Long Overdue Build Thread - Tan 60 (1 Viewer)

[Cincodemustache]

5 years on Mud, over three years owning a 60. Taken a ton of great info from Mud and need to give back, even if it is just my story. Get your reading glasses on...

My 1984 FJ60 started life in San Diego and lived a good, low mileage life in SoCal. I'm told, and take it with a large grain of salt, that the truck rarely ever even saw rain throughout it's entire existence. Clean!! I picked it up in fall of 2017 from a great guy in Austin TX, who owned it for a couple of years, putting a ton of cosmetic work into it for his wife. Apparently she was smitten by a couple of matching 70's Harleys and he decided to offload the 60. I saw the truck on Ebay and put in my max bid. As the truck had 58,000 original miles, my bid was quickly torched by those with deeper pockets and I walked away dejected. However, I did one fateful thing that probably earned me the right to buy the truck in the end. I wrote the owner a note through Ebay, chatting him up about the truck and getting answer to my question of total height of the truck after the Ironman lift was just installed. My garage in Massachusetts was low, built into the side of the home and I knew I'd scrape some paint off the roof hibernating the truck from the nasty road salt.

A few weeks passed, the auction ended and I had forgotten about the truck in my search for another 60. Then, I was on Cape Cod vacationing with the wife and kids when the owner sent me a message through Ebay. The winning bidder flaked and he didn't have the patience to do the whole auction process again. So, I quickly gave the wife the assumptive close on the truck and shot the owner my best price - sold!

More to come on the picking up the truck and fast forwarding 3 years of mechanical and cosmetic upgrades.....

Pictures from delivery day!

 

[Cincodemustache]

The last time I bought a car of my own was 15 years ago in college. I've always had a company car, so it was more fun that usual for me to do this deal. After wiring a $2,000 deposit to a stranger I met on Ebay for a truck I had never driven or laid hands on, I booked a flight from Boston to Austin (insert Road Trip movie reference here). In the couple week downtime, we did the usual transfer of funds and title via mail. I put myself in a tough spot by actually getting the title the day prior to flying out to pick up the truck. Massachusetts does not provide temp tags, so I had to get my official plates and fly down with them. The RMV in MA is garbage, like most, and luckily I didn't encounter any ridiculous paperwork snafus to set deflate my excitement.

Flying in on Friday night, I was delayed. The seller graciously picked me up at the airport and we got to his place around 6pm. My wife was terrified at this whole setup, and made me text her every 5 minutes that I was okay. Truck was as advertised and I had a mental note of all 900 little OCD cosmetic issues that I wanted fixed ASAP. Easy stuff like bumper end caps, new antenna, rear hatch struts etc. but as we all say "if the bones ae good...". Well this truck has great bones and no complaints from me - a lucky find. So what do two gear heads do when they meet each other? Talk about their toys...mind you I needed to hit the road and start my 30 hour at 62 MPH weekend journey back to the Bay State. I didn't actually leave Austin until 8PM, and with 500 miles to cover in a new-to-me truck to make it to my 1st hotel outside Little Rock I was looking at a long night of driving. I think I rolled into the hotel around 3AM, then was up at 5am to hit the road again. Just enough time for a quick sleep and some coffee. Anyway, long story short - I made it back to the house on Sunday evening with the only truck issues being a good rear oil pan leak that I was able to manage at gas stops, and the development of a nasty exhaust leak which I attribute to low miles on the truck and the gentle pushing I gave it up some mountains in the right hand lane.


Truck safe at home with the traditional cardboard under the drivetrain

 

[Cincodemustache]

Saved

 

[John Staton]

thats exactly how I bought my truck out of Az...winner flaked and they reached out to me next. I had to go get another quick yes from wife...but it all worked out. Have fun with the truck. Little did I know I would spend as much as I paid for it fixing it up.

 

[mattressking]

beautiful truck, glad to see it well-maintained and original.

 

[Cincodemustache]

beautiful truck, glad to see it well-maintained and original.

You have definitely blazed the trail on many of the updates I’ve made to the truck. Thanks for keeping yours well documented.