In 1978 I bought a brand new FJ40 a year later I had to trade it due to a growing family. 25+ years later I've bought n '87 FJ60, stock, no rust, runs great 183,000 miles, leaks a little oil from????
My plan is to find the oil leak, lift and tires, ect....
Which lift?
Anything I should be aware of?
Who do you guys buy partts from? Internet? Local, Centennial, Colorado?
Thanks
I would also like to welcome you aboard. You can use the search engine to look for past threads but it sometimes helps to have people answer your questions. I've got a fj62 and went with a 4-5" lift from BDS. I used the 2.5" springs with the 2" shackles w/ the polyurathane bushings and the Rancho RS9000 adjustable shocks. That way I could fit the 33" tires under the cruiser and have a nice ride.
How high are you willing to go and what size tires do you want to go with? Are you wanting to do some serious off roading or just every now and then? Does it still have the stock motor and transmission?
If you are looking for stock parts go to www.sor.com or www.coolcruisers.com.
If you are looking for aftermarket parts, you can go to the websites above but you can also try www.man-a-fre.com.
These three sites have really helped me out. Good luck on your rig and post some pics when you have something going. Take care.
Sebo4wd
I would take the cruiser to your local toyota dealership. Ours here in upstate SC has an excellent crew in the garage. Let them tell ya where the leak is. Usually they won't charge ya. But my guess is the rear main seal. My advice...you can put a lot of oil in the engine for the cost it would take ya to replace the rear main seal. If you do plan on rebuilding your transmission then that would be the time to replace the rear main seal. Good luck and welcome to the Family...Cruiserheads.
Buy all your Toyota parts from Cruiserdan above. No finer source, really.
For aftermarket parts and lifts, there are a number of businesses on this board that will get you what you want. Mudrak is local to me and so I tend to reccomend and buy stuff from him, but I've bought from Cruiseroutfitters, MAF, SOR, Marlin Crawler, and been pleased with all. David (Urban Land Cruisers) is frequently on this board and is likely a good source for parts as well. I know he has a lot of OME lifts and would be a good source for a lift kit. One of the great things about FJ60s is that almost all parts are still available from Toyota, except for the trans-firewall heater pipes-I have the last two in the USA and possibly the world.
The only company I cannot reccomend is Cool Cruisers of Texas, but that's just me.
Your oil leak could be many things, but I'll go out on a limb and say it's the oil pan gasket. They all leak after 20 years on the road. It isn't that hard to replace yourself. Any other source is going to be more difficult to fix, so do that first. You should probably baseline the fluids, then baseline the front axle, then drive and enjoy. The FJ60 is essentailly an FJ40 with a longer frame and a more useful body, so you will already be familiar with most of the quirks. Oh Yeah-buy a factory service manual for approximately $100. Cruiserdan is your source.
I get my OME parts from Burt Toyota on south Broadway - lots in stock & special orders only take 2-5 business days. For everything else, all the parts guys on this board are great. Except cruiserdan - he thinks he's the goddam spelling/typing monitor!
You can't beat the OME Dakar suspension for the lift you want. Lots of others are cheaper, but none are better.
I get my OME parts from Burt Toyota on south Broadway - lots in stock & special orders only take 2-5 business days. For everything else, all the parts guys on this board are great. Except cruiserdan - he thinks he's the goddam spelling/typing monitor!
You can't beat the OME Dakar suspension for the lift you want. Lots of others are cheaper, but none are better.
For OEM parts, Cruiserdan is the place to go. Many of us, maybe most, use OEM whenever/whereever possible. While they are more expensive than stuff from the various aftermarket parts sources, they're built to last 20+ years. Cruiserdan helps with the price too, so that takes some of the sting out of it. Plus, he usually ends up helping me make sure I'm buying what I need.
I would take the cruiser to your local toyota dealership. Ours here in upstate SC has an excellent crew in the garage. Let them tell ya where the leak is. Usually they won't charge ya.
Toyota dealers are independently owned and operated stores. The quality and expense of dealer service varies greatly.
FWIW, in this part of the country, Cruisers are rare, so dealers never trained on them, never had much experience on them when new, and now that the last FJ was sold in 1997, most of the teenagers at the dealer have never seen a "real" Cruiser. When I left the local dealer in '97, there went the last of their advanced Cruiser diagnostic capability.
Ok, I had to get that out. Back to your regularly scheduled stuff...
Oh Yeah-I forgot to mention- When you need a Carb rebuild, FJ40Jim above is your man. He did my FJ40's carb 4 years ago and it remains some of the best Cruiser money spent to date.
Cruiserdan has my business...got my first order a couple of weeks ago... he`s a pro, the prices are very good and they came right and on time.
Check price before using your dealer, mine is 100% higher than Dan.
Also got some used parts off the parts forum from Cruise Utah. Chad`s stuff was clean, well packed and more than worth what he asked.
