Ultimate FJ80 must-haves

[Beowulf]

I believe Rick is on to something with that observation. It's hard to say what percentage of 80s will be going to enthusiast 3rd owners but for certain, those that have lockers will be the quickest to sell; simply because there are a large number of 40/55/60 owners that *know* these have the diff lock option and as those owners add to their stables and/or move up the the 80, they will be insisting on the F&R diff lock option. The prices may not go up much but I am 100% convinced they will forever sell quicker with the diff locks.

Another reason is that the current "drive-out" price for an installed ARB system, front and rear, is $2500 to $3000. This is not likely to go down while the prices for used 80s will continue to go down (at least to some bottom price.) For those that want lockers, adding $2,500 to a $5,000 vehicle is much harder to take than adding $2,500 to a $20,000 vehicle (used 97 prices a couple of years ago.)

-B-

 

[FlyWFO]

All,
Great forum. The info you've posted is VERY helpful. Armed with it, I think the only local candidate is a '97 LX450... white, locker switch, dealer serviced, dry motor, 88k miles. A bit pricey ($20k), but this would be replacing both the wife's little infiniti and my old F350 dually.

I'm not sure if the Lexus versions are a sore subject in this forum, and my preference is for the Toyota version (insurance, stiffness, no gold emblems). I'm going to wait it out just a bit in hopes of a TLC 80.

-DaveC.

 

[cruiserman]

IMO the diff locker option is not a big deal, and it won't affect price much if any. They are no different than other Cruisers, and those with lockers typically don't sell for much more than unlocked rigs. As more of these rigs show up in the 2nd/3rd owner crowd that does some wheeling, prices for goodies will drop.

 

[wob]

[quote author=FlyWFO link=board=2;threadid=8070;start=msg69699#msg69699 date=1070306393]

I'm not sure if the Lexus versions are a sore subject in this forum, and my preference is for the Toyota version (insurance, stiffness, no gold emblems).

-DaveC.
[/quote]


I have gold emblems on my Toyota :-[ :-[ :-[

No hard feelings here towards the Lexus crowd.

 

[landtank]

If you watch some of these threads you'll notice that more and more people are missing out on buying a specific truck because they are hestating or negotiating a little. IMO this is the beginning of those trucks with the e-lockers having an influence on value. Now it means quicker sales less haggling, in the future it would be greater price.

 

[semlin]

landtank, you could be right. There are a couple of smaller used car dealers here who bring up 80s from California and sell them. I noticed a heavily discounted (for here) 96 on a lot on Saturday so I stopped and took a look at it. Not bad except 154,000 miles and no lockers. The salesman said he'd been trying to sell it for two months but most people who looked wanted the diff lockers. He said he's not bringing up any more without lockers.

 

[FlyWFO]

classic rookie mistake -- dissin' the gold emblems... my apologies!
-DaveC.

 

[alia176]

Dave,

Since you mentioned that your new rig will be replacing two vehicles, I recommend that you and the wife test drive couple of LXs and couple of FZJ80/FJ80s. You may find out that you like both for different reasons! If she's used to an Infiniti, then the FZJ80 suspension might be too harsh for her. I also recommend that you drive as many of these vehicles as possible, regardless of the price. This will only make you a well informed consumer at the end.

Happy hunting