Thinking about buying my first FJ60

[Tommyguitar]

I'm turning in a lease in a couple of weeks and am tired of paying so much for new tech that I can't stand. I was thinking about dropping 20-30K on either an older Land Cruiser or Grand Wagoneer (I just like the timelessness of these vehicles and I'm also in a rural location that requires 4WD, so there is utility too). I hope that this type of post is ok with the mods, but I found this on Autotrader and was wondering if anyone had thoughts on what I should be looking out for if I fly down to take a look (other posts point to rust and the general condition). I noticed that they didn't post any pictures of the undercarriage or engine compartment, which is not encouraging, but I asked and they sent me one of the undercarriage (makes me even more suspicious of the engine compartment). Thank you in advance for any advice.

 

[Tommyguitar]

I hadn't looked carefully at that photo and now realize that it is the engine compartment, my bad.

 

[OSS]

At this stage (40 year old vehicle) I wouldn’t recommend anyone owning a FJ60 if it will be their only car. As a 2nd car? Hell yeah if you like them.
You’re going to have down time eventually with the 60.

The enthusiasts on this forum are used to and familiar with taking everything apart and fixing stuff. If you’re that type and don’t mind if the vehicle might go down for a long time for future repairs- then sure, get one.
But if you’re unsure of your wrenching skills, I’d say no.

There are guys who bought an old 60 cuz they were strapped for cash - hoping to get a big SUV for cheap, only to discover later that the vehicle they got was a basket case requiring extensive and expensive repairs.

Yes they look cool and are simple and stout, but many parts for it are no longer available.
The vehicle you pictured has already been (severely) tampered with in the engine bay. That’s not the original carburetor and it looks like the smog equipment has been removed. Hopefully correctly.

Enthusiasts here will say, hell yeah, get one. But I’m not one of them. 20 years ago? Heck yeah. But not now.

 

[1911]

I'm turning in a lease in a couple of weeks and am tired of paying so much for new tech that I can't stand. I was thinking about dropping 20-30K on either an older Land Cruiser or Grand Wagoneer (I just like the timelessness of these vehicles and I'm also in a rural location that requires 4WD, so there is utility too). I hope that this type of post is ok with the mods, but I found this on Autotrader and was wondering if anyone had thoughts on what I should be looking out for if I fly down to take a look (other posts point to rust and the general condition). I noticed that they didn't post any pictures of the undercarriage or engine compartment, which is not encouraging, but I asked and they sent me one of the undercarriage (makes me even more suspicious of the engine compartment). Thank you in advance for any advice.

View attachment 3676825

Looks decent from the few photos, but it needs a closer look under the truck, and you need to go over the body with a magnet to check for bondo.

It has been de-smogged; if done right that is OK in my book, but if you are going to register it in a smog nazi state then you are going to have problems because all of the original smog equipment is gone.

Personally, I wouldn't pay $30K for that. YMMV.

 

[DrRock]

At this stage (40 year old vehicle) I wouldn’t recommend anyone owning a FJ60 if it will be their only car. As a 2nd car? Hell yeah if you like them.
You’re going to have down time eventually with the 60.

The enthusiasts on this forum are used to and familiar with taking everything apart and fixing stuff. If you’re that type and don’t mind if the vehicle might go down for a long time for future repairs- then sure, get one.
But if you’re unsure of your wrenching skills, I’d say no.

There are guys who bought an old 60 cuz they were strapped for cash - hoping to get a big SUV for cheap, only to discover later that the vehicle they got was a basket case requiring extensive and expensive repairs.

Yes they look cool and are simple and stout, but many parts for it are no longer available.
The vehicle you pictured has already been (severely) tampered with in the engine bay. That’s not the original carburetor and it looks like the smog equipment has been removed. Hopefully correctly.

Enthusiasts here will say, hell yeah, get one. But I’m not one of them. 20 years ago? Heck yeah. But not now.

OSS is spot on. If you need a daily driver, then this is not the vehicle to own. In the past 4 years of owning mine, I’ve seen many common parts go from available to unobtanium. As OSS said, if the intent here is a hobby truck and you enjoy restoration work, these are great trucks due to their simple build and robust quality. Mine has been a work in progress over the past 1.5 years for the drivetrain alone but I’m also doing a nice resto mod. Next year it will be off to paint for the final phase of restoration. After that, we will use it for some nice road trips as I’ll have a good comfort level with the durability by then.

Personally, given your need for 4wd I’d look at a newer 4Runner or Land Cruiser, depending on your budget. Those still have great parts availability and are very reliable.

Best of luck with the search!
Cheers, James

 

[Tommyguitar]

At this stage (40 year old vehicle) I wouldn’t recommend anyone owning a FJ60 if it will be their only car. As a 2nd car? Hell yeah if you like them.
You’re going to have down time eventually with the 60.

The enthusiasts on this forum are used to and familiar with taking everything apart and fixing stuff. If you’re that type and don’t mind if the vehicle might go down for a long time for future repairs- then sure, get one.
But if you’re unsure of your wrenching skills, I’d say no.

There are guys who bought an old 60 cuz they were strapped for cash - hoping to get a big SUV for cheap, only to discover later that the vehicle they got was a basket case requiring extensive and expensive repairs.

Yes they look cool and are simple and stout, but many parts for it are no longer available.
The vehicle you pictured has already been (severely) tampered with in the engine bay. That’s not the original carburetor and it looks like the smog equipment has been removed. Hopefully correctly.

Enthusiasts here will say, hell yeah, get one. But I’m not one of them. 20 years ago? Heck yeah. But not now.

Thank you for this thoughtful response. My reason for looking in the 20-30K range was because I was hoping to pick something up that wouldn't require quite as much rehabbing (I love tinkering with small engines but have zero experience with serious mechanical work). To your point, nothing mechanical lasts 40 years without some serious work and there's no guarantee that all of the work was done properly. I was willing to pay a little bit extra from a franchise dealer because they have greater reconditioning resources and slightly more to lose (emphasis on "slightly") for selling total crap, but alas...

 

[Tommyguitar]

Looks decent from the few photos, but it needs a closer look under the truck, and you need to go over the body with a magnet to check for bondo.

It has been de-smogged; if done right that is OK in my book, but if you are going to register it in a smog nazi state then you are going to have problems because all of the original smog equipment is gone.

Personally, I wouldn't pay $30K for that. YMMV.

I live in VT, which has very loose environmental regulations. JK, I'd be ****ed.

 

[Tommyguitar]

OSS is spot on. If you need a daily driver, then this is not the vehicle to own. In the past 4 years of owning mine, I’ve seen many common parts go from available to unobtanium. As OSS said, if the intent here is a hobby truck and you enjoy restoration work, these are great trucks due to their simple build and robust quality. Mine has been a work in progress over the past 1.5 years for the drivetrain alone but I’m also doing a nice resto mod. Next year it will be off to paint for the final phase of restoration. After that, we will use it for some nice road trips as I’ll have a good comfort level with the durability by then.

Personally, given your need for 4wd I’d look at a newer 4Runner or Land Cruiser, depending on your budget. Those still have great parts availability and are very reliable.

Best of luck with the search!
Cheers, James

Thanks, James. I just have an affinity for "boats" and the 90's and later models don't have that old-school "first class plane seat" feel. I would love an old Suburban but those things

OSS is spot on. If you need a daily driver, then this is not the vehicle to own. In the past 4 years of owning mine, I’ve seen many common parts go from available to unobtanium. As OSS said, if the intent here is a hobby truck and you enjoy restoration work, these are great trucks due to their simple build and robust quality. Mine has been a work in progress over the past 1.5 years for the drivetrain alone but I’m also doing a nice resto mod. Next year it will be off to paint for the final phase of restoration. After that, we will use it for some nice road trips as I’ll have a good comfort level with the durability by then.

Personally, given your need for 4wd I’d look at a newer 4Runner or Land Cruiser, depending on your budget. Those still have great parts availability and are very reliable.

Best of luck with the search!
Cheers, James

Thanks, James. I would go newer, or w/a 4Runner, but I'm looking for space and power (my ideal ride would be an old Suburban, but it seems like the same logic applies to those as well).

 

[CruiserTrash]

@Tommyguitar

I'll be the contrarian and say I daily drive my 60, coming up on five years of it. You need lots of spare time to fumble your way through Mud posts for guidance when an issues arises. Most modern mechanics won't know what they're doing on these trucks so you'll have to guide them - Cruiser-specific mechanics are not included in that statement.

If you're looking to buy something turnkey, I would suggest only buying from a reputable Cruiser-specific shop that does the work themselves. Classic Cruisers, Profitt's, etc. I've seen lots of "used car lots", even "high end" ones try to get in on the classic car game - Land Cruisers included - because they've seen a few go for a high price. I have yet to see one of those that wasn't a lipstick-on-a-pig botch job that they're charging 2-3x too much for. Stick with the places that know these trucks, because they'll know the common weak points and address them. They'll know how to tune them, etc.

Even a local reputable "rare & classic car" dealer in my city, a dealer with a national reputation, had a truly terrible FJ40 for sale earlier this year. It had an aftermarket electric fan that wasn't plugged in, I had to point it out to the sales rep. The repaint was done straight over unaddressed rust. The electrical (other than the fan) was never touched and was falling apart. There were patches in the frame that looked like my kid welded them with a hot glue gun. The fresh undercarriage paint was the first giveaway to take a closer look. It was a dishonest truck that had enough labor in it to look good from across the street, but it wasn't sound. Asking price was shy of $40k if I recall. So that's just one example of what's out there.

If you go the Land Cruiser route spend some time on this forum researching so you know what you're looking at. Come back with any questions!

(FYI, a good friend is selling a clean example with 105k original miles. It's fully sorted, he spent a lot of time on brakes, engine, etc, and he's a guy who's owned I think half a dozen of these things. I believe there were two very small areas of rust starting in the rear wheel wells that he addressed. It was a damn clean truck to begin with when I saw it a while back. Asking price is around $50k.)

 

[kevin in okinawa]

That appears to be a super-clean version! with a price tag to match. I daily drove my 61 and sometimes (rarely) had to make alternative arrangements for transportation; but new cars sometimes unexpectedly need to get fixed too. Can you figure out what to do in those situations? Are you handy with tools and can research and follow repair directions? If yes, then get it...you aren't getting any younger...none of us are. Offer them $26k?

 

[onemanarmy]

also keep in mind that your idea of a DD may be different than mine. many say "i've been DDing for years" but that can mean any number of things.

5 miles a day in a rural town for supplies is far different than big city stop and go and 75 mph highway with AC blasting.

unpopular: I'd just get a 1996 F150 6 cyl 4wd or the like.....parts are cheap and simple to get and its easy to work on.....if I'm DDing.

 

[Flatlanderfj40]

That isn’t a $30k truck. Stay away from Auto Trader, cars.com etc. check here, FB & CL…maybe find a LS swapped 60…I’ve got a 40,60&80 and couldn’t imagine truly daily’ing any of them year round in Kansas.

 

[DrRock]

I live in VT, which has very loose environmental regulations. JK, I'd be ****ed.

Something else to bear in mind, these trucks have minimal rust protection. Since you live in VT, these trucks will rust just looking at the over salted roads in the New England winters. Mine stays in a garage year round and never goes out once the road salt flies.

 

[John Smith]

Thanks, James. I just have an affinity for "boats" and the 90's and later models don't have that old-school "first class plane seat" feel. I would love an old Suburban but those things

Thanks, James. I would go newer, or w/a 4Runner, but I'm looking for space and power (my ideal ride would be an old Suburban, but it seems like the same logic applies to those as well).

You mention an old Suburban... I happen to own a 84 K10 that I turned into a K20 with an axle swap. Unlike Land Cruisers, you can purchase practically any part from multiple vendors for super cheap compared to anything Land Cruiser. As long as the frame is good on a square body, you can replace pretty much everything else for cheap, compared to a Land Cruiser. Check out LMC truck for an idea. I replaced pretty much all of my rockers and fenders for cheaper than a pair of FJ40 front fenders. I have a complete drive train from a 2004 LS powered Suburban I am going to drop into my Suburban to replace the old 6.5. If you like old Square Body trucks, for what you are willing to spend, you can pick up a very nice one, and enjoy the huge aftermarket parts support network.

 

[yotadude520]

I'm kind of the FNG with 60 series, as I just bought my first one almost four months ago. I got it for a really good price, but in the last four months I've driven it maybe 300 miles. The majority of it's time with me it has been sitting in the garage with me tinkering on it.

I did a pretty decent job baselining it and it starts and runs pretty well (albeit with some fuel delivery issues now due to a vacuum leak I haven't found yet) but after daily driving it with the 2F it just wasn't for me and now I'm going to be doing an LS swap. In my journey working on it I have to agree with OSS above as well, common parts are getting really hard to find and while there's some great vendors on here picking up the slack of the aftermarket there are going to be times where you’re going to have to wait a few days to get parts, and on a DD that’s just not acceptable sometimes!

On top of all of that, while the 2F is ridiculously reliable it’s not going to keep up on freeway speeds well, and even in traffic I find people tailgating me or going around me just trying to get to 45.

If you want to DD one, I’d look for one with an LS but even that could be a gamble because you have no idea how well the swap was done. As I’m getting ready to do mine I’ve seen there are a lot of ways you could get it done, but how reliable is it going to be?

 

[Thechief86]

I daily drive my 84 that I bought as a non runner. I call it reliable, but I have replaced or rebuilt the entire drivetrain, and still end up spending a lot of time working on it, continually maintaining and trying to improve things as parts age.
It's not the same as daily driving a newer 4Runner or something, but is more gratifying, and I get to be proud anytime I make it where I'm going.
I commute about 80 miles a day, and regularly use the cruiser for road trips, sometimes several thousand miles over the course of a week.

Shown with hood up, as is its natural condition.