Land Cruiser questions

[PeaveyBassist]

I have a friend looking at maybe getting a Land Cruiser. His budget is $10k tops. What years should he look at and what kind of "common" problems do they have? Thanks.

Will

[Dave]

rust is a problem on all the older 'Yotas.

I know there are some Land Cruiser guys here - should get some feedback.

Where are my damn centercaps!?!

[CleanAzzE30z]

My mother has a 1995 with 220K miles. Out of all our cars (9), its the only one that is never in the shop unless it has the scheduled maintenance for oil, and brakes and the like. Weve changed the battery only once.

Mariano

[atomic]

awesome suv but gas hogs !!!!

[Jon325i]

In 1998 Toyota did a major redesign on the Land Cruiser and the bulletproof straight six was ditched for a V8. The FJ80s and FJ60s had the straight six engine which is a 4.5L that you have to work at in order to break.....very, very durable mill which served Toyota well for over 20 years. Have your friend look at early 90s vintage (FJ80 body) for the price range he has in mind. The late-90s models and onward seem to be fetching mid-to-upper teens or more depending on condition, mileage, and features.

Jon

[ddavidv]

Rust. Piss poor fuel mileage. Auto transmissions fail.
I'd rather have a Jeep.

[VROOMCP]

If he can. he should go for the LX450. Not just because it has Lexus badges, but because it has dual auto climate control, better sound system, ....

[LINUS]

The above 2 posters don't know what they are talking about.

As a 80 series OWNER, I have never had a better vehicle.

:::EDIT - I've also owned mine nearly 7 years, so I've got some history with mine. Just so you understand I'm not new to the hunt, so to speak. :::

-The only weak point to a FZJ80 vs. FJ80 is the headgasket, FZJ's pop their original Headgasket (cooling passage to #6 cyl. - known flaw), but the replacement Headgaskets is redesigned, so swap headgaskets & you're good to go.

I am swapping OEM lockers into my non-locked 80 this winter, I have all the parts collected already.

Name another vehicle that you can lift 3 tires and still rotate your 1 traction tire aside from a locked 80 series. You seriously can do that in a locked 80.

To the guy with the Jeep comment, I can't even justify a response. I had a CJ-7, wouldn't take that back if paid me.

MPG flat sucks, to be candid. (expect 13 mpg on 33" tires city, 15 hwy on cruise control) However, the fact you don't spend a grip on repairs & rock solid reliability offset the fuel costs when you look at your annual rate of expenditure.

Feel free to PM me anytime on cruisers - I did my own Headgasket when mine popped, so I know a decent amount on these motors. On the motors, these things are the singularly most well thought out & indexed motor I've ever had the pleasure of working on. Truely a mechanic's wet dream.

Go to Ih8mud.com - 80 series forum has a fellow who goes by ' cruiserdan ' - he's a 'Yoda parts counter guy in the SE (AZ, NM?) - best prices on parts and one of the 5 most knowledgeable people in the USA on cruisers.

Also, if you get one from a decent part of the USA, there is little/no rust issues. I park outside in WA, and mine came from CA (i'm 2nd owner) - the only known rust is on the tailgate under the rear window, aside from that you couldn't find a spot of it anywhere on my truck. And the rear window is a known spot on the forums, no surprises there.

I'll drive mine 'till I die, that's how highly I think of them.


Cliff note version: They rock, go to Ih8mud.com & read up.

[ddavidv]

Yeah, I'm so wrong. :roll:
Horrid gas mileage: check.
Rust issues: check.
A good friend of mine has 3 of these things. He loves 'em, but one has a bad trans, the other has a bad head gasket (shocker!) and the other is a total rust bomb. So, if he ever gets the time to combine all 3, he'll have one good one.
Or, you could just buy a Grand Cherokee and be done. (When did I ever say CJ-7?) Granted, they are not without some issues, but they are a very capable vehicle, and you can get the parts anywhere. If the original poster is worried about serious offroading and 'locker' axles, that's a whole different market.
His $10,000 price range does not indicate he's looking for a rock crawler nor a CJ type vehicle. For the record, I've owned CJ's and they are, for the most part, pieces of shit. Excellent when they run, but that's infrequent. Wranglers and Cherokees, different animal entirely.

[LINUS]

Yeah, I'm so wrong. :roll:

Glad you could realize that. THere's really no real reason to argue here as OP has already decided what direction HE wants to go. And you aren't going to change my mind either. I've been around 6 jeeps in the family, my CJ, 4 fullsize Cherokees (2 even had that Quadra-trac), one XJ. We tried using the V8 just to pull a jetsled over Stevens Pass, and even with a 3 core radiator it would get way too hot, Dad even put misters on the radiator & no real improvement.

So we all gave up on Jeeps in general. I now have a '69 Travelall for my beater & it's been better than any Cherokee.

I'll give you rust issues on anything pre - 1987, but you better go eyeball a few Jeeps in that range, as a realistic comparison will show you a Jeep will rust out at the same rate as a 'Yota. Anything that gets used will eventually rust, it's not rocket science.

Running gear/powertrain wise, you show me a 250K Cruiser & a 250K Jeep - which one do you want to hop in to cross over the Rockies in November?

If you answer Jeep then Darwin wins, you know I'm telling the truth.

If you want I'll even post a pic of our last Cherokee with my user name written in the dirt. It's pretty overgrown at the moment with blackberrys.

Heck, I even wish they were decent, as my Dad now has my '47 willys truck & I have a '53 willy wagon that don't run - I'm giving the wagon a J2000 gladiator frame & gear, I think the Ol' Man is thinking Suburban running gear for the truck. Again, if you think I'm blowing smoke I can post pics of all rigs I've mentioned, so you know I don't lie.

Trust me, I've seen nearly all generations of Jeeps & if I was looking for a "twist the key & go" rig - then it's a Landcruiser.