Im having a look round for a 4WD and was wondering how well the 1985-89 style landcruisers perform on and of road, and also what sort of things are known to go rong with them and what to look out for when buying.
Any help would be great
How good are Landcruisers?
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toycruiser
- Winch master
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tomsoffroad
- Flopsie
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Ar eyou looking at the 60 series or the 70 series.
60 series is the long wheel base wagon. rounded shape.
60 series comes out with several motor options.
3B diesal:3.4 litre 4 cylinder. Will generaly run for ever but is not very powerful for a 2.5 ton vehicle.
2F or 3F petrol 6 cylinder. Kinda rear put good strong motor but can be thirsty.
2H diesal. 4 litre 6 cylinder diesal. Good strong diesal. indirect injection. Not bad for towing and 4wheeling.
12HT diesal. This is the bees knees. 4 litre six cylinder turbo diesal. Heaps of towing power and can spin 36 inch tyres no worries. I've got one of these.
70 series is the short wheel base and mid wheel base fibreglass roof jobbie. This truck still has a lovely square body shape like the 40 series.
Again you will find lots of 3B diesal and 2F, 3F petrol engines in the short wheel base full steel body trucks.
The mid wheel base FRP top genarally runs the 13BT diesal and sometimes the 3B.
13BT is a 4 cylinder 3.4 litre turbo diesal engine. I've got one of these too. It does pretty well. It turns my 36 inch tyres ok.
If you get a real late model 70 series you may find a 1HZ diesal. 4.2 litre six cylinder non turbo. Do big end bearings soon as.
Both the 60 and 70 series trucks can be found with auto and 5speed boxes. some come with electric 24 volt winches, others come with PTO winches. I've got one of each. Both work extremely well. Some of the VX and LX cruisers have factory front and rear lockers. They are brilliant. Very reliable. All three of my trucks have these and i wouldn't give them up.
I'm a cruiser freak. Best trucks around.
G
60 series is the long wheel base wagon. rounded shape.
60 series comes out with several motor options.
3B diesal:3.4 litre 4 cylinder. Will generaly run for ever but is not very powerful for a 2.5 ton vehicle.
2F or 3F petrol 6 cylinder. Kinda rear put good strong motor but can be thirsty.
2H diesal. 4 litre 6 cylinder diesal. Good strong diesal. indirect injection. Not bad for towing and 4wheeling.
12HT diesal. This is the bees knees. 4 litre six cylinder turbo diesal. Heaps of towing power and can spin 36 inch tyres no worries. I've got one of these.
70 series is the short wheel base and mid wheel base fibreglass roof jobbie. This truck still has a lovely square body shape like the 40 series.
Again you will find lots of 3B diesal and 2F, 3F petrol engines in the short wheel base full steel body trucks.
The mid wheel base FRP top genarally runs the 13BT diesal and sometimes the 3B.
13BT is a 4 cylinder 3.4 litre turbo diesal engine. I've got one of these too. It does pretty well. It turns my 36 inch tyres ok.
If you get a real late model 70 series you may find a 1HZ diesal. 4.2 litre six cylinder non turbo. Do big end bearings soon as.
Both the 60 and 70 series trucks can be found with auto and 5speed boxes. some come with electric 24 volt winches, others come with PTO winches. I've got one of each. Both work extremely well. Some of the VX and LX cruisers have factory front and rear lockers. They are brilliant. Very reliable. All three of my trucks have these and i wouldn't give them up.
I'm a cruiser freak. Best trucks around.
G
I just bought a 93' LWB Landcruiser Prado 3Ltr TD ... when I was looking there were alot for sale on the NZ4WD mailing list.
It seems to go very well, especially with the auto box in sports mode. Will be taking it, to the mud on Sunday...
How much do you want to spend? I'll keep my eyes open. FYI mine cost me 14k, but generally these go for 16 - 20k. To import one will cost you about $13,500 on the road.
It seems to go very well, especially with the auto box in sports mode. Will be taking it, to the mud on Sunday...
How much do you want to spend? I'll keep my eyes open. FYI mine cost me 14k, but generally these go for 16 - 20k. To import one will cost you about $13,500 on the road.
-----------------------
Who knew Prados could fly?
Who knew Prados could fly?
and taken off the stupid spoiler
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toycruiser
- Winch master
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- Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2004 12:00 pm
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Have you decided on petrol or diesal.
Rust on those tends to be at the very lowest back corners of the truck behind the rear wheels. If its been used for 4Wheeling then these fill up with mud and dont drain. My door drains block up regular too.
The rear door that carry's the spare usually gets a bit sad in the hinges.
The hand brake probably wont work. Thats very comin if its been offroad.
I suppose you just have to check for bearing rumbles and gearbox noises.
Is there a good 4wheel shop that can do an assessment for you.
If you were in ch-ch I'd suggest southern 4WD for a pre purchase check.
Well worth it.
G
Rust on those tends to be at the very lowest back corners of the truck behind the rear wheels. If its been used for 4Wheeling then these fill up with mud and dont drain. My door drains block up regular too.
The rear door that carry's the spare usually gets a bit sad in the hinges.
The hand brake probably wont work. Thats very comin if its been offroad.
I suppose you just have to check for bearing rumbles and gearbox noises.
Is there a good 4wheel shop that can do an assessment for you.
If you were in ch-ch I'd suggest southern 4WD for a pre purchase check.
Well worth it.
G
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cruiser_beast
- Hard Yaka
- Posts: 113
- Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2004 12:00 pm
landcruisers!
Yea wicked!!!!
Agree with Jungle! Landcruisers are a wicked truck.
Ive got a 70 series, 1987. nice lil shorty with the 3f petrol engine. If you go for the 3f engine i highly reccomend converting to lpg as even on that it costs more to run than most.Plenty of power though;) The 3f engine is almost a direct copy by toyota of the chevy blue flame six i heard, its a big simple motor.
Most of the cruisers ive seen have a button to push to go to 4wd high rather than having 4wd high and low on the transer case lever. I see this as a good thing on mine and enjoy just pushing the button as i pull onto the beach:)
Things to look out for when buying a shorty are saggin leafs that may need attention. Mine had been re- set and can happily run my 33 inch BFGs.
Rust: (here we go) Rust can be quite often located behind the rear wheels in the gaurds, may pay to take off the lil carboard inserts on the inside panel in the rear to have a look down into the rear panel, found after i bought mine it had dirt and other random foam filler stuff. Whcih after stripping it out seemed to still have a lot of steel left:)woooo! But yea rear gaurds in these seem to rust quickly.
Rust around windscreen seals (like most cars), in the pillars is a good spot to check.peel up the rubber around the windscreen a bit to inspect it.
Also if you buy one it would pay to take off the rear brake light lens and look in there, took mine off to replace a bulb and on both sides there were two big holes rusted right through, just sitting in there behind the lens.one on each side.
also, the gearbox, 5th gear and reverse are the weakest links i heard, if your test driving it, put it in 5th and get on and off the gas real quick and see if it pops out of 5th gear, also try going down a hill and in 5th gear and get of the gas, and coast down, this may also get it poping out of 5th. This will indicate a bit of wear in the gearbox. but hopefully a bit more life, lol.
in these shortys there is for sure not a lot of room. especially with an lpg tank in the rear:)
on road perfermance, well, my 70 isnt the most comfortable truck on road, but it isnt the least comfortable, nice sheepskin seat cover will keep ur body away from the cold vinyl. Short wheel base trucks can tend to buck, like a horse kind of if ya go over some bumps a bit more than other longer wheel based trucks, but i havent experienced anything drastic, one guy reckons the shocks i have may help with the bucking, but who knows.
Im really pleased with my cruisers perfermmonce off road.
quite simple as well to mount recovery hooks.
Hope some of what i said made sense and may have helped.
Sam
Agree with Jungle! Landcruisers are a wicked truck.
Ive got a 70 series, 1987. nice lil shorty with the 3f petrol engine. If you go for the 3f engine i highly reccomend converting to lpg as even on that it costs more to run than most.Plenty of power though;) The 3f engine is almost a direct copy by toyota of the chevy blue flame six i heard, its a big simple motor.
Most of the cruisers ive seen have a button to push to go to 4wd high rather than having 4wd high and low on the transer case lever. I see this as a good thing on mine and enjoy just pushing the button as i pull onto the beach:)
Things to look out for when buying a shorty are saggin leafs that may need attention. Mine had been re- set and can happily run my 33 inch BFGs.
Rust: (here we go) Rust can be quite often located behind the rear wheels in the gaurds, may pay to take off the lil carboard inserts on the inside panel in the rear to have a look down into the rear panel, found after i bought mine it had dirt and other random foam filler stuff. Whcih after stripping it out seemed to still have a lot of steel left:)woooo! But yea rear gaurds in these seem to rust quickly.
Rust around windscreen seals (like most cars), in the pillars is a good spot to check.peel up the rubber around the windscreen a bit to inspect it.
Also if you buy one it would pay to take off the rear brake light lens and look in there, took mine off to replace a bulb and on both sides there were two big holes rusted right through, just sitting in there behind the lens.one on each side.
also, the gearbox, 5th gear and reverse are the weakest links i heard, if your test driving it, put it in 5th and get on and off the gas real quick and see if it pops out of 5th gear, also try going down a hill and in 5th gear and get of the gas, and coast down, this may also get it poping out of 5th. This will indicate a bit of wear in the gearbox. but hopefully a bit more life, lol.
in these shortys there is for sure not a lot of room. especially with an lpg tank in the rear:)
on road perfermance, well, my 70 isnt the most comfortable truck on road, but it isnt the least comfortable, nice sheepskin seat cover will keep ur body away from the cold vinyl. Short wheel base trucks can tend to buck, like a horse kind of if ya go over some bumps a bit more than other longer wheel based trucks, but i havent experienced anything drastic, one guy reckons the shocks i have may help with the bucking, but who knows.
Im really pleased with my cruisers perfermmonce off road.
quite simple as well to mount recovery hooks.
Hope some of what i said made sense and may have helped.
Sam
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tomsoffroad
- Flopsie
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- Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2004 12:00 pm
- Location: North Canterbury
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toycruiser
- Winch master
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2004 12:00 pm
- Location: Ashburton
Diesil
Yea go for the diesil they are good solid engine that will just keep going and going and going, just make sure you put that snorkel on it before going to deep. Like a couple of the other guys said, they aren't the most comfy trucks on road. You wouldn't want to be doing long trips in them all the time, but the occasional trip is sweet, and driving round the city would be a bit of a bitch. I ride and drive in cruiser_beasts a fair bit and you are deffinetly in a truck you are high which is cool, but also creates some great body roll even worse when the springs have been reset because the car is a whole lot higher again. My Safari deffinetly drives and is a whole lot more comfortable on the road, and so far it has got everywhere if not a little bit furthur then the cruiser, just got to have the right tyres on it, (big aggresive muddies ) But overall a fantastic car, and the diesil is the engine because the petrol can be fairly thirsty and expensive even when you are running it on LPG.
Kent
) But overall a fantastic car, and the diesil is the engine because the petrol can be fairly thirsty and expensive even when you are running it on LPG.
Kent
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cruiser_beast
- Hard Yaka
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- Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2004 12:00 pm
Cruiser
"If not a bit further"!!!!!!thats pushing it a bit kent. We will have to see about this!!!!!
Bring it
I only remember once having to be pulled out by you and that was a hole you would not try so we won't know will we. But I do remember you having to be pulled up the hill on the 42 traverse and I think I made it up if memory serves me right. Oh and the other day at Poutu who made it to the top oh yes me. LOL. So yea maybe a bit furthur. But if I don't have my muddies on and you do then yes you do get furthur then me I will admit. LOL.
Kent
Kent
Rust
I have just finished a restore on my LJ71 short wheel base tin top.
The rust was quite bad along the roof gutters, frames around the side rear windows .... only two corners intact... bottom of doors front and rear bottom of the rear wheel arches ...shot.
Behing the tail lights day light ... in fact there was rust everywhere bar the front guards and bonnet.
Spent the last 3 months migging and painting the thing .. then fully reconditioned the engine new pistons ... well everything new bar the injectors.
The rust in these models can be daunting if they have ever been on the beach and not washed.
But if you want a truck that can just about get anywhere they are worth putting the time into.
Finding one that isn't full off poo would be quite rare, so I would take a close look at any 70 series cruiser because chances are it is probably going to be full of bog
The rust was quite bad along the roof gutters, frames around the side rear windows .... only two corners intact... bottom of doors front and rear bottom of the rear wheel arches ...shot.
Behing the tail lights day light ... in fact there was rust everywhere bar the front guards and bonnet.
Spent the last 3 months migging and painting the thing .. then fully reconditioned the engine new pistons ... well everything new bar the injectors.
The rust in these models can be daunting if they have ever been on the beach and not washed.
But if you want a truck that can just about get anywhere they are worth putting the time into.
Finding one that isn't full off poo would be quite rare, so I would take a close look at any 70 series cruiser because chances are it is probably going to be full of bog