Looking at an 80 for dedicated trail riding

[LCHardriver_02]

Hello all,

My father in law is looking at buying a used truck as his dedicated toy. He wants something capable off road, but not necessarily obscene. I have a 100 and have convinced him, after a trail run in Reno, NV, that the Cruisers are completely awesome both on and off road. He and my mother in law want to the truck to be fairly inexpensive, but not something that needs to be completely rebuilt. They also like the comforts of a nice truck. For him, I think a 40 or 60 would not provide the level of comfort that they are used to and expect.

He has been looking at 4Runners, but found a '96 80 with 180K miles located next to them that is for sale for $6k. As would be expected, the truck's paint is oxidized a bit, having lived in the desert and has an oil leak of some kind (front diff maybe). No rust and has a straight body. The leather in the driver's seat is also split and the rig does NOT include lockers. The lockers are not a big deal for him because he probably will not do trails that require them and knows that he can add them later if he ever wants them.

When test driving the truck the current owner did not know how to disengage the 4-wheel low and so, they ended up reading a bit of the Owner's manual to get back to 4-wheel high. Needless to say, the truck has not been off road. Mostly used to get to snow up in the San Bernardino mountains.

First, does $6k sound high for this truck?

Second, other than regular maintenance stuff that probably needs to be completed for a "new to him" truck of this age and miles are there other items I need to make him aware of that might drive the price down?

Third, should he look more at the 4Runners of the same age given their lower initial cost and cost of repair? We both know the Cruiser will provide a higher quality ride and that is why he is looking at this one.

He is taking it in to a local mechanic to get a 3rd party eval tonight and I have read through a bunch of stuff on the Mud to try and help him with his decision.

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks much.

Jonathan

 

[timer00]

With all that you disclosed I think 6k is high... maybe more like 4500-5000. Just my opinion.. bad paint, no lockers, oil leak etc who knows what else it might need

 

[corsair23]

Seems high $$ for the mileage and not being locked but location has a lot to do with that...If maintenance and some/all of the big cost items below have been done then it might be a great buy even without the lockers...

Big ticket maintenance items on a rig with that many miles may/will include depending on what has been done:

Head gasket
Front and rear axle service
O2 sensors and possibly cats
New interior leather (Can get that from Shane, AATLAS1X)

Lower cost items that probably will need to be done if they haven't been:

PHH, and probably most if not all hoses
Fuel tank sock
Base line of all of the fluids
Tune up (spark plugs, wires (check to see if the existing ones have a date stamp on them), rotor, dist cap, etc.)
Air intake tube

I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of stuff...Figure you can drop $1k-$2k baselining the rig depending on how much the work he does himself. From there, fix other immediate issues and then drive it till somethings else pops up, if ever

 

[Mo Rocks]

I would take an 80 over a 4 Runner in most cases. But I still like 4runners a lot. Just my $.02

Get the mechanic to check it out like you mentioned. BTW, is he experienced with the 80's....it is a bit different than checking out someones grandma's Caprice.

Any service records ?? HG done ?? FE rebuild ??

Car Fax???

If you take your time, you should be able to get a cleaner one w/ lockers for $6-7K

Even if you think you do not want lockers, it is a good selling point if and when you decide to part ways with it......

Any way to post pictures??

Good luck

 

[LCHardriver_02]

Thanks guys for the responses. Here is a link for the add, which includes pictures:

1996 TOYOTA LAND CRUISER $6000 O.B.O

Was thinking along the same lines and told him as much. So far, everything that is remotely close has been pricing in closer to $9k.

With regards to the mechanic, it is someone who has been servicing his Sequoia, but I am not sure that he has worked much on the Cruisers. I don't know him. When driving it, he stated that the truck was very tight and drove very nice. Very subjective, I know. The leather is split, but only in the driver's seat, along a seam. The rest of the interior just needs a good cleaning (don't they all?) and good leather conditioning to get it back to normal (stiff). (I am about to do the Leatherique thing this next weekend to my 100.)

 

[Mo Rocks]

I love that color.......not many out there. White is the most popular color...mine is Dark Emerald Pearl....aka most common dark green

I passed up a Red, rust free 1997 with the desired lockers and the INTI roof rack 2 years ago for $9500....had new BFG AT's also....still kicking myself...

check it out and make them an offer if you really like it.
Do not low ball them to the point of insulting them.
Try offering $ 4500-5k and go from there. You can always go up....hard to offer less.

 

[LCHardriver_02]

I like that color too. Wife wants a car in that color now that we have a white LC! I sent a link to this thread to my father in law, so he could read all of the input given here. I like the idea of creating a list of to do items for the truck and then giving an acceptable price, given the work that will need to be done.

Thanks much!

 

[JTseed]

Thanks!

Thanks for the advice! After my mechanic looked it over, decided to pass on this one. Too many contradictions: Reportedly garaged & not used much off-road but seats, paint, oil/dirt under engine show otherwise – supposedly “well maintained” but mismatched hoses, tires, & duct tape “repairs” are a tip off – rust in unusual places so even maybe a Katrina makeover. I’m still looking…..