DealMaker

96,000 miles
orig. owner
serviced consistently by reputable mechanic, oil every 5K
not wheeled, used as mall cruiser
diff locks F/R
no accidents (no CarFax yet)

$10K

Good Times

wow now that sounds pretty good!

Yoda

PM me the address & phone #. That sounds like a good deal to me.

Cebby

That's a great deal!

FilthyRich

pending carfax, I would jump on it. I love fj-80's

Bighead

Have you actually put eyes on the LC or is the only info you have from an advertisement somewhere?

DealMaker

Private party word-of-mouth sale. Will be checking it out in the next 24-48 hrs., but it sounds pretty clean w/all the bells & whistles. ** gulp!** Just not sure how rationl it is to drop $10K when I have a 6-month old Runner that will do 90% of the 4X4ing what I want it to do, which is mostly trail-running in the 395 corridor (Sierra's, Death Valley, Panamints, etc). My selfish idea is to swap out the wifes Odyssey for the Cruiser. I'll drive the Cruiser and give my wife the Runner, except for when the needs the 3rd row seating. At least I'll feel that my kids are much safer in the Runner than in the Odyssey.

**wheels of rationalizing still turning**

Oh, there was a nice '96 Cruiser in autotrader for $12K, in Orange County. White and supposedly clean. About 125K miles on the clock. In fact, there are tons of these things down here in LA (80's and especially 100's). Mostly mall cruisers, no rust. Anyone considering buying should at least take a gander in this area.

firemedic

Sounds resonable, if you like it and it is in good shape, then it is definitely worth it, you WILL love it!

Bighead

Just in case you have not seen it, take a look at Christo Slee's 80-Series Newbie Guide for stuff to look at during your inspection. Good luck.

DealMaker

Awwright, just checked it out. Everything locked and unlocked without any drama. This cruiser has 95K miles, leather seats not maintained and cracked, lots of oil caked down by the oil pan and front axle. Power steering hums when you turn, and the engine whistles like its got a turbocharger when I reached about 3000 RPM. When I would go about 30 mph I'd take my foot of the gas, then step on it again and would feel a small jolt like there's some slop in the drivetrain (probably normal?). Body is fair to good, being that all four corners on the bumpers are scraped, and the body has a few scrapes, mostly at the wheel well fenders, and door ding chips (giving, not receiving). At least some of the hoses in the engine compartment are split and need replacing. BOdy probably hasn't been waxed mor than a few times. No rust.

The owner says the oil is changed out every 5K and has been serviced routinely by the same mechanic, but the vehicle doesn't show pride of ownership and is not the creampuff I was hoping it would be. This was a soccermom ride. Probably would need $1-2K of work to get it up to snuff.

SEAN_at_TLT

That mixes things up a bit...

If it really only needs 2K to make it good than great. But from my experiences when a vehicle has been neglected it takes a toll and more and more things will start to deteriorate. I'd stick with your current rig unless you really want to wheel a lot and in which case I'd build a dedicated trail rig on the cheap or slightly modify yours.

Biff

For that kind of money, an okay 96 with lockers would probably cost you about $15k so investing another 2k in maintenance still puts you ahead. I paid $7k for my 94 w/150k on it and knew it needed at least $2k in maintenance on it, so it really cost me $9k. This is still worth it, just make sure you know what you are aware of all the issues. I would double check the births, the radiator, and the rear seal, these were the items that I had to address.

WolfpackTLC

That's a DEAL.

The whistling, the leaks, the cracked hoses... all that is NORMAL. (ok... the hoses needed to be replaced per maintainance....)

The whistling is normal as a result of the factory exhaust. Put on a S/C and you won't notice.

The leaking is normal too... hell the thing IS over 8 years old...

Driveline clunk is pretty typical too...

Get it.. you won't regret it.

Amir904

wow thats cheap, my dad is selling his, it has 120k, its a 97 for $13500.

NOMIS

I'm fairly new to this forum so I don't want to call anybody out - so don't get me wrong. But on my '96, the aftermarket belts were of the wrong type - cogged. Replacing the belts with the factory non-cogged replacement eliminated the quasi-supercharger whine for me. Oh, and mine leaks a little oil as well - the Moblil 1 full synthetic I use exacerbates the problem - but not enough to negate the benefits. The trucks are built extremely well - if yours is replete with factory lockers, you'll be able to outwheel 99% of the vehicles out there. Good luck with your decision. Just for a price point comparison I picked up my 96' LX450 in 2003, in excellent condition with 75K on the clock, sans lockers for 19K out the door - Benz dealer was originally asking 21K pre-tax.

99runner4me

Looks like they were good about the oil changes but neglected the other things.

Sounds like a great price, but you'd have to think about how much it's going to cost to bring it back to par. The leaks would definitely concern me for sure.

blupaddler

Like others have said the price is really good. And the truck is 8 years old. Just think how many more squeaks, groans, and scratches it will have after you wheel it.

If you want comparison, www.sleeoffroad.com has a 1996 for sale on his website currently for around $9000. Which is a really good deal. I think it has more miles though, like 150k or something.

Leakage and everything, just have it checked out.

Regarding wheeling...You could take it straight from the seller's house and wheel 90% of the trails in the area. Add to that there is so much aftermarket stuff you will never tire new ideas. Most importantly, lifting it is really cheap.

good luck and keep us posted

Randomness

How long do 80's run for, usually? Like on average how many miles would you see out of a well-maintained one? I'm in love with them, just don't know how practical or "worth it" it would be to get rid of the 4runner for one.

firemedic

250-300k mi or more should not be a problem w/routine maintenance. Just sold mine w/200k, no issues or problems, used about a quart of oil per 2-3k mi, that's about it.

NOMIS

I'd say 250K-300K could be expected without any major drivetrain issues. The full ladder frame and inline six is built to last.