Nissan Patrol vs. FJ 40 (1 Viewer)

[Tonka]

new Patrol Vs Old forty series

a bit off topic but
heres Australias crumbie version of Top Gear, a really bad comparsion of a new Patrol against a yellow belly driving a 40series.

YouTube - Top Gear Australia - Old VS New 4X4 (Landcruiser VS Patrol)

[FYI a meat tray is a package of assorted meat you get at your australian butchers. The sort of thing you win in a pub raffle or buy on your way to a barbie (BBQ).]

 

[FirstTime62]

Hey all...so a little update here. As fortune would have it there was a 69 (maybe) Patrol in my area...down the street! Asked the guy (he wasn't selling) if I could drive it. He hadn't done much except a small lift and some really new shocks! It was loose and drove all over. He hadn't changed much on the steering...quite original and all that. But it was squirrely. He's got a great low gear on that, as he tweaked and rebuilt the transfer and the 4x4. The Axles seemed much beefier than a forty, but in the end it was a strange drive. The dude knew a lot about those old rigs...he also knew a lot about 40s and Series LR. It didn't, however solidify my desire for a 40...but it was a great experience. Thanks for all your help...I'm left still shopping!!!

 

[Poser]

The Axles seemed much beefier than a forty...

 

[Land Cruiser Junky]

My father bought a '67 Patrol when I was 9 and I drove it for about 3 years when I was in high school. Pretty cool Rover copy. I sold it at age 19 and bought a '75 FJ40. 31 years later, I still own the same Land Cruiser. Patrols are a cool vintage vehicle, but Cruisers are equaly as cool, you can get any part you need, and it's one tough 4x4.

 

[Mike Shull]

They're almost impossible to find here in the US so they don't have a giant following in our part of the world. ..........

I know where there is one setting in a salvage yard on the Western Slope...it's complete and not for parts...they may sell.

There is an other one in Meeker, Co and an other in Longmont, Co...wich use to be ours..not quite as stong as a Cruiser I'd say...The old ones anyway...but it's mint and setting in a RV Storage lot...setting..We wheeled it..cool truck.

 

[Rocky_LC]

Here's one in the Tucson Area...

Nissan Patrol

 

[FirstTime62]

Thanks for that tip...Tuscon may be out of range as the cost of getting there and back add to the overall cost...so I suppose that's a new question: should I be factoring in transportation costs when I go to buy a rig? I mean if I've got 10k and I find a Patrol or a 40 for 10k, but it's 2500 miles away...then that 10k car is really 11 or 12k depending on airfare and getting it home. Then I really need to be looking at an 8 or 9k dollar rig to keep my cost at 10k. I've never bought a car that wasn't less than a few miles from my home. How do you guys do this? Is it just safer to buy a rig closer to home? Maybe a question for a different post.
Also...do you all steer clear of ads that don't show the undercarriage? I would think if it's got rust you wouldn't want to show it. There are so many ads out there on this site and on CL and rarely do any show the undercarriage. Do you all steer clear of those ads? Like I said in an earlier post, I'm relatively new to Cruisers and to buying online...There seems to be mountains of information from all the people on here!!

 

[fj404life]

Go and look at/drive a lot of 40's. Each one will have its own quirks. The more you check out the more familiar your will become with what to look for and what to look out for!

 

[msahr]

I had a '64 Patrol in High School and a '66 later when I lived in Colorado (it never ran). The '64 was quirky to say the least: Positive ground 12V system, the battery was under the drivers' seat, the tool kit included a hand crank for the engine (which worked when the battery was dead, ask me how I know ), the dash was completely sealed from water / dust (it was solid metal under the dash to the firewall), the top was removable along with the doors. Speaking of the doors, you could easily remove the top of the doors for factory half-doors. Also the rear ambulance doors did the same thing. 3-speed. Manual steering. Frame-mounted pallet tie-down points for when you want to toss it out the back of your C-130 some fine morning... Twin-stick transfer case. Split-rim wheels (those didn't last long, my Dad made me replace them so we got 15x8 white spokes and Goodyear all-terrains). It held up to my high school and college wheeling trips for 6 years, then the engine started smoking a LOT and I sold it when I lived in Colorado. Oh and once when pulling away from a stop light I felt a CLUNK from the rear and I had broken a rear axleshaft. Was able to find a replacement at a junkyard in Colorado Springs. I bought the 66 to restore it and also bought a old Cherokee that I was going to swap the powertrain into the Patrol. Never did it. Bought a 67 FJ40 and I was hooked. I'm on my 4th FJ40 now.

 

[msahr]

Here's one in the Tucson Area...

Nissan Patrol

Hmmm there's a older 40 sitting next to it. Late 60s? It has the vent under the windshield.

 

[bad_religion_au]

My opinion is that Toyota was superior to Nissan up until the mid-to-late 80s. After that .... Nissan was (and remains) superior .

And I am comparing them on the basis of off-road-ability/ruggedness/reliability.
)

come again? what exactly has the nissan ever been superior with? the 80 > GQ

105 > GU

 

[number057]

Some pictures of a Patrol in our last weekend trip. (all the drivetrain is from a Nissan y60)

 

[Mike Shull]

I know where there is one setting in a salvage yard on the Western Slope...it's complete and not for parts...they may sell.]

I talked to one of the owners of "Creative Auto" in Delta, Co. The Patrol is for sale with no title. He said to make an offer...Call Terry if you are interested.

It's now missing the windshield frame.

 

[MadTripper]

I caught this a little late however I figured I better chime in since I have owned both Cruisers and Patrols.

As far as the axle statements go, I wouldn't say one is stronger than the other. I'd be happy to take measurements for those interested but I would say the Patrol axles are equivalent of a 1 ton setup. There are no lockers or gears available so as far as wheeling goes, you have to figure something else out which LC axles are available with all the goodies that come along with them. The Patrol is offset front and rear like the LC so it makes sense.

Parts are a pain to get but they are available or can be fabricated. Neither is a cheap option but again, not impossible.

Total of 2616 imported from 1962 to 1969. 973 of these were softops, the balance were hard tops and all were swb. Interestingly enough, all the nuts and bolts are standard.

Here is a brief history that may shed some light:

Vehicle Info


I have owned a 74 40 which I did love but it has been parted out. I currently have a 97 80 and 3 Patrols, 1 62 and 2 63's. One of my 63's is getting prepped for a restoration/diesel swap and yes, I'm eventually putting my 40 axles under it but only because of parts availability and I'm stuck with the passenger offset front and rear. It's also getting a 4BD2TC Isuzu and an NV4500. My other 63 is my daily driver unless I'm running the 80 series. No power steering or power brakes or radio and I love driving it as much as the 80.


So depending on your needs, you'll have to make a decision but stock vs. stock, and I'm sure I'll get hammered for saying it here, I'd take my Patrol over a 40. I believe low range is a bit better on the 40 series but the Patrol has twin sticks from the factory which I like using 2wd tractor mode around our property and for what I do, the low gearing works well.

Additionally, most of the cases I have seen, the registrations are under Datsun. My 62 has Datsun on the VIN plate although the emblems are clearly Nissan.

Another consideration is mileage. Most of the units I have seen or have seen for sale are under 50K. This may be correct however they came with auto lockouts from the factory and if they had the manual lockouts added as an option or by a PO, the mileage is probably wrong as the speedo cable comes off the front of the txfer case.

This is Plow Patrol which is getting the diesel:

This is a complete basket case, 1962:

Last but not least, the best of the bunch. Nearly all original 63:

 

[mdawg4x4]

I love the old FJ40s. Have a good friend with a 60 who's wife drives a sweet 80. Joined Cotton Land Cruisers on a couple Gray Rock rides and am quite impressed with the Cruiser capabilities whether 40, 60, or 80.

However, I have a 98 TJ and somewhat recently picked up a 63 Patrol. There were ~2600 Patrols imported to the US during the 60s.

I am going through mine, slowly, to get it road and offroad worthy. I am currently redoing all the brakes and switching from a single line master cylinder to a dual system with vacuum booster. I was able to get all new wheel cylinders out of OZ through RMP&O. There are many nice Patrols over on RMP&O with Madtrippers green machine being one of the nicer ones.

Replacement body panels for Patrols are now available from Pacol as well as Cruiser parts. As for running gear parts,,,tough to find.

Ride together, respect each other!

On the way home after purchase.

 

[SNLC]

Some pictures of a Patrol in our last weekend trip. (all the drivetrain is from a Nissan y60)

I take it you are in Doble & Bajo and live in Colombia? The blue Patrol is my friend Hectors, it is a 78. I think he needs to improve the suspension and put it back on 36" or bigger tires!

Some good posts here in this thread....comparing Patrols to TLCs is almost completely opinion based though. It is nice to see though on a Toyota forum people are not bashing the Nissan Patrols. The drive train is not weak by any means. Take apart a 1969 Patrol drive train and then do the same to a 69 FJ40. Compare everything, you will find some things are better in one and some are better in the other. The Patrols have some clearly stronger parts, trust me I been around both for 20yrs. Newer models it is the same thing. But since the only way to have something besides a USA L60 Patrol is to import one comparing newer models is kind of mute to everybody here in the USA. With the 25yr rule though you can import the 160 series but I know of only one that has been imported from Australia. A few other 160 series are in the USA but they wer eimported long agao, like my 1983 SWB. Any ways, we could go round and round about Patrol vs TLC and get nowhere.....

I have traveld a fair amount over seas and have found in some countries the Patrol dominates and in others the TLC dominates. In Costa Rica it is hands down the TLC, Patrols are actually pretty rare there. In Nicaragua the Patrol dominates a bit more, at least you see lots of newer ones around compared to TLCs. In Panama the Patrol dominates by a lot and it is very popular there. Same for Colombia yet there are a lot of TLC lovers in Colombia too. In the middle east Patrols are very popular, just look at all the videos of them on youtube in the desert to see what I mean. In Australia it is pretty much neck and neck but you will find the Patrols dominate in 4wd competitions in Australia. Many Aussie comps the top 20 trucks are Patrols and it has been that way for many years. Outside the USA Dana or GM diffs are not easy to come by or cheap. So the Patrol diffs dominates for swaps into trucks that need a very strong diff. The only engine Nissan put in the Patrol that ever had problems was the 3L diesel. The 2.8L, SD33T, TD42 are all super solid diesel engines. The gas engines from the P engine to the P40 to the L28 to the TB42 to the 4.5 & 4.8L are also all super solid and very good engines. Most all of these engines can be built up from mild to very wild. If it is not available parts wise you can easily adapt stuff like for example the Z car stuff fitted to a Patrol L28.

Patrols are awesome trucks, first built for the public in 1951. Unfortunately Nissan killed it with the 2010 model, it now has independant suspension front & rear.

The main difference is after market support. The TLCs always have and always will have much much more support than the Patrols. You won't find a website anywhere that has thousands of parts and upgrades available for the Patrol like you can easily find via google for the TLC. In the USA yes parts are hard to find but considering only 2616 Patrols were sold in the USA back in the 1960s there still seems to be a ton of them around. For such a rare truck as stated in this thread there seems to be plenty around and lots of guys right here on Mud know where some are. Most of those 2616 are still around. They wouldn't still be around if they were a piece of junk. They were built to last and have lasted, that is obvious right? You will have a hard time finding parts though in the USA. Yet, there are body parts being imported to the USA from Colombia. And there are engine rebuild kits here too and many other parts. Most of what you can't find in the USA like wheel cylinders can be found outside the USA, like in Australia. Owners of thr trucks have come up with all kinds of solutions or homegrown upgrades from electronic ignition to fuel injection to just a simple dizzy swap. You also can't get things like lockers for the diffs or other upgrades, some engine adapter kits are still available in Australia though. And you can get a set of crawler gears for the t-case if you want to shell out $2500 and have them made in Australia.

Offroad a 1960s Patrol is almost exactly the same as a TLC. Stock the two trucks were almost exactly the same....horse power within 15-20 of the same year to year, wheelbase very close to the same, same leaf spring suspension, crawl ratio within a few points of each other, turning radius a touch better on the Patrol. Newer models have some more differences but these two trucks have been competing against each other since the 1950s so one model may excell on the other (Patrol vs TLC) and then one company comes out with a new model that bests the other. Rinse and repeat for 50-60years!

Go here and read up, 21,000 posts on the subject of Patrols

Rocky Mountain Patrol & Offroad • Index page

And here is a ton of literature also available for you to read up and learn about the trucks.

Rocky Mountain Patrol & Offroad • Documentation


Don't buy one if you don't want something rare. If you need to get parts in a few days or a few weeks and get anything you want then don't buy one either. If you can come up with solutions to problems, wait for parts to show up from overseas, are capable of digging deep on the internet to find parts, want something different...or just want a shell of a Patrol to swap in other gear. Well, then by all means go buy one!!

 

[Ralph]

You know after looking at patrol pics for a while on this thread I can't help but recognize an obvious similarity with the old Russian UAZ 469. It is closer to that 4x4 in shape the most, even more than the old Land Rovers. Check it out i'm pretty sure someone will back me up on this one.

 

[SNLC]

You know after looking at patrol pics for a while on this thread I can't help but recognize an obvious similarity with the old Russian UAZ 469. It is closer to that 4x4 in shape the most, even more than the old Land Rovers. Check it out i'm pretty sure someone will back me up on this one.

everything copied the original Willies Jeep! They ALL look like Jeeps!

 

[Nevinsj]

I saw this one for sale in Albuquerque last month, not sure if it still there.

 

[SNLC]

I saw this one for sale in Albuquerque last month, not sure if it still there.

imported from Australia by Marv at Specter. Not a bad G60 really. Marv also has a 1980 LG61 imported from Saudi Arabia. The LG61 is super rare as it was only made from 1980-1984ish, competition for the last of the FJ40s. It is a great truck as it has the 160 series 4spd and later model diffs which you can get ARBs for. Marv's is also vin number 85 or something like that. He was putting a Nissan SD33 diesel in it last time I saw it at his place in 2008. Very nice truck, pictures of it are on the RMP&O website.