Someone Talk Me Out of Getting An FJ60

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Cruiserdrew said:
Having driven a 60 for 14 years and a 62 for 9, I can tell you the power thing at elevation is real. It's acceptable in an FJ62, it's unacceptable in an FJ60. They are only 20 HP different, but it's a critical 20 HP. Plus all the great magic of fuel injection.

On the flats in Texas, it will be OK. The fake cowboys in the jacked up King Ranch pick ups will blow by like you're standing still but you'll still get where you're going. But in Colorado, climbing the 70 freeway to the Eisenhower tunnel will test your 2nd gear. If you can live with that, then all will be well. But realize that driving a 60 requires patience. If you don't have that, you will flog it and kill it quickly. There is a certain Zen harmony required to drive a 60. If you have the least streak of impatience, stay away.

If you have a decent budget, you will in the end be most happy with an FJ62 and swap in an H55f 5 speed to wake up the motor. This to me is the best 60 series truck that's still all Toyota.
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Thanks. Good advice. I had a line on an FJ62 once that was all stock. It needed some TLC (pardon the pun) but I could tell the auto trans was killing it when I drove it. Had I gotten it, first step would have been the H55f swap. After researching that I chickened out due to time constraints. Just did not have time for a project and quite frankly still don't. At the time, I kind of came to the conclusion that a nice resto-modded V8 62 would be the idea setup for what I was after. As you know, those are not in the budget for most, including me so I kinda dropped it for awhile. Keep coming back for more though. ;-)
 
Gretsch said:
Anyone with experience with FJ60s in the part of the country I would love to hear how they perform on road and off. Thanks all for the feedback.
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Well here's a "stock" FJ60 below
image.webp



A typical "modified" FJ60 that most guys do is just taller springs & bigger tires and it often ends up looking something like this below (but not these wheels or bumper)

image.webp


The pure stock FJ60 with its dinky stock 225 tires is poorly suited for offroad driving. But tires are easy to swap. The stock suspension is a little low, so the cruiser with its looooong extended ass will drag on steep approaches compared to your jeep.
image.webp



For a day of wheeling on the trails, it's hard to beat the jeep. More nimble, soft doors, more open to the elements & the outdoors. If I wanted to spend a Saturday tooling around on 4WD trails, I'd want to take the jeep without question. If I wanted to take a long trip (like to Baja or something) the cruiser would be the choice without hesitation.

The FJ60 can be an "expedition" rig, (in our fantasy of what an expedition is) the jeep can not.
The 2F carbureted engine is a pure gutless wonder at 13,000 ft and will feel like a Kia 1.6L 4 banger.
Your fuel injected jeep with its much lighter chassis will perform much much better at this altitude.
 
I took a 4wheeling course here in CT run by OEX (overland experts) going back 5 years now. They're main branch is in Virginia. They teach all sorts of folks from army services, groups like I did with my local toyota club and private training. The fleet they teach on are mostly all toyotas ranging from 60's, taco's, hilux, and even a RHD and folks had the option to drive their own trucks as well. We had a guy out there with his FJ cruiser, a 4Runner and even a Samuri. I chose to use the 60 because I wanted to know what wheeling my own truck would feel like. I def dragged ass over certain obstacles but had so much fun. This was me. Met many great folks.

OEX.webp
 
Output Shaft said:
Well here's a "stock" FJ60 below
View attachment 1435662


A typical "modified" FJ60 that most guys do is just taller springs & bigger tires and it often ends up looking something like this below (but not these wheels or bumper)

View attachment 1435665

The pure stock FJ60 with its dinky stock 225 tires is poorly suited for offroad driving. But tires are easy to swap. The stock suspension is a little low, so the cruiser with its looooong extended ass will drag on steep approaches compared to your jeep.
View attachment 1435666


For a day of wheeling on the trails, it's hard to beat the jeep. More nimble, soft doors, more open to the elements & the outdoors. If I wanted to spend a Saturday tooling around on 4WD trails, I'd want to take the jeep without question. If I wanted to take a long trip (like to Baja or something) the cruiser would be the choice without hesitation.

The FJ60 can be an "expedition" rig, (in our fantasy of what an expedition is) the jeep can not.
The 2F carbureted engine is a pure gutless wonder at 13,000 ft and will feel like a Kia 1.6L 4 banger.
Your fuel injected jeep with its much lighter chassis will perform much much better at this altitude.
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Yeah the Jeep is hard to beat on trails. I am just getting to the age where that is less and less something I want to do anymore. Nice to know I could though if the mood strikes me. Lots to see out there. The soft top is nice but I find that I rarely take it down. I think I have had it down maybe 5 times in the last 8 years. Turns out its dreadful to ride top down in the Texas summer, rains enough in the spring when it is cooler to make it a PITA, and rains too much in Colorado. More a hassel the older I get so I just keep it up. One of those ideas that seemed good at the time. Lesson learned.

So what is the penalty for lifting on of these 60s? It seems the OME 2-inch, heavy duty with 33X10.50 on stock rims is a popular option. Jeeps are somewhat unforgiving in terms of geometry changes when lifted. Change one thing you gotta change 5 others to get it right. Same for the FJ60s? Seems they would be easier to lift because of longer shafts and such. Any gotchas there?
 
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IMG_0549.webp
No gotchas. This is exactly what you are describing.
 
Gretsch said:
Yeah the Jeep is hard to beat on trails. I am just getting to the age where that is less and less something I want to do anymore. Nice to know I could though if the mood strikes me. Lots to see out there. The soft top is nice but I find that I rarely take it down. I think I have had it down maybe 5 times in the last 8 years. Turns out its dreadful to ride top down in the Texas summer, rains enough in the spring when it is cooler to make it a PITA, and rains too much in Colorado. More a hassel the older I get so I just keep it up. One of those ideas that seemed good at the time. Lesson learned.

So what is the penalty for lifting on of these 60s? It seems the OME 2-inch, heavy duty is popular with 33X10.50 on stock rims is a popular option. Jeeps are somewhat unforgiving in terms of geometry changes when lifted. Change one thing you gotta change 5 others to get it right. Same for the FJ60s? Seems they would be easier to lift because of longer shafts and such. Any gotchas there?
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Some say that these are optional with a 2-3" lift, but I'm going to upgrade them on my '86 FJ60 (3FE, H55f, OME suspension):

Extended brake lines front and rear, extended sway bar links front and rear (if you have an FJ60 with a rear sway bar), and a load sensing proportioning valve spacer (if you have an FJ62 with an LSPV).
 
That rusted out wheel arch sucks. They can be replaced but unless you do it yourself, it will cost a lot to fix it.

I'd pass on that.

That spot (rusted rear wheel arch) is a notorious FJ60 rust location. I have little rot going on in that location on my cruiser too. If you look at a lot of pictures of other FJ60s on the Internet (Google) you'll start noticing it on other trucks too.
 
Nesquik said:
For that location, a little rust or a lot of rust requires the same amount of labor

Pass for that price
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Would it be worth it at a lower price, or is it a situation where what you can see pales in comparison to what you can't? Meaning those particular areas are known problems that when they look like that, nothing good can come of it. I reached out to the guy and he claims the frame is solid. No rot there. Had some things come up overnight which may prevent me from seeing this truck in a timely manner. But I'll just pass if the majority says its a bad idea no matter what the price is. Thanks for the help everyone.
 
Gretsch said:
Would it be worth it at a lower price, or is it a situation where what you can see pales in comparison to what you can't? Meaning those particular areas are known problems that when they look like that, nothing good can come of it. I reached out to the guy and he claims the frame is solid. No rot there. Had some things come up overnight which may prevent me from seeing this truck in a timely manner. But I'll just pass if the majority says its a bad idea no matter what the price is. Thanks for the help everyone.
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9 times out of 10, there's going to be more rust that's hiding. This is why I'm not a fan of repainted trucks. It makes it so hard to tell what's underneath.
 
[QUOTE="Robert Franzke, post: 10934735, member: 129132"

So what is the penalty for lifting on of these 60s? It seems the OME 2-inch, heavy duty with 33X10.50 on stock rims is a popular option. Jeeps are somewhat unforgiving in terms of geometry changes when lifted. Change one thing you gotta change 5 others to get it right. Same for the FJ60s? Seems they would be easier to lift because of longer shafts and such. Any gotchas there?[/QUOTE]


I would disagree that there are never any "gotchas". Some people report issues after lifting their trucks, such as worse/wandering steering, "clunk" sounds from suspension, not happy with "stink bug" stance from the rear being higher than the front.

So I would agree with White Stripe-to buy one set up the way you want it. I would pass on any truck you're not able to inspect personally, unless you have a knowledgeable and trusted source to do it for you.
 
Gretsch said:
The soft top is nice but I find that I rarely take it down. I think I have had it down maybe 5 times in the last 8 years.
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I had a 97 Jeep I bought new (first year for the TJ). I literally didn't put the top up once between Memorial Day and Labor Day in 2000 I think it was. It was a dry summer, and there's a low crime rate where I am, no A/C anyway on my stripped down rig. Yeah I and my stuff got rained on but that's part of it. Still regret selling it.

Eric
 
Devils Paw 80 said:
[QUOTE="Robert Franzke, post: 10934735, member: 129132"

So what is the penalty for lifting on of these 60s? It seems the OME 2-inch, heavy duty with 33X10.50 on stock rims is a popular option. Jeeps are somewhat unforgiving in terms of geometry changes when lifted. Change one thing you gotta change 5 others to get it right. Same for the FJ60s? Seems they would be easier to lift because of longer shafts and such. Any gotchas there?
Click to expand...


I would disagree that there are never any "gotchas". Some people report issues after lifting their trucks, such as worse/wandering steering, "clunk" sounds from suspension, not happy with "stink bug" stance from the rear being higher than the front.

So I would agree with White Stripe-to buy one set up the way you want it. I would pass on any truck you're not able to inspect personally, unless you have a knowledgeable and trusted source to do it for you.[/QUOTE]

Agreed on finding one the way I want it already. That's how I got the Rubicon. Now I ended up replacing some things because I did not like the way PO did some of it, but its mostly sits the way I bought it. Maybe Cruiserdrew wants to unload the Blue/grey one he posted :). Maybe, maybe?
 
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This thread has a life of its own......
 
Gretsch said:
Maybe Cruiserdrew wants to unload the Blue/grey one he posted :). Maybe, maybe?
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1989 Toyota FJ62 Cruiser

Do yourself a favor and download the CSmart Pro (green "C" icon, not the blue one) craigslist app on your phone. It allows you to search every state in the US at once. Enter your the year range you want and your budget. You can also save searches and it will alert you when new trucks come up on your search. Took me about 3 minutes to find that one in Montgomery.
 
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