New here need help on buying (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Apr 3, 2007
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Location
Maugerville NB, Canada
New here need help, I'm hooked

OK, I have to make a decision. I have been drooling over fj40's for a while now and have decided to take the plunge. I am not new to restoring old cars from the ground up so I am not afraid of a challenge. Enough of that.

I have a 71' fj40 lined up froma co-worker for $500 it's a runner in very rough shape and needs a total rebuild. I was pleased to find this and about to hand over the money. Today, a fellow contacted me who is interested in an old plow truck I have for sale and asked If I was interested in trading 2 77'fj40s one complete runner needing a rebuild and another parts machine. Sense I was asking $500 for the plow anyway I would be spending the same ammount of money.

Would the 71' be the better rig or would the 77'

Both are box stock with no mods

Please help me make a decision.
 
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Welcome.


Pretty easy decision really, pick them all up. ;)



Do it now, or wish you would have later. :)



The 77 is going to have disc brakes, and some other things that a lot of people seem to think makes them worth more than an earlier truck...
 
Buy the one trade for the two, and make one. With parts left over make your money back:grinpimp:
 
Parts rigs can yield quite a bit of money
 
If you have room for all of them, grab 'em all. You can scan the "Parts for Sale/Parts Wanted" sections to get a feel of what all the extra parts may sell for.
 
Used parts are hard to find at a decent price. If there is something you need from one to make the other work.....may consider getting the whole lot.
 
Steve beat me to it. Buy them all up. YOu could resell parts/or the whole rig to fund one good 40.

I would say the 77 is a "better" cruiser out of the box, but that is SUPER subjective not seeing any of them.

Rezarf <><
 
First off I have to say I feel a little left out. NOt one of you guys gave my the newbie salute ;p


I am cheap and was quite happy that I would not have to shell out the cash for the first buggy, but being a cheap sob and remembering my last rebuild (68'Chrysler Newport) I had to spend top dollar on bits and pieces I think getting them all like most suggested, would be the best option.


I originally wanted a fj for off road use only cause the kids could not all fit in the s10 to go fishing, and off my back field there are miles and miles of old rail bed and some great firshin holes.
But now I think I might do one ground up for a daily driver.

I will probably do the 77 as a road runner

This is the 77'
fj40_138.jpg


fj41__347.jpg


fj_759.jpg
 
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They Are right. Buy em all. Do you have at least 1 good frame?
 
looks good 10,000 or 20,000 grand and it should be ready to go good luck
 
With all three I will have 2 good frames. One on the 71' and one with just frame and axles.

The Plan

I am going to leave the 71' alone and run it in the woods, strip the other clean it, fix any soft spots, and send it to be galvanized. It should look REALLY good.:cool:

The guy with the 71' says he has 2 extra sets of axles and shafts as well as many boxes of odd parts.

I hope to send one of the front axles out to have the castor adjusted for a SOA setup. It should be lots of fun.
 
My advice is buy all of them. Then if you need a part from one you have it or you can sell parts for the build. I did the same. I have 3 fjs. The 74 is my main one and it came with a 72. I then bought a 78 for 400 dollars. I have prolly sold around 1k in parts off the 78 on ebay. and I swaped the disc brake axel from the 78 under my 74. So yes buy them all.
 
Laughing at the responses. It's like asking a bunch of crackheads if you should buy one back of rock or two.

Of course we all say three.

Welcome to the addiction.
 
personally, I wouldn't buy any of them. There's just way too much rust, and I question how much you'll actually be able to salvage, re-use. Of course I'm spoiled living in Cali.

The draw back to the 77 is that it's the small pattern knuckle for disc brakes. most people want the large pattern for off road (bigger, stronger). I don't see a lot of re-usable metal quite frankly.

Having done it once, I would try to find one that was complete, and in the shape you want (bone stock, light wheeler, or crawler). You'll find rigs that people have put 20K into that sell for 10K.

I know anything can be fixed, but to me, starting with a good platform is more important than initial cost.
 

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