My Dime is sold and I now enter the market..

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Bluetribal

Bluetribal

Joined
Mar 14, 2006
Threads
280
Messages
6,015
Location
Sandy Eggo
Website
www.markkuz.com
I just sold my S-10 after what felt like forever and now I enter the wonderful world of used car shopping.
This site has been very informative and has directed me to go with a 93-97 hopefully with lockers. I don't mind rockin the pink thong if an LX comes along. I will wear them proudly. :flamingo:
I live in Southern Cali and am willing to travel to UT, AZ, CO, & even TX (If I had to). my bank roll will be in the $11K range and I hope to find one under 150K miles. I think my odds will be pretty good in this neck of the woods.
So I am wondering if there are any questions you wished you had asked PO's of your vehicle when you were looking to buy it. I guess I am looking for basic used truck questions that are not in the "thinking of buying" guides. This will also be my first 4x4 so any advice would be appreciated.
Sorry if this was a little long winded but many of you seem to ask for background....
 
I think the newbie guide will give you quite a bit of info. You might check out Skeddy's FZJ in the For Sale Section...might be exactly what you're looking for. I've assisted with the mods and birf repack....

....or you could buy my 1992 and have some $$$ left over to play with...:idea:

:grinpimp:

-H-
 
Out of state is hard. I've purchased motorcycles on a phone call and a one-way ticket from folks I've only spoken to a couple of times and with enough info, you can get a pretty good idea of how the vehicle has been cared for, and whether or not the owner has a clue about the vehicle itself.

With cruisers, many people will not know what a diff lock is, or know that the birfs should be repacked at about 60K intervals. You can find some clean models though, but always factor in some maintenance if you don't know that it has been done, even to "baseline" everything for yourself and to your own standards.

HTH,

-H-
 
Good looking out LX Treme I just called about that 95.... The 94 seems to be in great shape but I think I would rather get one with some character to the paint and body rather than that mileage. But who knows how long that engine could go!!!
 
http://sandiego.craigslist.org/car/154807783.html
http://sandiego.craigslist.org/car/155041862.html
http://sandiego.craigslist.org/car/155270120.html

Welcome to the frustration of talking to soccer moms and foriegn guys who have no idea what lockers are! Especially here in SoCal. Almost all will say yes and have no idea what you are talking about.

Got mine here local in san diego - 125K white, lockers, immaculate from a guy in mission bay who had just replaced it with a land rover. As I started to drive away he paused and sadly said "You know, I think this is a better truck than my $50K Land Rover."
 
Thanks SunT I will add you to my buddy list of SoCal Cruiser Heads. Thanks for the links, I already called the first one. Talked to the lady and found out that the cruiser was originally hers, her sun drove it last year before leaving for school and it has been sitting since summer. I had her go to the garage and check for the locker switch and it is W/O lockers :?( It also has 180K so not one that I will jump on but so far the only person I havd got ahold of. I am waiting on 3 other call backs. Figure I will wait till this weekends trader before I start calling out of state.
 
Welcome and good luck .... in So-Cal there are alot of clean crusiers ..most have never seen dirt more less snow and road salt, but finding one with lockers will be difficult and you better be quick, with only 7% with lockers it isn't easy and when you do find one you better be one of the first in line they go fast the word is out... .. If you find a really clean one for a good price, lockers can be added several here have done it.. After buying both of mine I spent about a grand each in parts to get them really nice and they were in good shape ( I am pickey about some things) , so factor that into what you buy, the parts arn't cheep... even from Cdan...

a few things you may want to search for here, along with looking at the FAQ's .. these may help in what to look for and your negoiations on buying one used..

oil leaks
head gaskets...
EGR code 71 or 401
PHH-, and radiators...
starter contacts
aftermarket fan belts that make noise./ and fan clutch
Birnfield's and knuckle rebuilds--someone already touched on this,
driveline vibrations.
factory radio intenna
Sterio problems. with the factory units....
cloth vs leather
transmissions 343 vs 442
aftermarket parts that can cause problems
( spark plugs, plug wires, cap, rotor, brake pads, brake rotors,)

and I am sure there are more...

These are things that people have had common problems with and are well documented here, once again welcome and good luck...

BTW we are working on a So-Cal 80's Group we have had one informal meeting at Windmar, and are looking to do another at Big Bear on the weekend of June 17th ... we have our own section in clubhouse corner... ...
 
Thanks Rayjon!
Yeah, I know the lockers will be hard to find and I have no problem getting a clean Cruiser over lockers.
I saw the thread for the SoCal group and I deffinately plan on participating. It will kinda remind me of my minitruck club days and the meets. But instead of looking at our rides we will actually get to play in the dirt....
 
Welcome aboard Bluetribal. I agree with RAYJON - if you find a clean one, especially with lockers - you need to be all over it like a duck on a wet june bug.

I found mine on autotrader. Be patient, SoCal is full of nice 80's.
 
patience

I would have to agree, BE PATIENT. I just bought mine a year ago, 1994 with lockers. Passed a cherry truck with 20K less to get the lockers..... Was in SF bay area (I live at Tahoe), and didn't see many with lockers while I was looking. took me 6 mos of research, learning etc. My wife now knows more about cruisers than 1/2 of this site....! COOL. The list posted above is RIGHT ON. Use it as your discussion guide. IF lockers you want... wait and pass on anything that doesn't have em..... cuz you'll regret it if you don't. I would have. No "crawling" need for the lockers YET, but sure is nice when there's 2 feet of fresh powder! AND when the money is avail for mods.... the lockers won't be reducing the bank account. Cheers!
 
If you find anything in N. utah, or SE idaho pm me and I'll be glad to go take a look at it for you,
 
OK, so here is where I am at 6 days into my search. Yeah I know some of you took 2 years to find yours but I can't wait that long, it looks like I have a few weeks till' my Dad will be taking his car back. :doh:
Truck 1
So the first possible canidate was a locked 97' that I had a fellow cruiser head check out yesterday. It looks like it will be a no go especially with the hassle of getting it from CO to San Diego. Here is the thread on that one: https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?p=1122219#post1122219

Trucks 2 & 3
Next up were a 94' LC and a 97' LX wich were at the same dealer. I checed them out on Friday after work and immediately passsed up on the LC completely and found right next to it a 97' with lockers. I was surprised at how clean it was and how everything worked. I would say the leather was in about 88% condition. I tried to hook-up with Kevin (AKA Boston Mangler) to have him check it out but he was a little busy with a gas tank install. During my test drive I found I did not know how to put it into 4wheel high and when I tried the lockers the front locker light kept blinking while the rear stayed on steady. I never heard any kind of noise from the lockers so I could have been doing that wrong as well. The other problem with it is that it currently has 20" rims so I would need to drop like $1200 on steels and rubber.
It turns out Kevin was able to check out the LX for me during a part run and here is what he relayed to me:
[FONT=&quot]-truck is VERY clean
-it even has the OEM lexus cell phone and cd changer, very cool
-it appears to have a plastic radiator? hmmmm accident?
-birfs are leaking
one big problem we noticed though, is that the coolant kind of smelled like oil and had some sludge in it. it was not the nice and clean red that it should be! this could be a possible head gasket issue, no way to tell for sure, kind of sketchy
i wasnt able to drive it because i was only able to check it out for like 5 mins because it was on the way to an errand
overall the rig looks VERY clean and well maintained, the oil in the coolant kind of scares me though.

Trucks 4 & 5
Today I was up in Irvine for the California Truck Jamboree doing photo coverage so I took off early from that to check out two more LC's.
First one was a 96' W/ Lockers located in Fullerton that had failed smog twice last year according to CarFax and sounded like it would still have trouble. It had a spudder sound coming from the headers on the passenger side. Other problems were tears in the leater at the seams, rust above the windshield, and in the crevis of the mirrors where they swivel. And overall it was very dirty and run down.
Now the last one was also a 96' LC W/Out Lockers. BUT, BUT, possibly as Cherry as a 10 yr old vehicle could be!! During my test drive I did not find any dirt areas to test the 4wheel but if I do go back I will deffinately check the fluids as well as 4 Lo and Hi. The truck doesn't have a scratch on it, seats are 97% perfect, the only thing it is missing for me is the roof rack and lockers. But this truck really has me considering DO I REALLY NEED LOCKERS??? And I could just buy a Yakima rack for snowboard season.

Please feel free to input if you actually got through all of this!!!! Yikes I'm a blabering rookie!!!:whoops:
[/FONT]
 
At least in my neck of the woods, it's not worth it to hold out for one with lockers. One, they are always priced higher than non-locked. It seems like a wiser idea to get one cheaper without, then determine if lockers are even needed, then if yes buy new aftermarket lockers. That way, you know they're new and functioning properly. While yes I admit I wanted OEM lockers, I didn't really need them for my daily driver. Two, I did not want a green land cruiser (green exteriors are just not to my liking). Three, if I decide I must just have lockers, I will get them later and they will be new units (e.g. not x year old stockers that may not be functioning).

I just picked up a nice white '96 yesterday, unlocked, but it is overall in nice shape. My budget is limited, and I didn't want to wait another 2 years to hope someone would sell a locked cruiser in good/great shape who didn't understand what that "lock dial thingy was" so I could get a better price.

It's only my humble opinion, but my vote would be to go check out that last one, the '96 in great shape, and have a solid foundation (in great shape) to start with. Then if you decide you absolutely have to have lockers, install new units later.
 
Yeah, that is what I am thinking. I pretty much feel it is impossible for another one to be in the condition that this is and have lockers to boot!!
I am spending 11K on a used vehicle for off road use and only plan to have it as a daily driver for the next two years. Then it will be my fun rig... But brand new lockers in two years maybe the best way to go.... Heck on the LX I may be buying a head gasket. So what would I rather pay for down the road. HG or Lockers...
 
I think I am going to take canidate #5, a 96 LC W/ 125K mi., perfect leather, not a scratch on the paint, new brakes. And I just called the Toyota dealer and found out that the HG was done by them and almost all of the maintenance. The owner is asking 11,800.
 
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