- Location
- United States
Selling my 1990 HDJ81, bought it last January with the main intent to drive it to Colorado and do as many passes as I could squeeze in. Realized that ambition last September and my wife and I have decided to move on to something else.
Had been looking for a suitable 81 series for a few months, looked at two of them at different dealers here on the east coast but neither satisfied me. I saw this one on, of all places, eBay. The owner had imported it personally, was having some serious health issues, and it was up for sale. I got his phone number, called him one evening and we chatted for more than an hour. His answers to my questions were satisfactory and I liked what I saw in the photos he had posted. Long story short after a bit of haggling he agreed to post a "buy it now" price on eBay, I hit the "buy it now" button and committed to the purchase. I made a $500 down payment via Paypal with final purchase contingent on my seeing and driving the truck in person.
Drove up to Plymouth MA later that week to meet up with the seller. I was shocked when he got to my hotel to find that the truck was even nicer than I had expected it to be. Doesn't usually happen that way. A half hour test drive sold me on the truck. I gave him my cashiers check for the balance and got the title from him. Made arrangements to have the truck shipped down here to PA and it arrived here within a few days thanks to Aaron at Summit Auto Transport.
After it arrived I put a set of five Toyo Open Country M/T tires on it, size is LT285/75R16. After a discussion with Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters I bought a complete Old Man Emu suspension for it, installed it myself needing nothing stronger than a 3/8" ratchet. None of the fasteners were rusted or came off hard it was a joy to work underneath the truck. As with every other HDJ owner I wanted to be sure there was no problem with the BEB on my Colorado trip, so I bought a set of bearings from Radd Cruisers and had them installed by Ryan at OTRAMM in Bealeton VA. The old bearings were perfect when he removed them and the new bearings were installed and the clearance verified with plasti-gage to be within specs. Used new OEM bolts with the bearing job. While in there Ryan replaced the timing belt, both radiator hoses, all V belts, and a lot of the heater hoses. Flushed the coolant system and replaced with Toyota coolant. Also flushed the brake system. All the OEM parts were purchased from Beno. Has two huge batteries, Ryan checked them both and they are very strong.
After all that the truck was ready go. The Colorado trip was thirteen days, drove the truck out I-70 with absolutely no issues at all. Set the cruise control at 76MPH (GPS Verified) on the interstate and she just cruised along with no issues. Met my friends in Idaho Springs and spent seven days doing a lot of the neat passes- Hancock, Pearl, Taylor, Stony, Engineer, Black Bear, Imogene, Ophir, Corkscrew, and Mosquito among others. The truck worked perfectly in every respect. The ride home along I-80 went without incident, too, again at mostly 76MPH. Total mileage for the trip was 4200 miles. Mileage for the trip came to a little more than 18MPG, I was quite pleased with that figure, especially considering that the truck was fairly heavily loaded the entire time.
About the truck, it's the silver and maroon color and looks awesome. Upon returning home from CO I had my body guy buff and detail the truck, it had received some scratches and rubs from brush along the trails out there. They all came out to my pleasant surprise, the body guy told me he hasn't seen paint any deeper than what is on this truck. It shines perfectly. There are a few scratches on the driver side of both the front and rear bumpers- it was like that when I bought the truck and didn't bother me enough to do anything about it. Truck doesn't have a factory roof rack so there are no holes in the roof. All the body panels, like doors and tailgates have the Toyota factory stamp on them. In fact all the glass is factory Toyota. I don't think the truck was ever in an accident the way it looks. All doors, tailgate, and hood close properly and all body lines are straight and parallel. All lights and trim like the grille are in excellent condition. Even the factory side steps and mud flaps are in excellent shape. And whereas a lot of the imports have aftermarket steering wheels this truck has an original steering wheel that is in excellent shape.
The interior is in excellent condition in fact for the most part it looks like new. Carpet is excellent, headliner perfect, door panels perfect, and seats excellent. The driver seat of course shows some wear on the bottom cushion but still looks great. All plastic pieces are excellent and unmarked- console lid, dashpad and dash face, etc. There may be two small holes drilled in the console but if so they are barely noticeable. Instrument cluster is excellent. All switch knobs and turn signal/cruise control/wiper stalks are excellent. Interior is gray.
Pretty much everything works on the truck, especially the cruise control. Functional CC is one of the reasons I went from a 60 series expedition vehicle to the HDJ81. Wipers work fine on all positions- slow, fast, and intermittent and the washers of course work fine. All lights work as they should and this truck has the neat headlights that I believe are unique to the non- USA market. The Japanese owner had a pair of driving lights mounted atop the bumper, the lights are gone but the brackets remain. Heater works awesome. The AC lost it's charge during the CO trip, I recently had it converted to the new refrigerant and charged at Tommy's in West Chester PA. It is no longer blowing cold though so it appears there is a leak somewhere. All door locks work as they should and all four windows go up and down properly. The outside mirrors adjust properly and also have the fold-in feature that works as it should. The driver side outside mirror is a bit loose in its housing (typical) and has a slight rattle to it. The rear wiper works perfectly and I believe the washer back there also works.
The previous owner had an expensive stereo installed it's a Pioneer double-DIN head unit that plays awesome. The PO also upgraded some of the speakers and the system sounds great. It is blue tooth functional and that works quite well with my cell phone. Original jack and tool kit are in their proper storage spot.
Truck is locked three ways, front axle, rear axle, and center diff. All work as they should and this does have the center diff locking switch in the dash. Everything works great, transmission in all gears, and transfer case in all positions. The engine is awesome- sounds great and starts immediately upon turning the key. Never had a vehicle start quicker than this one. Engine runs strong with adequate power. Worked quite well in Colorado, too. Engine is unmodified in any way, it's bone stock.
Truck is PA inspected till August 2019, licensed and insured in PA. Clear title in my name of course. Everyone who has seen this truck has drooled over it. Ryan at OTRAMM told me it may be the nicest cruiser he's ever worked on. Beno was all over it this past summer at the Coal Mine Cruiser Classic and I'm sure would give a great assessment for the truck. Lance at Ironpig also checked out the truck the last time I dropped parts off for him and he was quite impressed with it. Frankly it's ready to hop in and drive anywhere, and I mean anywhere. It stays in my garage and I do drive it regularly. Just turned over 100,000 miles, odometer read 163,253KM (100,569 miles) last week. Probably at about 101K miles right now. I'd like to get $20K for the truck and doubt that you will find one anywhere as clean, nice, and strong running as this one. Best to email me shmukter@pa.metrocast.net
Had been looking for a suitable 81 series for a few months, looked at two of them at different dealers here on the east coast but neither satisfied me. I saw this one on, of all places, eBay. The owner had imported it personally, was having some serious health issues, and it was up for sale. I got his phone number, called him one evening and we chatted for more than an hour. His answers to my questions were satisfactory and I liked what I saw in the photos he had posted. Long story short after a bit of haggling he agreed to post a "buy it now" price on eBay, I hit the "buy it now" button and committed to the purchase. I made a $500 down payment via Paypal with final purchase contingent on my seeing and driving the truck in person.
Drove up to Plymouth MA later that week to meet up with the seller. I was shocked when he got to my hotel to find that the truck was even nicer than I had expected it to be. Doesn't usually happen that way. A half hour test drive sold me on the truck. I gave him my cashiers check for the balance and got the title from him. Made arrangements to have the truck shipped down here to PA and it arrived here within a few days thanks to Aaron at Summit Auto Transport.
After it arrived I put a set of five Toyo Open Country M/T tires on it, size is LT285/75R16. After a discussion with Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters I bought a complete Old Man Emu suspension for it, installed it myself needing nothing stronger than a 3/8" ratchet. None of the fasteners were rusted or came off hard it was a joy to work underneath the truck. As with every other HDJ owner I wanted to be sure there was no problem with the BEB on my Colorado trip, so I bought a set of bearings from Radd Cruisers and had them installed by Ryan at OTRAMM in Bealeton VA. The old bearings were perfect when he removed them and the new bearings were installed and the clearance verified with plasti-gage to be within specs. Used new OEM bolts with the bearing job. While in there Ryan replaced the timing belt, both radiator hoses, all V belts, and a lot of the heater hoses. Flushed the coolant system and replaced with Toyota coolant. Also flushed the brake system. All the OEM parts were purchased from Beno. Has two huge batteries, Ryan checked them both and they are very strong.
After all that the truck was ready go. The Colorado trip was thirteen days, drove the truck out I-70 with absolutely no issues at all. Set the cruise control at 76MPH (GPS Verified) on the interstate and she just cruised along with no issues. Met my friends in Idaho Springs and spent seven days doing a lot of the neat passes- Hancock, Pearl, Taylor, Stony, Engineer, Black Bear, Imogene, Ophir, Corkscrew, and Mosquito among others. The truck worked perfectly in every respect. The ride home along I-80 went without incident, too, again at mostly 76MPH. Total mileage for the trip was 4200 miles. Mileage for the trip came to a little more than 18MPG, I was quite pleased with that figure, especially considering that the truck was fairly heavily loaded the entire time.
About the truck, it's the silver and maroon color and looks awesome. Upon returning home from CO I had my body guy buff and detail the truck, it had received some scratches and rubs from brush along the trails out there. They all came out to my pleasant surprise, the body guy told me he hasn't seen paint any deeper than what is on this truck. It shines perfectly. There are a few scratches on the driver side of both the front and rear bumpers- it was like that when I bought the truck and didn't bother me enough to do anything about it. Truck doesn't have a factory roof rack so there are no holes in the roof. All the body panels, like doors and tailgates have the Toyota factory stamp on them. In fact all the glass is factory Toyota. I don't think the truck was ever in an accident the way it looks. All doors, tailgate, and hood close properly and all body lines are straight and parallel. All lights and trim like the grille are in excellent condition. Even the factory side steps and mud flaps are in excellent shape. And whereas a lot of the imports have aftermarket steering wheels this truck has an original steering wheel that is in excellent shape.
The interior is in excellent condition in fact for the most part it looks like new. Carpet is excellent, headliner perfect, door panels perfect, and seats excellent. The driver seat of course shows some wear on the bottom cushion but still looks great. All plastic pieces are excellent and unmarked- console lid, dashpad and dash face, etc. There may be two small holes drilled in the console but if so they are barely noticeable. Instrument cluster is excellent. All switch knobs and turn signal/cruise control/wiper stalks are excellent. Interior is gray.
Pretty much everything works on the truck, especially the cruise control. Functional CC is one of the reasons I went from a 60 series expedition vehicle to the HDJ81. Wipers work fine on all positions- slow, fast, and intermittent and the washers of course work fine. All lights work as they should and this truck has the neat headlights that I believe are unique to the non- USA market. The Japanese owner had a pair of driving lights mounted atop the bumper, the lights are gone but the brackets remain. Heater works awesome. The AC lost it's charge during the CO trip, I recently had it converted to the new refrigerant and charged at Tommy's in West Chester PA. It is no longer blowing cold though so it appears there is a leak somewhere. All door locks work as they should and all four windows go up and down properly. The outside mirrors adjust properly and also have the fold-in feature that works as it should. The driver side outside mirror is a bit loose in its housing (typical) and has a slight rattle to it. The rear wiper works perfectly and I believe the washer back there also works.
The previous owner had an expensive stereo installed it's a Pioneer double-DIN head unit that plays awesome. The PO also upgraded some of the speakers and the system sounds great. It is blue tooth functional and that works quite well with my cell phone. Original jack and tool kit are in their proper storage spot.
Truck is locked three ways, front axle, rear axle, and center diff. All work as they should and this does have the center diff locking switch in the dash. Everything works great, transmission in all gears, and transfer case in all positions. The engine is awesome- sounds great and starts immediately upon turning the key. Never had a vehicle start quicker than this one. Engine runs strong with adequate power. Worked quite well in Colorado, too. Engine is unmodified in any way, it's bone stock.
Truck is PA inspected till August 2019, licensed and insured in PA. Clear title in my name of course. Everyone who has seen this truck has drooled over it. Ryan at OTRAMM told me it may be the nicest cruiser he's ever worked on. Beno was all over it this past summer at the Coal Mine Cruiser Classic and I'm sure would give a great assessment for the truck. Lance at Ironpig also checked out the truck the last time I dropped parts off for him and he was quite impressed with it. Frankly it's ready to hop in and drive anywhere, and I mean anywhere. It stays in my garage and I do drive it regularly. Just turned over 100,000 miles, odometer read 163,253KM (100,569 miles) last week. Probably at about 101K miles right now. I'd like to get $20K for the truck and doubt that you will find one anywhere as clean, nice, and strong running as this one. Best to email me shmukter@pa.metrocast.net
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