DH6twinotter

Hey all.

A friend of mine is looking at getting an 80 series. It's a '97 with lockers. He can get it for $4000 from the dealer. It's in great shape (driven by an old lady) except for a couple of dings on the door. Here's the catch: it's got 280k on it and has a leaking rear main seal, needs front wheel bearings, and has a leaking rear diff. Other than that though, it's in great shape.

What do you all think?

Thanks!
Daniel

bob200587

YES! I'd take it right now. That's not that much to fix.

firemedic

If in otherwise good shape, it is a decent deal. While those kind of miles are easily attained in a 80 series, it will probably need some engine work in the next 70k miles, if he racks up the miles, it won't be long before big $$$ are needed, if he doesn't put a lot of miles, it will be a while before he has to worry. I wouldn't have a problem picking up a 200k mi 80, but at 280k, I would just have the though of future engine problems, hanging over my head.

DH6twinotter

Thanks for the help! This section gets more traffic than I thought

Forgot to say that it is the 40th anniversity edition too. Not sure what is special about that though.

The high miles is kinda what has my buddy worried. But, he does his own work and is in the middle of a Gen III motor swap in his '93 MR2 turbo. So, he can do a lot of stuff.

How difficult is it to change out the rear seal? I know you have to pull the tranny and tcase, right? This doesn't really have him worried, except that it is probably pretty heavy and all he has is a floor jack and engine hoist.

Anyhow, thanks a bunch. Anymore thoughts?

CJM

4k is a bit much if you ask me, rear main seal isnt exactly cheap to do an neither are wheel bearings-which could also mean the rotors are out of round and need to be cut (such was the case with mine).

I say between 3200 to 3800 is more like it.

hawke

pictures?

Localmotion

try www.ih8mud.com

KyleT

no thats a terrible deal.
PM me the contact info for the dealer and ill talk to them about the price.

jjrgr21

at kelly blue book, i put it in "fair" condition w/everything you said a private party value is $7,640, they only list retail in "excellent condition" and it was $11,780, and the excellent value for "private" was $9,385,
THIS and THIS
so the difference between the 2 is about 25% so if you add 25% to $7640 you get $9550 the approx. retail value for this rig in fair condition. best i can do. me, i would jump on it, but see if they go lower, it may be worth it.

firemedic

It is not worth $7k, no matter what the KBB says, IMHO.

40th Anniversary- basically has two tone seats, 40th anniversary badging, and a love/hate climate control, other than that, it is basically the same as any other 80.

DH6twinotter

Thanks guys. The dealer paid $3500 for it on a trade in, so they can't go much lower than $4000. I think they are allready giving my buddy a deal on it since he knows the owner of the dealership.

How much do lockers raise the value of an LC? He wants to do some moderate trails with the LC, so the lockers are pretty attractive.

Sorry no pics right now, but I'll see if he can get a few for you all.

Thanks!
Daniel

bamachem

if he wants to wheel it, then lockers should be a requirement for him.

that 80 is a heavy bitch. plan on 13 MPG if the engine runs like a top. expect less if it has bad O2 sensors.

to rebuild the front axle at the dealer is about $1200 IIRC. you can do it yourself for about $300-$400 depending on what you buy and where you buy it, but it's a hellova chore to do. the rear main is about the same price at a dealer, and you can do it for really the cost of the seal if you want to pull the trans and XF case yourself - which as you can imagine is a bear as well.

does it have dealer service records? any service records at all? just because it was "female driven" doesn't mean that it's in better shape either. little old ladies sometime forget to do the important stuff like fluid changes. then again, most of the time they're just suckered into doing twice the needed maintenance as required by unscrupulous dealers. the records will have alot to do with value.

if it has a long dealer service history, then i'd say that it should be worth it IF AND ONLY IF it's what he wants to wheel. if the history is questionable, then so is the price.

it's a big, HEAVY, slow bitch, but with lockers, it will still be an excellent wheeler. however, plan on dropping HUGE money for parts and/or lifts (the OME lift for an 80 is nearly a grand).

firemedic

OME lift is ~$750 (springs, shocks, castercorrection bushings, steering stabilizer), though you can replace just springs ($280) and use the original shocks and stabilizer.
I find my FZJ80 is quicker than my 2nd gen V6 4r was, but it is no race car

KyleT

OME?
go with the Slee 4"

DH6twinotter

Thanks! The LC does have all the service records. I think the majority of the work was done at the dealer.

My buddy would probably do all the repairs himself, although maybe not the rear seal.

He was thinking about wheeling a 4Runner for a bit instead of a LC, but he wants to also have something to tow his MR2 with. 13mph isn't that great.

jjrgr21

it would be fair if they would give him a deal on doing the rear seal, i agree its not worth 7k, a ferrari with damn near 300k on it isn't worth 7k to me. but thats the blue book value, IMO i would consider it in POOR condition due to the seal, thats a pretty big issue. but 4k is fair, good solid rig, run it till the motor goes, then swap, the 5kt-te diesel is available, i guess it would swap.

BAZ

Damn, yeah thats hella slow

Potomacduck

Tell him to price out a complete top end and low end rebuild for the motor and a transmision rebuild. They are looming in that vehicle's near future. Figure on 4 grand for a really good, factory parts engine rebuild and maybe another 1,500 to 2 thousand for the tranny. That's the beginning, who knows what else is getting ready to happen.

You could probably find the same rig with half the mileage for less than 10K. He will be money ahead to pay for quality up front.

DH6twinotter

Well, just an update for you all. My friend went ahead and bought the LC a few days ago. He said it is the best running vehicle he has ever purchased, even better than his '95 SC300. Doesn't even have any valve tap. It was a bit low on oil when he bought it, but it hasn't lost any since he added oil. I guess the oil leak isn't as bad as we first thought.

He allready has a trail ride up in northern VA planned in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for all the input!

DH6twinotter

Hey all,

We took the LC out for some light wheeling a couple of weekends ago. This LC drives great! Almost like it is brand new! The steering reaction time is a bit slower than my 4Runner, but otherwise, it was really nice.

I posted a few pics over in the trip report section: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...91#post1025991