New to Club

[Michael Thompson]

I'm Michael Thompson, living in Louisiana USA. Driving a 1995 fj80, pure stock. I'm also looking at a 1996 that has a bad engine. The 96 has locking axles, and body is in good condition with 160K on the drive train. Owner wants a $1000. for it but may take less.

Any thoughts on this deal, please advise.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[StarCruiser]

Hi Mike, and welcome to the forum.

If the rest of the truck looks in good condition I'd say take his hand off for $1000. You say locking axles, do you mean diff locks or locking free wheel hubs? If the latter, you may want to ask the seller about the history of those as they weren't fitted from factory (AFAIK) and if the front drive train is disconnected, the handling is so bad that those who have done the conversion soon decide to reverse it.

 

[Michael Thompson]

It's the locking diff. you know the one with the switch on the dash. So you can make all wheels pull. Nice straight body, but some rust underside. Car came out of CT. Leather needs replacing on front seats.. but not a bad cruiser just needs an engine.
m

 

[StarCruiser]

That'll be three diff locks then Mike. One centre, one rear and one front.
If you've the funds and space and time to do this one up then go for it IMO.

Ask yourself this, Would I regret not buying it?

Then, when you've bought it, ask Will a Lexus V8 or a V8 from a 100 series fit in it?

An 80 for $1000? It's worth more than that in parts! I think I'd bite his hand off TBH. You would pay £1000 here for the axles alone. Leather if not too bad can have some seriously nice professional repairs or you have the chance to do a custom interior. Rust underneath needs quantifying. If it's a little surface rust and most is sound then good. Even a bit of replacement is acceptable for that price. There's 80s for sale over here that are complete dogs asking £4000 plus.

Normally buying a cruiser you would check everything works. Diff locks can stick and sometimes disintegrate with our road salt but I don't suppose yours would be that bad. But really at that price it's really unlikely there going to be anything else major wrong with it.

I think there's threads on here about what to look out for but most things can be corrected.

Good luck with it and look forward to seeing some photos of your current and new trucks.

 

[Michael Thompson]

That'll be three diff locks then Mike. One centre, one rear and one front.
If you've the funds and space and time to do this one up then go for it IMO.

Ask yourself this, Would I regret not buying it?

Then, when you've bought it, ask Will a Lexus V8 or a V8 from a 100 series fit in it?

An 80 for $1000? It's worth more than that in parts! I think I'd bite his hand off TBH. You would pay £1000 here for the axles alone. Leather if not too bad can have some seriously nice professional repairs or you have the chance to do a custom interior. Rust underneath needs quantifying. If it's a little surface rust and most is sound then good. Even a bit of replacement is acceptable for that price. There's 80s for sale over here that are complete dogs asking £4000 plus.

Normally buying a cruiser you would check everything works. Diff locks can stick and sometimes disintegrate with our road salt but I don't suppose yours would be that bad. But really at that price it's really unlikely there going to be anything else major wrong with it.

I think there's threads on here about what to look out for but most things can be corrected.

Good luck with it and look forward to seeing some photos of your current and new trucks.

Going to revisit the guy today, I've got room and the $$ so that's not a problem. My 95 has some issues, but I could take on another project. Also could pull engine and buy a rebuilt or used engine to keep costs down. The owner let his kids drive this one and the daughter just never checked the oil. So all things considered, it's not a bad buy I guess. And it's less than a mile from my house, can slip the transfer case into neutral and tow it home. Will post some pictures. Thanks for your input.
mike

 

[clivehorridge]

Welcome to the forum Michael.

Keep us informed on your decision, I'd want to go for it too, and if you can find a crash wreck with a tidy engine, you've got a good spare truck or a seller, for a really good total price.

 

[Michael Thompson]

I can get it for $500.

 

[Shayne]

Most of us on the forum are in the UK Michael so your asking people that would probably walk 500 miles to collect it at that price even if they had to push it home .

 

[Michael Thompson]

Most of us on the forum are in the UK Michael so your asking people that would probably walk 500 miles to collect it at that price even if they had to push it home .

It did start to occur to me that this must be mostly UK folks, by some terms I picked up on. My mistake just signing up and not paying closer attention. HA! I do come your way bicycling, riding my Jack Taylor bike.
Anyway, I'll buy the rig next week and drag it home. Thus starts the process of replacing the engine. Thanks for all your support.

 

[Shayne]

Its an international forum and its always good to hear from the States and if you hang around you might find another club member closer than you would expect . I can't see how you can fail with your purchase as its worth a hell of a lot more in parts alone , but its always good to see a Cruiser given a new lease on life so i hope you keep us updated

 

[Shayne]

https://www.landcruiserclub.net/community/usermap?viewuser=8253/

 

[StarCruiser]

Most of us on the forum are in the UK Michael so your asking people that would probably walk 500 miles to collect it at that price even if they had to push it home .

I think Shayne has just summed this up perfectly. And you've made no mistake in signing up here Mike. It's a really friendly forum with loads of info and above all some great people, so you've come to the right place.
Nice looking truck that. And it's Black, so I expect Shayne will be following this closely. Keep us posted won't you.