Offroad-Express

there is a mint old 75 fj 40 swb for sale in my town and i fully want it.
im aware of theyre rep to be a good tough truck,
but my question is what are they like to maintain? and what is there value?
it would be a stretch for me to aford this and cannot aford to pay huge maitanince costs, the only reason im concerned of this is the age of the thing.
are parts for theese hard to obtain, and are they prone to any particular issues, i.e motor , suspension problems, and feedback would be handy as i need to make my mind up, cheers
ps its probably the coolst looking truck i can think of, totaly mint.

whats the cost of it ? what good things does it have ? whats the engine ?

i have a 1970 fj40 with the 2f petrol engine and all i do is a set of points and condensor,set the timing once a year and it just keeps going. the drive line is pretty strong and if you do break it the parts are very afordable, diff heads for around 50 - 100 bucks tops. never had a gearbox or transfer case failier and more than capable off road.

need more ifo about your possible purchase.

I've had 3 40 series cruisers over the past 16-17 years and its always rust that gets them in the end

as far as i know its the origonal enjine in it not sure of type. the price is around $4k and as far a g goodies on it its pretty standard. no winch just hooks. no bull bar, its a soft top with a brand new roof. good tyres and new pait no dents and no rust (long way from the sea). mint. good deal? ill take it for a drive tomorow hopefully, thanks for the feedback

BUY IT!!!

hehe, well, have a good look first. I dont think I've heard of anyone who's had a mechanical problem with the things!! They just wont die

BUT: Be warned, as mentioned by Saddam, they rust like a bastard! Climb right through the thing, under it, everywhere. If it is rust free (or pretty much) I rekon it's a pretty good buy.

Post more after you've driven it.

40's are a cool truck and if this is as good condition as you say, ie top paint, no cancer and new roof, shes on her way to being a good purchase..

i am curently buildin one, while usin another for offroadin purposes.. no maintenance on 'ole rusty' and shes a great beasty..the dieseljust keeps runnin.. great fun..

a bonus is that they're a real basic type vehicle so with a bit of a question on here or a google search, you'd have ya answer and guaranteed someones been there and experienced that.. workin on it yaself would be easy..

i'd say go for it.. nothin ventured nothin gained..

parts are vastly interchangeable between types of cruisers (to a certain extent) and parts are readily available,as wopass touched on..

so no reason not too huh?

go on.................

dooooo eeeeeeeeeeeeeeettttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt........................

Yeah man - buy it - buy it - buy it

They are an awesome truck - Becoming bit of collector item to I reckon. Heaps of people keen on them and once you've owned one its easy to see why.

For $4k with no toys I would assume you are talking about a road legal truck.

What sort of tyres does it come with??? If you want to use it offroad would be good to have a set of mud tyres. If you are hard up on your budget I would consider price of rubber before you hand over every last cent. Hope that helps.

fish wrote:as far as i know its the origonal enjine in it not sure of type. the price is around $4k and as far a g goodies on it its pretty standard. no winch just hooks. no bull bar, its a soft top with a brand new roof. good tyres and new pait no dents and no rust (long way from the sea). mint. good deal? ill take it for a drive tomorow hopefully, thanks for the feedback

Fish, You will need to be like the rest of us. If you want to use it offroad,the maintenance costs go up and if you cant afford someone else to do it ,then there is just you.
So you will need a manual and some sanners.
Its not too bad but you have to stay on top of it.
A little bit every week is usually enough but most of it easy

If its got a good body thats great and ones that havent been modified are even better.
However a recent paint job could be hiding something
Have a good look at the exhaust smoke,blue means oil burning and most likely worn rings.

cheers boys, there is actualy another one in town for sale same price but a 79 and a hard top. i went for a drive in it today and it was great started well and no blue smoke like you warned, tis a 6 cill petrol and a lot more powerfull than expected im gonna drive the other soft top one today hopefully aswell and make a desision from there, and yes it tis road legal.
anyone with one know what it costs to shoe them? (tyres) its got A.Ts on at the mo.

well i drove the 75 soft top and its the one.
the only two issues are that it pulls to the left under braking and the speedo isnt working? still has warrant and reg.
im now franticly trying to sell my car!
anyone want a rocky!
cheers

fish wrote:well i drove the 75 soft top and its the one.
the only two issues are that it pulls to the left under braking and the speedo isnt working? still has warrant and reg.
im now franticly trying to sell my car!
anyone want a rocky!
cheers

probly drum brakes all round still ? if it is its a pain to get the brakes balanced up right, also check underneath on the inside of all the tyres,drums etc to make sure no fluid comming out from there, could be leaky wheel cylinder which isnt the cheapest job to do from memory. if its drum front end you can change it to a disk brake front quite easily which is advisable to do

cheers will do.
i used to have a simalar problem with my old zuk.
after every time i went off road it would pull hard to one side when i braked on the road. but eventualy it would just even itself out?

I had to replace 3x wheel cylinders on the front of my old 40, cost about $42 each for new cyl, compared with $39 for for seal kit. This was from Repco a coupla yrs back now.
I love the old 40. As has been said, they just keep going. I was always stunned with where it went, and I was runinng 750x16 'AT' type tyres. I found it tiring to spend all day in - no power steer, drum brakes...
I'd buy another if I had coin for a dedicated off-roader.
I say go for it fish, you'll love it.
R

I'm another fan of the '40! A cheap old truck - tough as hell, and pretty capable without needing lots of mods. You should get a set of disc brake hubs from a 60 series or hilux for around $50-$100, take to the back guards with an angle grinder & trim them to the top of the wheel well & you'll fit 33 x 12.5in tyres - then you're ready to have a go at anything!

thanks guys all this advice has helped heaps, cant wait to have my new toy.
should all work out as long as nobody gets it before next pay!
if not ill find another one, after having a go in one im now convinced its the way to go....
ill let ya know how it works out, and if i get it ill chuk up a photo.
cheers...

One piece of advice I reckon is brilliant with recently painted cars is to run a magnet around it. If the magnet doesnt pull to a spot it is probably bogged up. Just a thought for piece of mind )

One piece of advice I reckon is brilliant with recently painted cars is to run a magnet around it. If the magnet doesnt pull to a spot it is probably bogged up. Just a thought for piece of mind )

Yeh that's something I did everytime I went to look at a 40 series for sale (15-20 times) and hence never bought a 40 series

They still look cool tho