is it possible to determine whether an FJ80 has (1 Viewer)

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Location
Frederick, MD
F&R lockers using the VIN?

I am in search of another FJ80 and all i have right now is the VIN number.

and is $17,300 too much for an LX450 with 70k miles? according to the seller it is in "excellent" condition.

Thanks :D
 
Re: is it possible to determine whether an FJ80 ha

The Lexus is a 96'. Oh, and the seller says that I will have to show up with a new battery which I guess is legit considering that it's a 96' and the vehicle has been sitting in the driveway for quite a bit. However, it could also be the alternator which I hope is not the case.
 
Re: is it possible to determine whether an FJ80 ha

How nice, the seller won't even make it run for you? :mad: The price is OK for a '96 as a general matter. The seller probably has no clue if it has lockers. It might be worth a look, just check whether the switch is on the dash, and the actuators are on the f/r axles, without mentioning this to the owner.

Heck, bring a battery, start it up and complain about alternators going bad or something like that when they sit, then low ball the guy.

I really irks me that he won't even make sure it runs for ya. BIG RED FLAG!

-H-
 
Re: is it possible to determine whether an FJ80 ha

Reason why I've been debating about purchasing that truck is because of distance. I live in Maryland and the seller is in Illinois. I saw the truck on ebay (go figure) selling for $20k. Of course he couldn't sell it for that high so now he's dropped the price some. This past month I've looked a several TLC's and LX450's.

I didn't realize that there is such a large amount of people out there who don't take care of a cars these days. One of the first TLC's I inspected had only one of the two drive belts which also looked like it was going to rip sometime soon! Many trucks even with "low mileage" had swirl marks as if washed with rocks and the interior also filthy. Others have had several owners and have been commercially used according to carfax and there are those which have had odometers "rolled back."

Apparently from my experience decent shapped fj80's are hard to come by on the east coast. I have decided to think about the $17,300 offer but wanted to ask the forum on their thoughts about the LX I am considering.

Worth the effort to take time off of work, drive over there inspect the car and spend $17,300 + $100 battery or wait and look elsewhere?
:-/

I guess I have to keep in mind too that it may need:
new rotors/pads; plugs, cap, wires... fluids to be flushed, and perhaps new tires.
 
Re: is it possible to determine whether an FJ80 ha

There are enough 80s around for you to be patient and wait for the one that's "just right" for you. If this guy isn't willing to put a new battery in to show the truck, I'd go elsewhere, as that most likely means he'll be pretty unreasonable on other items.

You might ask here to see if anyone is in the Illinois vicinity. Heck, personally I'd be happy to give a local cruiser a good once over for someone on the forum who was from out of town, and let the prospective buyer know what I thought...

-H- :beer:
 
Re: is it possible to determine whether an FJ80 ha

F&R lockers using the VIN?

I am in search of another FJ80 and all i have right now is the VIN number.

and is $17,300 too much for an LX450 with 70k miles?  according to the seller it is in "excellent" condition.

Hard to compare market to market (let alone country to country), but adjusting for currency, I paid a bit below that for a 1997 LX450 with less than 50,000 miles (with battery ;)), although I did have to do a bunch of maintenance right away (which I knew about) including rotors, pads, tires, full fluid change, etc. Advantage is that you get many options as 'stock' (lockers, etc)


I have to agree that many PO do not care for their trucks - I got a fairly good price by going to a guy that deals at auctions and then resells to dealers. I looked at a few trucks and it was obvious that the lessor had taken zero care

Cheers, Hugh
 
Re: is it possible to determine whether an FJ80 ha

Bdac. It sounds like you are trying to find a well maintained low miles truck if that is your budget. Be patient. This is not the one. If the guy is too lazy to get it running to sell, he did not maintain it properly either. Two kinds of people sell on eBay. People who take it seriously and will work with you, and people looking to dump problems on strangers as far away as possible. Your guy sounds like someone who can't sell it locally. What's his eBay track record?

Your other option is to spend $5,000 less and get something with a few more miles on it but with plenty in your budget left over to fix it up. &nbsp:Don't rule out that option. All used cars wll have issues.

There are tons of cruisers on autotrader.com and cars.com.
 
Re: is it possible to determine whether an FJ80 ha

If you're interested in a 1994 with about 130K on it, but very good shape, for about 13K, my father in law is looking at selling his. Throw me a PM.

2nd Owner (M.D. then a Pastor), Dealer maintained, No lockers, cloth seats, etc...

-H-
 
Re: is it possible to determine whether an FJ80 ha

Interested parties can PM me with a Toyota vin and I can pull as built information. I can't do Lexus.

BTW just because it says it wasn't built with lockers doesn't mean that it doesn't have them now 8)



&nbsp:Dan :beer:
 
Re: is it possible to determine whether an FJ80 ha

Where in IL? if it's in the Windy City area, I'll go take a look. $17K and he won't put a battery in it? could be shady, could be a goofball.
If it's not in the Windy area, join the Cruiser Assistance Club and you might be able to find someone close who can take a look at it for you and at least tell you if it's got lockers.
70K is pretty low mileage. could be a decent deal.
 
Re: is it possible to determine whether an FJ80 ha

Yea, if you need someone to take a look at it, Gumby or I can. I'm in the southern Chicago suburbs so I can check it out if need be.

-Bryan
 
Re: is it possible to determine whether an FJ80 ha

thanks to everybody for the excellent advice

I've looked into this more. The ebay seller is a middleman selling for an owner therefore, he doesn't know all the mechanics and I doubt he knows anything about the F&R lockers, etc. He has had 2 negative complaints both of which were back in 2001 and has sold/purchased over 200 items since then which is a plus. Actually I just spoke with him on the phone and he sounds like an honest person.

Within the past two hours I searched and called all the TLC's/LX's on cars.com and autotrader without any success- all sold or have higher mileage than I would like.

Hltoppr, your cruiser sounds tempting, but I'd like airbags; it won't be used for rock crawling but the occasional highway driving and driving to the farm and beach truck. ;)

:bow:
Gumby and Mr. Bryan, I'd like to take your offer up on checking out this vehicle for me. I have the address and phone number of the owner. Please email me at: bdacanay@nhgri.nih.gov

:beer:

-Brian
 
Re: is it possible to determine whether an FJ80 ha

Interested parties can PM me with a Toyota vin and I can pull as built information. I can't do Lexus.

Ê BTW just because it says it wasn't built with lockers doesn't mean that it doesn't have them now 8)



Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê ÊDan :beer:
Yeah It might have ARB's!
:G
 
Re: is it possible to determine whether an FJ80 ha

I found cars.com and yahoo! cars were more difficult and less informative, but better deals by far. I think they scrounge ads from local papers, many I called on were suprised to hear I saw it on the net. My '97 was a one-line ad with little info, no pic, placed in the Kansas Star. It turned out to be a very well maintained, 1-owner, 40th anniv, w/lockers and 100k mostly highway. I spent a lot of time looking, but got exactly what I wanted for less than your deal. Prices have com down since then, you should be able to do better.

I travel from West Michigan to O'Hare regularly, will divert to check a cruiser if you need.
 
Re: is it possible to determine whether an FJ80 ha

bdac -

I'll extend the offer to take a look at any cruiser in the Metro New York area. There are a boat load of them around here - mostly driven by soccer moms.
 
Re: is it possible to determine whether an FJ80 ha

Brian -

On the matter of lockers, don't go by the switch on the dash alone. There was a recent case out here in the west of an eBayer selling a Cruiser that had the switch, but it wasn't hooked up to anything!

There is a relatively foolproof way of checking just about any truck to see if it had factory lockers - as opposed to no lockers, or aftermarket lockers, or retrofitted factory lockers - and that is by reading the axle code on the front DS door jam.

Near the bottom of the sticker, you will see this:
A/TM = K294/A343F

[ Axle/Transmission ]

K292 = no factory lockers
K294 = factory lockers
A343F in this example is the 95-97 auto tranny

Good luck!

R -
 
Re: is it possible to determine whether an FJ80 ha

Ron,

Thanks for that tip! I learn something new every single day.

-B-
 
Re: is it possible to determine whether an FJ80 ha

8) Yeah, be patient! this dude is a zipperhead! Why should_you_ - the prospective buyer- provide something necessary to get it to run to test drive it?? I got my '96 FZJ80 last month, 97k, for between the Kelly blue Book and NADA Blue book values/ lockers, very nice condition/ 97k on the clock (it's aToyota, dammit!).
If you do want it and it is what you want, use the charging thing to your advantage/ as a bargaining chip and get it down another $1,000++ so you get a good deal- my .02
time for another :beer:
 
Re: is it possible to determine whether an FJ80 ha

:D Oh yeah, I got that deal from a toyota dealer- off their lot-
BE PATIENT- THE ECONOMY SUCKS RIGHT NOW- LOOK AT ANY DEALER'S INVENTORY- THEIR LOTS ARE STACKED FULL TO BURSTING- NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY!!!!!!!!
P.S.- remind them of this!!!!! push that knife in and twist, baby twist!!! :D
 

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