Female enthusiast off and on mud since '10 but first cruiser in hand was in 5/'08 thanks to a young guy I was dating who had a wealth of mechanical know how... that truck became my DD in 6/'10 after my little kermit the frog green kia rio threw a piston in her second engine (first went just before 100K so was covered under warrenty) and I chose to let her go to the Cape Cod dump. She served me well for almost 8 years.
I then really became acquainted to my '84 Rootbeer brown FJ60 I bought for $1100. I had helped him bleed the brakes and who knows what else to get her road worthy. I watched him do the shocks of which one of the rears he had to make a new base mount as she was so rusty there was nothing left to attach too. And he rebuilt her carb and got her dialed back totally smogged as if it was nothing to him. (She did come with a full set of FSM which to this day I still kick myself for selling when I sold her.) He tried to fake me on a driveshaft vibration but the tuft of grass hanging down from her u joint was telltale that he was wheeling her while I was at work and f'd her up. Good guy that he was, he replaced it and she was good as new.
By the time she became my DD in 5/'10 he and I were not together anymore. I very quickly learned a thing or two on how to keep her running all by my own-self with very few tools at that time.
I replaced her starter and made her fire up in less than an hour. Talk about confidence builder! Clutch master went and I had some help with that one. Then only a few months later the slave went and I tackled that all on my own. Easy!
I am sure there were other things I did but now can't remember. I took her to a few Yankee Toys (YT) events but never ran her... The quarter sized holes she sported around her shackle mounts kept me cautious. I also brought her with me on an OEX weekend training 4/'12 in East Haddem CT where I came to know some really great folks in the YT group. Overall her rear frame was a wreck and the guys in the club had little good to say of it. When I was 7 months pregnant in 5/'13 I chose to sell her for parts up in NH. I drove her up all big and prego with my bf following... That was not any easy day. I had no idea what I was gonna miss until I walked away from her.
Thus I was bitten and the bug wasn't going anywhere.
And then I my son was born and I knew I HAD to have another so I could teach my son how to work on his own vehicle. His dad and I broke up in 8/'15 and share custody with our son who is now just over 3.5yo. I picked up a new truck last March '16 from a guy up in VT who had her only a few months and decided he needed to sell. Oddly before him, I spotted her on CL. I contacted the seller for more pixs and he emailed back "will add more pixs soon." A week later I emailed him again and he responded with "sold her, sorry." Then I spot her bought and being trailed home by a guy on fb. God damn! A few months later perhaps by serendipity I happened to spot him say he might need to sell and here's a pix of the truck to some loudmouth sporting a photo of a fat wad of cash. I instantly nailed him in an email and he promises me first rights to her.
In between me getting up there I spot another truck on CL for very cheap and buy that one sight unseen. Another friend and I go to pick that one up and I nearly blow a lung laughing she is such a rusty bomb. Never the less, I put my plate on her and my friend follows me home. The entire hour drive she is literally dropping chunks off her onto his restored '85 rabbit. I dubbed that one the Rusty Truck. Damn panels flapped! No joke. I ended up not even registering her and sold her for the engine.
To now... Tan 1987 FJ60 (AE8, automotive touch up paint site says its Copper Metallic)... I bought her for a lot more than my old stock truck that is for sure but this is the market of the old land cruisers. Right here, suckers and lovers we are! Granted she is lifted (not 100% sure 2-2.5") and is on 35" tires so there's some reason for the increase. He had some stuff done to her... okay, I get he wants his money back so I buy her for $4700. It was tax time and I had the money burning a hole in my pocket. Me and my friend head up with a trailer and cash on hand. (As of recently I had a carfax done and she originated in TX and has been all over the western map and only in the eastern US since '07. At some time in VT had an undercarriage oil seal to her frame so she really isn't all that bad for an eastern truck).
I'm not real sweet on her Smittybilt tube bumpers but they are what they are for now. She is rough looking, funky paint patch on her driver side door, hood is super weathered, inside she's better than others I've seen. Dash is cracked but in a way I dig. My friend who helped me get her to my house in CT, dubbed her "Badass." She came with a huge roof rack that I took off and is sold.
Figured it might be time to begin my own build thread as much as it can be on my very modest income and abilities... Thus begins my work in progress. My son loves his Mama's Monsta Truck With Big Monsta Wheels! His little gator is dubbed a "toyota" too.
I then really became acquainted to my '84 Rootbeer brown FJ60 I bought for $1100. I had helped him bleed the brakes and who knows what else to get her road worthy. I watched him do the shocks of which one of the rears he had to make a new base mount as she was so rusty there was nothing left to attach too. And he rebuilt her carb and got her dialed back totally smogged as if it was nothing to him. (She did come with a full set of FSM which to this day I still kick myself for selling when I sold her.) He tried to fake me on a driveshaft vibration but the tuft of grass hanging down from her u joint was telltale that he was wheeling her while I was at work and f'd her up. Good guy that he was, he replaced it and she was good as new.
By the time she became my DD in 5/'10 he and I were not together anymore. I very quickly learned a thing or two on how to keep her running all by my own-self with very few tools at that time.
I replaced her starter and made her fire up in less than an hour. Talk about confidence builder! Clutch master went and I had some help with that one. Then only a few months later the slave went and I tackled that all on my own. Easy!
I am sure there were other things I did but now can't remember. I took her to a few Yankee Toys (YT) events but never ran her... The quarter sized holes she sported around her shackle mounts kept me cautious. I also brought her with me on an OEX weekend training 4/'12 in East Haddem CT where I came to know some really great folks in the YT group. Overall her rear frame was a wreck and the guys in the club had little good to say of it. When I was 7 months pregnant in 5/'13 I chose to sell her for parts up in NH. I drove her up all big and prego with my bf following... That was not any easy day. I had no idea what I was gonna miss until I walked away from her.
Thus I was bitten and the bug wasn't going anywhere.
And then I my son was born and I knew I HAD to have another so I could teach my son how to work on his own vehicle. His dad and I broke up in 8/'15 and share custody with our son who is now just over 3.5yo. I picked up a new truck last March '16 from a guy up in VT who had her only a few months and decided he needed to sell. Oddly before him, I spotted her on CL. I contacted the seller for more pixs and he emailed back "will add more pixs soon." A week later I emailed him again and he responded with "sold her, sorry." Then I spot her bought and being trailed home by a guy on fb. God damn! A few months later perhaps by serendipity I happened to spot him say he might need to sell and here's a pix of the truck to some loudmouth sporting a photo of a fat wad of cash. I instantly nailed him in an email and he promises me first rights to her.
In between me getting up there I spot another truck on CL for very cheap and buy that one sight unseen. Another friend and I go to pick that one up and I nearly blow a lung laughing she is such a rusty bomb. Never the less, I put my plate on her and my friend follows me home. The entire hour drive she is literally dropping chunks off her onto his restored '85 rabbit. I dubbed that one the Rusty Truck. Damn panels flapped! No joke. I ended up not even registering her and sold her for the engine.
To now... Tan 1987 FJ60 (AE8, automotive touch up paint site says its Copper Metallic)... I bought her for a lot more than my old stock truck that is for sure but this is the market of the old land cruisers. Right here, suckers and lovers we are! Granted she is lifted (not 100% sure 2-2.5") and is on 35" tires so there's some reason for the increase. He had some stuff done to her... okay, I get he wants his money back so I buy her for $4700. It was tax time and I had the money burning a hole in my pocket. Me and my friend head up with a trailer and cash on hand. (As of recently I had a carfax done and she originated in TX and has been all over the western map and only in the eastern US since '07. At some time in VT had an undercarriage oil seal to her frame so she really isn't all that bad for an eastern truck).
I'm not real sweet on her Smittybilt tube bumpers but they are what they are for now. She is rough looking, funky paint patch on her driver side door, hood is super weathered, inside she's better than others I've seen. Dash is cracked but in a way I dig. My friend who helped me get her to my house in CT, dubbed her "Badass." She came with a huge roof rack that I took off and is sold.
Figured it might be time to begin my own build thread as much as it can be on my very modest income and abilities... Thus begins my work in progress. My son loves his Mama's Monsta Truck With Big Monsta Wheels! His little gator is dubbed a "toyota" too.
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