First off I joined the forums a few days ago and there is an awesome amount of info here! I'm from north Alabama and I'm a Detective for the state. I'm provided a work vehicle that I have to drive 24/7 due to being on call so I put roughly 1-2k miles on my personal vehicle a year. I recently decided to jump into overlanding due to having a couple friends that go to Moab every fall and I'm wanting to tag along if not this year, the next. I'm having a very difficult time deciding on the 80 vs 100 with the use that I'm going to have with the vehicle. Something like Moab would account for 5% of the total use of the vehicle however I don't want to underbuy/underbuild and regret it.
First off with the 80. I feel like I NEED to buy either a LC or LX450 with the lockers. Plain and simple if for nothing more the resale/sought after aspect. Problem with this is that I literally can't find one remotely close to me. If there is one it's built completely and $40k. I'm looking to spend 10-15k on one that is not modded or has very little done to it. I've mainly been looking for 96-97 models and the closet to me that I can find is one in OH at a Porsche dealer that doesn't have lockers -_- however its in pretty good shape, one owner outside of the dealer and has service records with 135k miles. See here (97 LX450). I wouldn't be keeping the rack or wheels and tires from it as I want to go with 35s and a Gamiviti rack. Problem here is that it spent every bit of its life in Brooklyn NY and there are zero undercarriage photos which is a big ole sign for me. Dealer is contacting me Tuesday with more info on it and I'm going to have pictures sent of the undercarriage.
Here's where I need help on which would be better suited for me. Yes it has a straight axle, yes they come with lockers. Will I ever need the flex of the straight axle. Probably never, maybe once. As far as reliability I like the fact that the 80s seem to be a lot more mechanical than the 100s are. 80s also take dual battery setups easier? The backup camera of the 100s on later models is nice to have but that's something I can easily add to anything. I don't really know all the creature comforts of the 80 vs 100.
So here are my drawbacks on the 100....AHC. I actually prefer the LX470 over the LC looks wise but every LX470 I've seen and assuming all of them come standard with AHC. Since I want to run 35s this is a no go for me and I have no clue how much it costs to take a AHC vehicle to a standard spring and shock ride vs just lifting a LC without AHC. The main thing that I see as a plus to the 100 vs 80 is the 100 having more power with the V8. Specifically looking at the 2006-2007 models.
So in summary I want to build either/or with 16s, or 17s, 35s, 2.5 inch lift, winch, F and R bumper, sliders, Rack, awning, and probably adding a tent later on that I can take off the majority of the time. All of this will probably be added over the course of six months starting with the more functional items. In north Alabama there aren't areas that I would go to camp where I'm going to have to crawl rocks or cross deep water or heavy mud. I'm not going to have the vehicle in full flex is any of these spots. But at the same time I don't want to regret my decision if we go outside of our area to places that are going to throw an occasional curve ball.
Its funny to me to even be typing this but kinda like an analogy of I'm wanting to buy a diesel truck to pull a lawn mower trailer just in case I ever pull a car hauler to California.
So give me the opinions. I keep bouncing back and forth.
First off with the 80. I feel like I NEED to buy either a LC or LX450 with the lockers. Plain and simple if for nothing more the resale/sought after aspect. Problem with this is that I literally can't find one remotely close to me. If there is one it's built completely and $40k. I'm looking to spend 10-15k on one that is not modded or has very little done to it. I've mainly been looking for 96-97 models and the closet to me that I can find is one in OH at a Porsche dealer that doesn't have lockers -_- however its in pretty good shape, one owner outside of the dealer and has service records with 135k miles. See here (97 LX450). I wouldn't be keeping the rack or wheels and tires from it as I want to go with 35s and a Gamiviti rack. Problem here is that it spent every bit of its life in Brooklyn NY and there are zero undercarriage photos which is a big ole sign for me. Dealer is contacting me Tuesday with more info on it and I'm going to have pictures sent of the undercarriage.
Here's where I need help on which would be better suited for me. Yes it has a straight axle, yes they come with lockers. Will I ever need the flex of the straight axle. Probably never, maybe once. As far as reliability I like the fact that the 80s seem to be a lot more mechanical than the 100s are. 80s also take dual battery setups easier? The backup camera of the 100s on later models is nice to have but that's something I can easily add to anything. I don't really know all the creature comforts of the 80 vs 100.
So here are my drawbacks on the 100....AHC. I actually prefer the LX470 over the LC looks wise but every LX470 I've seen and assuming all of them come standard with AHC. Since I want to run 35s this is a no go for me and I have no clue how much it costs to take a AHC vehicle to a standard spring and shock ride vs just lifting a LC without AHC. The main thing that I see as a plus to the 100 vs 80 is the 100 having more power with the V8. Specifically looking at the 2006-2007 models.
So in summary I want to build either/or with 16s, or 17s, 35s, 2.5 inch lift, winch, F and R bumper, sliders, Rack, awning, and probably adding a tent later on that I can take off the majority of the time. All of this will probably be added over the course of six months starting with the more functional items. In north Alabama there aren't areas that I would go to camp where I'm going to have to crawl rocks or cross deep water or heavy mud. I'm not going to have the vehicle in full flex is any of these spots. But at the same time I don't want to regret my decision if we go outside of our area to places that are going to throw an occasional curve ball.
Its funny to me to even be typing this but kinda like an analogy of I'm wanting to buy a diesel truck to pull a lawn mower trailer just in case I ever pull a car hauler to California.
So give me the opinions. I keep bouncing back and forth.