Need Help Choosing Between 2 RHD HDJ81 Cruisers

[verseddreams]

Struggling to choose between two Land Cruisers I’ve been eyeing and wanted to reach out for some of your opinions.

First one is a 1996 HDJ81 1HDFT RHD. Non-locking version. About 125,000 miles on it. Body is in great condition. Timing belt done at 188km and did a full top to bottom service when he got it a little less than a year ago. Owner before him didn’t have any maintenance records but stated that it was regularly maintained. Videos and pictures of it look great, no rust, sounds good, etc. unfortunately I’ll have to fly out to this one and then drive it back 25+ hours. Currently has a 2” lift with 315s so a regear and elocker would be done in the near future if I got it along with other upgrades. 10/10 exterior and interior condition. From what I’ve seen and heard, engine looks good too.

Second one is a 1991 RHD HDJ81, 1HDT (BEB were done before being imported at like 100k km~. Currently at around 150,000 miles. This one is triple locked BUT the front and rear lockers don’t engage. CDL still engages. He said that the they didn’t break while he was using the cruiser while locked, it just didn’t engage one day. Which reading through some old forums the fix could be anywhere from something really easy to getting an entirely new actuator for like $1,500 (depending on what the actual problem is). This one already has a pre-turbo EGT gauge in, snorkel, and airbox which saves some money since I plan to do that anyways and obviously this one being triple locked (when working) saves the money of having to install an elocker on the other. Front suspension was rebuilt with chromoly birfields, bearings, and new power steering. Lifted and on 35” tires. Actually has the paint and wheels that I want too. This one is in good condition too, rust free, cold start sounds great, etc. 8/10 interior and exterior. Good news with this one is that it is about 6 hours away which is a MUCH easier drive.

So which would yall lean towards? Considering this won’t be a daily driver. Will be used to take the dog back and fourth to do bitework and any other time I take it anywhere in its crate (won’t fit in the car) and will be doing big camping/overlanding roadtrips with it quiet regularly. At least once a month or every other month there would be a week long trip with other smaller trips between that. Majority of those trails/roads are forest roads that don’t need lockers but I do have plans to hit some more remote locations where lockers would be extremely helpful. No plans to do any rock crawling or anything like that. The first one is $6,500 more than the second one plus plane ticket and 20 hour longer drive. Looking forward to hearing what other people think of this situation.

 

[cruisermatt]

#2 truck all day. Eespecially if you can more easily check it out in person before purchase. With your goals you don't need or want that huge lift the first one has. There is no way that is a 2" lift, that looks like a 5-6"" to me. Honestly with your goals it doesn't sounds like you even need lockers, I would do a winch first if it doesn't already have one. Actuators are a lot less then $1500 too.

Additionally, having worked on both HDT and HDFT's I would take the HDT and turn up the boost and intercool it over the 24v FT. I have had much better expereince with maintinace and repairs and fast parts availablility on HDT's then FT's

 

[verseddreams]

#2 truck all day. Eespecially if you can more easily check it out in person before purchase. With your goals you don't need or want that huge lift the first one has. There is no way that is a 2" lift, that looks like a 5-6"" to me. Honestly with your goals it doesn't sounds like you even need lockers, I would do a winch first if it doesn't already have one. Actuators are a lot less then $1500 too.

Additionally, having worked on both HDT and HDFT's I would take the HDT and turn up the boost and intercool it over the 24v FT. I have had much better expereince with maintinace and repairs and fast parts availablility on HDT's then FT's

Not sure which picture you’re referring to, but the grey/black one is the 2nd one (I accidentally put it’s picture first) and he has a 4” lift (assuming that’s suspension + body lift) The two tone one with the chrome wheels is the first one I believe it’s a 2” lift but I haven’t confirmed what lift he has on it.

So you do think going with the 1HDT one is better? It’s cheaper and I think that price difference is more than enough to address any problems. Even with the lockers not engaging it’s the same as the other one without lockers, plus it already has some of the mods I was planning to do which makes the price difference even bigger. I also agree that I probably won’t need lockers except for very few circumstances where it’d be nice if I have them.

Thank you for the input!

 

[cruisermatt]

Not sure which picture you’re referring to, but the grey/black one is the 2nd one (I accidentally put it’s picture first) and he has a 4” lift (assuming that’s suspension + body lift) The two tone one with the chrome wheels is the first one I believe it’s a 2” lift but I haven’t confirmed what lift he has on it.

So you do think going with the 1HDT one is better? It’s cheaper and I think that price difference is more than enough to address any problems. Even with the lockers not engaging it’s the same as the other one without lockers, plus it already has some of the mods I was planning to do which makes the price difference even bigger. I also agree that I probably won’t need lockers except for very few circumstances where it’d be nice if I have them.

Thank you for the input!

Yep, I would go with the 1HDT truck personally. Some may dissagree with me but if I were going to buy a mechanical Toyota diesel it would be 1HDT as my #1 choice

 

[mudgudgeon]

I'll give you a slightly different take.

Your use case doesn't need lockers.
Take lockers out of the picture, which would you choose?
Put the locker money into 3" exhaust, turbo, tuning etc. You'll enjoy that everytime you drive it, vs "maybe lockers could be useful".
Lockers can give you the comfort to do dumber sh¡t that you probably shouldn't.
A winch can get you out of must whoops situations for less money than lockers.

I'd take a hard pass on the 4" lifted one.

Anything over 2" lift is unnecessary for your use case.
Beyond a 2" lift, you start introducing a lot of compromises.
Driveline vibrations are pretty much a 100% certainty with 4" lift.
Handling is compromised.
COG is raised. ( lots of rolled, lifted 80s in the ih8mud lore if you go digging).
If the 4" lift isn't well sorted, you could easily spend as much fixing it as you would on ARB or Eaton lockers.
You can run 35s with no issue with a 2" lift. Again, your use case doesn't need 35s. 33s. and 2" lift would do what you describe with plenty of capability.

Unless you're going for really big power with modified turbo, injection pump, intercooler etc, there's not a lot of advantage to the 24 valve.
1hd-ft do make more power in stock form, but both are capable of some pretty healthy gains with the usual performance tweaks.
24 valve has a bigger advantage in higher RPMs, higher than what most people will typically use.
A tuned diesel does all the exciting stuff at low RPM - ie, makes loads of torque

1HD-T needs an eye kept on BEBs, but this can be managed and isn't as big a deal as ih8mud would have you believe.
1HD-T valve shim clearances are fiddly to adjust.
1hd-ft dual valve rocker arms are fiddly to adjust too.
1hd-ft runs higher injection pressure, so there's some advantage there in terms of power and fuel efficiency and emissions.

Are both vehicles auto trans? Or manual?

With a 3" exhaust and a tune up, both engines will have no trouble with 35s without regearing, unless you're towing heavy loads or doing really steep off roading.
If you're boosting above 14psi, then an intercooler will be beneficial.

I'd want to be pretty certain either of these was what I wanted before making a 6hr or 20hr journey to look at one.
How helpful with info and pics are the sellers?

Finally, diesel is cool! I miss my diesel cruisers! Tuning them up is fun.

but, I couldn't justify the premium price for a diesel when I bought my current 80.

You can get the equivelant gas cruiser for a lot less money, and have more money to put into accessories, improvements, upgrades, performance etc etc, or into other toys

 

[verseddreams]

I'll give you a slightly different take.

Your use case doesn't need lockers.
Take lockers out of the picture, which would you choose?
Put the locker money into 3" exhaust, turbo, tuning etc. You'll enjoy that everytime you drive it, vs "maybe lockers could be useful".
Lockers can give you the comfort to do dumber sh¡t that you probably shouldn't.
A winch can get you out of must whoops situations for less money than lockers.

I'd take a hard pass on the 4" lifted one.

Anything over 2" lift is unnecessary for your use case.
Beyond a 2" lift, you start introducing a lot of compromises.
Driveline vibrations are pretty much a 100% certainty with 4" lift.
Handling is compromised.
COG is raised. ( lots of rolled, lifted 80s in the ih8mud lore if you go digging).
If the 4" lift isn't well sorted, you could easily spend as much fixing it as you would on ARB or Eaton lockers.
You can run 35s with no issue with a 2" lift. Again, your use case doesn't need 35s. 33s. and 2" lift would do what you describe with plenty of capability.

Unless you're going for really big power with modified turbo, injection pump, intercooler etc, there's not a lot of advantage to the 24 valve.
1hd-ft do make more power in stock form, but both are capable of some pretty healthy gains with the usual performance tweaks.
24 valve has a bigger advantage in higher RPMs, higher than what most people will typically use.
A tuned diesel does all the exciting stuff at low RPM - ie, makes loads of torque

1HD-T needs an eye kept on BEBs, but this can be managed and isn't as big a deal as ih8mud would have you believe.
1HD-T valve shim clearances are fiddly to adjust.
1hd-ft dual valve rocker arms are fiddly to adjust too.
1hd-ft runs higher injection pressure, so there's some advantage there in terms of power and fuel efficiency and emissions.

Are both vehicles auto trans? Or manual?

With a 3" exhaust and a tune up, both engines will have no trouble with 35s without regearing, unless you're towing heavy loads or doing really steep off roading.
If you're boosting above 14psi, then an intercooler will be beneficial.

I'd want to be pretty certain either of these was what I wanted before making a 6hr or 20hr journey to look at one.
How helpful with info and pics are the sellers?

Finally, diesel is cool! I miss my diesel cruisers! Tuning them up is fun.

but, I couldn't justify the premium price for a diesel when I bought my current 80.

You can get the equivelant gas cruiser for a lot less money, and have more money to put into accessories, improvements, upgrades, performance etc etc, or into other toys

I do agree with you that the 4” lift is unneeded and adds a lot of unnecessary strain. I wouldn’t mind swapping back down to smaller lift and reducing wear and tear.

They’re both very helpful with info and pics. Although the 1HDFT owner doesn’t know much about maintenance or anything done before he got it. 1HDT owner has a huge list of everything he’s done with pictures and records.

So with the 1HDT (4” lift) it’s $6,500 cheaper which could go towards an Intercooler, tuning, maintenance, etc? At least that was my thought process when you said to take lockers out of the picture. The 1HDT has some mods already done that I had in plan and it’s cheaper so there’s more room to do other things.

Thank you for the reply, let me know what you think about my response! I appreciate the information!

 

[SNLC]

#2 truck all day. Eespecially if you can more easily check it out in person before purchase. With your goals you don't need or want that huge lift the first one has. There is no way that is a 2" lift, that looks like a 5-6"" to me. Honestly with your goals it doesn't sounds like you even need lockers, I would do a winch first if it doesn't already have one. Actuators are a lot less then $1500 too.

Additionally, having worked on both HDT and HDFT's I would take the HDT and turn up the boost and intercool it over the 24v FT. I have had much better expereince with maintinace and repairs and fast parts availablility on HDT's then FT's

FT is a far superior engine.

Cheers