms.

 

[TurbodreamZ]

I say you make sure the fluids look good (full) and drive that sucker home

 

[manofthewoods]

Even if it is 2k in parts which still sounds high even for oem on the cooling that's 4k in labor lol
Taking advantage for sure

agree completely.
hoses, thermostat, belts, coolant and radiator. easy work and not "that" expensive. Throw in a water pump if you want, still not expensive

 

[SoTexCruiserDoc]

Btw if you need a Land Cruiser mechanic to do work for you in the Austin area, I can get you a short list. And if you need some additional advice or help preparing for launch in Houston, I can put you in touch with someone.

 

[Brindleboxer]

For reference, I just put together an order through my local dealership (Toyota is having 25% off everything) to refresh my cooling system and the parts alone (does not include a radiator, mine is good) were less than $500. Around here shop labor is about $150/hr and even factoring in 8 hours labor (which it should not take that long) you are not near that figure from the shop quote.

Let me preface with this: We are not trying to bash your ideas and to each their own but when you asked about the repairs (from a community of hands on people) we feel passionate to call out when we think someone may be taken advantage of and offer what our solutions would be. I think the majority of us would either drive it home or tow it home. I had to do a tow recently and paid almost $800 for a four hour tow and that hurt but it got my vehicle back to a shop I know, trust and have access to if there are issues/problems.

You were asking about a reasonable amount for the cooling system (all Toyota parts), I answered with a ballpark in my original post. I just looked up the radiator and it is showing $347 from Toyota. The cooling system would be roughly $900 in parts.

You can look at the shop's quote and determine what they charge for labor/hr and adjust accordingly. I would still stick with 8 hours even though I feel this number is generous. Once you do the calculations, you would have a good understanding of what it should "presumably" cost.

What @jpoole said is accurate and for any of us to have insight into why they present a quote that high will probably never be known. We are just trying to impart some common sense into the original inquiry.

 

[gonzopancho]

If you’re going to get it looked at in Houston, I recommend Steve Cooper @samc2447 at NWDF.