New 80 owner (1 Viewer)

[3FOffroad]

Hey all, thanks for having such a great place to find info. I’m a new owner of a ‘97 FZJ80 with 212k miles. I know nothing about landcruisers. I have 2 Jeep LJ’s and wheel a lot but with 3 kids and another on the way the cruiser was the best choice for our family.
I’ve got some work to do, the axle ends are caked with grease and I’ve got some other typical leaks. Never realized the cruiser had birfs until I crawled under to make a purchase.
Looking forward to learning from you guys and start this build.

 

[nigelsiam]

From the outside it looks like a nice rig...congrats! Don't worry about all that grease..it's supposed to be like that...rust preventative . Looks like you will need a full knuckle rebuild. Lots of info on that here and on YT...look around for @OTRAMM et. al.
Also, do a search for what you need to do to baseline it. Changing fluids, hoses, seals, etc. Welcome to the club!!

 

[Willie G]

Mmmmmm......Blue.

Welcome! Your education begins...now.

 

[3FOffroad]

From the outside it looks like a nice rig...congrats! Don't worry about all that grease..it's supposed to be like that...rust preventative . Looks like you will need a full knuckle rebuild. Lots of info on that here and on YT...look around for @OTRAMM et. al.
Also, do a search for what you need to do to baseline it. Changing fluids, hoses, seals, etc. Welcome to the club!!

Thanks for the input! It is a really nice rig with a lot of perks. Looking forward to tearing into it abs seeing what other fun I find!

 

[asuddendeath]

I love that color. That think looks great!

Cruiser Outfitters. You can call them too. A+++++ people to answer questions and they have the kits you need to rebuild.
With as bad as those knuckles are, I would acid bath them.

 

[WCBlueSky]

Cruiserparts.com. You can call them too. A+++++ people to answer questions and they have the kits you need to rebuild.

I think you mean Cruiser Outfitters (that is where I got my knuckle rebuild kit). I don't have any personal experience with CRUISERPARTS.COM but some people have had a bad experience, just beware.

CruiserParts.net Scam Scam Scammers

Recently ordered a part from there. Didn't receive a shipping confirmation. So I try to contact them. After about 5 days I email them asking to cancel the order. No response. I call them and leave a message to cancel the order. No response. I finally get a hold of a dirt bag named Roman. This is...

forum.ih8mud.com

Bad experience with CruiserParts

I hate to write a bad review of any provider who supports small communities. I especially dislike doing so for a small family business. This is long due to the drawn out nature of how I came to write a bad review of some folks who I think are probably decent folks. At least decent when they...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[Rusty Marlin]

MMM mmm mmm Birf soup. Delicious.
Gonna need those taken care of first.
Then as stated above, a full base line.
All the coolant lines, vacuum lines, rear heater lines (check the steel lines for integrity).
Pretty truck.

And most importantly, Welcome to MUD !!

 

[asuddendeath]

I think you mean Cruiser Outfitters (that is where I got my knuckle rebuild kit).

That is the right one. Major brain fart.

 

[GW Nugget]

Welcome... Blue is a rare color... Grats.

 

[clx16]

The BIRF jobs wasn't as hard as people made it out to be. I just sucks cleaning everything. Since you wheel, recommend sliders. The roof rack and that wind deflector are hiding rust, so might want to deal with that soon.

 

[3FOffroad]

MMM mmm mmm Birf soup. Delicious.
Gonna need those taken care of first.
Then as stated above, a full base line.
All the coolant lines, vacuum lines, rear heater lines (check the steel lines for integrity).
Pretty truck.

And most importantly, Welcome to MUD !!

Thanks for the input. The vehicle had a full service done with all lines, etc replaced with OE from the dealer. PO decided to not mess with the knuckles due to cost and sell. I can’t imagine the labor cost involved. I’ll start stock piling paper towels now. Ha!

 

[3FOffroad]

The BIRF jobs wasn't as hard as people made it out to be. I just sucks cleaning everything. Since you wheel, recommend sliders. The roof rack and that wind deflector are hiding rust, so might want to deal with that soon.

Yes sliders are the big one for me abs are first on the list. I’ll look into the deflector and the rack. Thanks for the input.

 

[3FOffroad]

I’ve searched many of the threads but still not finding exactly what I’m looking for... picky I know. My trans slips when starting out.... hear me out on this. It doesn’t matter hot or cold but first drive. I can let it warm up and still in the first 15 miles will slip.
Fluid is full and clean, wasn’t on first inspection. Was quite a bit low and figured a top off would solve the problem. Any tips or tricks on when to check fluid, just at hot, after a drive, check after there are no more issues? Seems fluid related but can’t put my finger on it.
No issues in reverse.
Once that first 15 miles is out of the way it shifts and drives great, even after sitting for about an hour and starting back up. No issues...
Thinking I might have a solenoid issue?
Any wise words of wisdom?

 

[clx16]

For the BIRF job. The dollar store has turkey pans, get a bunch of those to catch everything coming out and set your nasty parts. I also grabbed a silicon spatula and a few other little brushes etc while i was there. I think i even grabbed a couple of the dollar tarps. The soupier it is. the easier it will be to clean everything out. I didn't end up using that many papertowel like many others do. Grab some longer rubber gloves for the cleaning part if you use diesel in a 5 gallon bucket like I did. taking apart and putting back together is only a couple of hours.... its the cleaning that took up so much time for me.

 

[3FOffroad]

For the BIRF job. The dollar store has turkey pans, get a bunch of those to catch everything coming out and set your nasty parts. I also grabbed a silicon spatula and a few other little brushes etc while i was there. I think i even grabbed a couple of the dollar tarps. The soupier it is. the easier it will be to clean everything out. I didn't end up using that many papertowel like many others do. Grab some longer rubber gloves for the cleaning part if you use diesel in a 5 gallon bucket like I did. taking apart and putting back together is only a couple of hours.... its the cleaning that took up so much time for me.

Thanks for the info, good thing is looks like I don’t have any contamination, no bad in, just good being pushed out! Great ideas on the dollar store pickups.