Looking For 80 (got locker questions) (1 Viewer)

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hey guys

i finally sold my SOA FJ60 and am ready to buy an 80

the ones with e lockers seem to be either rare or way expensive

i am looking for a 93+ FZJ80 and was wondering how much of the locker wiring is there regardless if it has lockers or not. i am trying to figure out what is need to add these lockers after the fact. i already added a rear FJ80 e locker to my FJ60 and it was fairly straight forward.

is any of the wiring already there? obviously i need the dash switch, anything else? i know i need the full floating rear and that will be on the rig for sure (or i aint buying it). what about the front? do i just need to change shafts out?

thanks for any info on this

also, i am on the lookout for a 93+ Grey or Charcoal FJZ80 with grey interior for around 8-9k

thanks
 
i'm pretty damn sure you're gonna basically have to change the axles as well.. just buy one with locking diffs..
 
Mangler,

I can't help you on what's going to be in the vehicle as to harness, etc but I'd advise you not to buy an unlocked 80. They sell for exactly the same money and there are a lot of them out there. The odds of you finding the "perfect" unlocked 80 are higher than the odds of finding the "perfect" locked 80, yes. But if you can live with a different color or whatever, then you simply get in the truck and drive off with a fully locked truck vs spending the time and money to add something already widely available.

I'm sure others will chime in, but I think you'll be glad you bought a locked truck when it's all said and done. Spend the coin you'll save on either a lower mileage cream puff, or other mods to your liking.

DougM
 
didn't Dan put in a new front axle to get his lockers?

just adding the elockers would be a tad more than just wiring I would think, you need the actuator opening in the diff housing and all... Seems like ARB is easier, but over $2K

nice to have you on the 80 side, though

and yes, get one with lockers. I saw several when I was looking.
 
elum said:
Mangler.. if you don't mind.. how much did you get for your 60? It's a sweet ride..

Only got $6200

Could of gotten a lot more if i had done a little more work to it but i wanted it gone!

Thanks
 
Try to find one with factory lockers, it might take some patience but would be worth your while IMHO. Otherwise I believe the ARB conversion is the better deal as previously mentioned but that is a matter of opinion as well. Welcome to 80 land.
 
Don't settle on an unlocked 80, trust me I did the same thing and figured I'd add the lockers later. Well after spending over 2k on f/r ARBS I gotta tell you I wish I would have bought a locked 80. Less work, less hassle.
 
Well, since no one else wants to answer your question I will :flipoff2: You'll need the front and rear wiring harnesses (plug into existing - have to swap out a bit for rear), ECU behind passenger kick panel, switch, and lockers. You can notch the axles like you did on your 60 ...

That being said - prolly easier to find one w/ lockers in the first place, though you'll most likely have to play with them to get them working (most owners have no idea what that switch is).

Good luck!

Tucker
 
It will be expensive. You are going to need
Two locking 3rd members w/actuators,
2 short side axle shafts,
The switch,
The control relay box
And several harnesses including one from the front to back of the truck, the axle housing will have to be trimmed

Search for posts by Cruiser Dan, he did the retrofit on his, unless you can find parts from a donor truck cheap it will likely cheaper to install ARB’s

Locked 80's in good shape are out there, I paid no more for mine than an unlocked one, just took some time to find it.

Maybe we are starting to see a split in locked/unlocked prices as they move into enthusiast hands.
 
I purchased an unlocked 80, but it was in excellent condition, 1 owner, moonglow, at 77k... and I don't do a lot of off-road driving anymore. Really depends on what you are going to use the vehicle for. I agree with the rest that if you can find a locked 80 vs. unlocked get it locked as you have heard they go for around the same price and adding them later can be spendy. Good luck.

Russell
 
if you go offroad at all hold out for lockers. You will own the truck for a long time so a little bit of patience now will pay off. there are very few with unlocked trucks who don't pine for lockers once they are out on the trail
 
RavenTai said:
It will be expensive. You are going to need
Two locking 3rd members w/actuators,
2 short side axle shafts,
The switch,
The control relay box
And several harnesses including one from the front to back of the truck, the axle housing will have to be trimmed

Search for posts by Cruiser Dan, he did the retrofit on his, unless you can find parts from a donor truck cheap it will likely cheaper to install ARB’s

Locked 80's in good shape are out there, I paid no more for mine than an unlocked one, just took some time to find it.

Maybe we are starting to see a split in locked/unlocked prices as they move into enthusiast hands.

You only need a shaft for the rear axle.
 
Locked 80's in San Diego are RARE... A friend of mine works at Toyota Carlsbad and they NEVER had any locked cruisers delivered that were not special order. I looked for a while for one and the few I found were pretty beat. I would call on cruisers 6 hours after the trader would come out and the seller would answer the phone "no it doesn't have the knob to the left of the steering wheel". I wasn't motivated enough to travel so I settled for a non locked 80. That being said... I was up at Specter not too long ago and was talking to Marv... he has palettes of complete locked 80's axles laying around. A little quick math put the whole pile of parts to do the conversion at about $2000, $2500 after rebuilding the axles. $5000 premium for a locked truck, $2000 in parts to build a locked 80 in San Diego, or $1500 worth of plane tix, inspections, hotels, food and gas and aggrivation to get it back here. Whichever tickles your pickle...

Chris
 
I call BS on your friend's opinion they only got special order locked Cruisers. I used to work for Lexus HQ, and am intimitely familiar with the Toyota vehicle ordering and distribution process to dealers as well. Unless your buddy was the General Sales Manager, or the Sales Manager, he's speculating. They got a certain percentage of "full spec" LandCruisers just like everyone in the LA Region did and I don't know the percent but I'm sure that literally hundreds of locked 80s were sold into the LA/San Diego market.

I see you've looked into it and are determined to do the work yourself. It's good you've done the research and are clearly mechanically capable of doing it so you're a candidate for this fairly complex modification. Honestly, I would not do this myself however. I live in a small town in Idaho, and started looking for a 2nd locked 80 in January. Within 3 weeks I'd found two ideal candidates and I specifically wanted a 97. Bought one of them within that 3 week time period. You've got 50 times the number of locked 80s near you that I had as my potential purchase pool, so I think you can pull it off, but there's something to be said for doing essentially custom work on your ride as well. I respect that.

DougM
 
tucker74 said:
Well, since no one else wants to answer your question I will :flipoff2: You'll need the front and rear wiring harnesses (plug into existing - have to swap out a bit for rear), ECU behind passenger kick panel, switch, and lockers. You can notch the axles like you did on your 60 ...

That being said - prolly easier to find one w/ lockers in the first place, though you'll most likely have to play with them to get them working (most owners have no idea what that switch is).

Good luck!

Tucker

Thanks, that is what i was wondering. Have you done this? How much of it is existing?

Thanks
 
ElJefe said:
That being said... I was up at Specter not too long ago and was talking to Marv... he has palettes of complete locked 80's axles laying around. A little quick math put the whole pile of parts to do the conversion at about $2000,

Chris

I just called Specter and they didn't have a clue as to the where abouts of thoe factory locked axles. They mentioned the full floaters but knew nothing about the complete locked axles. How long ago were you there and do you have any other info on these???
 

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