FZJ-80 noob questions.

[dino2000]

Current rig is a 99' F250SD. Love the truck, but getting a little tired of driving and parking this huge beast. My father in law has a high mile 80 he may want to get rid of. Like the size and off-road capability for family excursions.

The only hang up is towing. Need to be able to tow 6000 lbs. We have a 21' jet boat we use quite a bit in the summer time and i would like to be able to drag it around w/o too much hassle.

Let me know what you think, any help will be appreciated.

Dino

 

[adventureduo]

With the Kaymar rear bumper you can tow up to 7700lbs. Stock is considerably less, at 5,000 lbs. However amount you decide to tow remember the 80 series is slow as it is.. so putting that kind of weight behind it only makes it worse. Be prepared for turtle speeds and not being in a hurry

 

[blupaddler]

The fzj80 has a tow rating of 5000 lbs.
I wouldn't stretch that too far.

Have you weighed the boat & trailer? I imagine it must a a pretty big 21' jet boat to weigh that much.
You haven't mentioned what year 80? And where you are located (hills)?










Edit: Dave and I posted at the same time...
Expect the turtle speeds especially if you have any hills to go up/down.

 

[dino2000]

I think the boat/trlr weigh under 5k. I can tow it w/ the wife's ML320 but it's not ideal.

My interest in the 80 goes more to the family EXPED rig/ daily driver than its towing prowess. Luckily, we live about 6 miles from the boat ramp. Thanks for the rating info, more or less what I was looking for.

 

[brentbba]

I've towed up to 4000 lbs and an 80 is a guttless wonder with that weight up hills. Up the grapevine, especially southbound up that grade, even if I hit the grade doing 70-75mph, I'm down to about 40-45 by the time I get to the top and that's not lifting my foot off the floor! Lift because of traffic and you'll be lucky to maintain 30-35 mph over with the semi's in the truck lane.

Don't get me wrong - you'll get there...just not fast. blupaddler is right on regarding the rated towing capacity here in the USA. 5000lbs is all Yota recommends for these.

Yota also does NOT recommend a weight distribution hitch. It's right in your owner's manual. I run Airlift airbags, even with an upgraded heavy coil suspension from Old Man Emu. I've also got a Kaymar rear bumper on that Dave mentioned. It does have 6 extra bolts to the frame rail that a standard hitch does not have. Even with that, I don't know if I'd go much over the rated 5000 lbs.

Hope that helps. The 80 is a great truck and very, very reliable, but it's primary purpose was absolutetly not towing!

 

[MoGas]

I tow a 22 footer as far as Colorado and back.....It is slow.

Dave

 

[MoGas]

BTW, According to Bayliner, our boat and trailer weighs 3833 lb. If you add the 40 gallons of fuel, (~6.2 lb:gal = ~248 lb.) you get ~4081 lb. I usually tow with < 1/4 tank of fuel to cut down on weight and gas up closer to the point of use.

There is also probably 200 lb of gear stowed (I think I am very liberal on that number)

So fully fueled and stocked up, I am under 5000 lb. Usual towing weight, under 4k.

Dave

 

[MoGas]

One more thing.....
The 80 is rated to tow 7700lbs in the rest of the world. Just in the US it's rated at 5000lbs to keep the company lawyers happy here in litigation happyland. I also tow with my pintle hook....

Dave

 

[Brian894x4]

The 80 series with the 1fZ is not that slow. The problem is, when you pack several thousand pounds of modifications and gear...then tow a trailer...:Wow1:

My rig weighed a tad over 5000lbs when bone stock. Now weighes about 6600lbs and it's not exactly a speed demon, but a lot faster than my 5300lb 100 h.p. expedition Toyota mini-truck I used to drive.

Get a supercharger and all will be right with the world. Wish I could afford one myself.

With a 6 mile drive to the boatramp, looks like towing is a non-issue anyway. So go get yourself an 80. You won't regret it. As long as you weren't expected more than about 10-14 mpg in fuel mileage. That's the one thing you have to go into knowing up front.

 

[murphy744]

Dino,
You only have to tow it 6mi to the water:wings:, get the 80, install a break controller, and enjoy....my 2 cents.

 

[brentbba]

Dino,
You only have to tow it 6mi to the water:wings:, get the 80, install a break controller, and enjoy....my 2 cents.

I'd personally recommend a brake controller.

 

[Klierslc]

How many miles on the 80? Any hills between you and the boat ramp? I'd be wary of working a really high mile engine really hard. Anything under 250k should be great. I agree on the brake controller...

 

[dino2000]

Thanks a bunch guys!

The reason I started looking at the 80 in the first place was it's size. the fuel milage will probably be about the same as the SD and it looks like the 80 might seat 2 more in a pinch.

The off-road capability is a big plus for it's size and I plan to use it off-road quite a bit. My son is 8 now and i'd like to show him all the places I usually ride my KTM, and this way Mama and the dog can tag along as well.

The majority of the towing I would do would be the motos and the quad, not exactly a heavy load.
The only comment from the wife was "will it tow my boat?" and I think we got that covered.

Thanks again and looking forward to mod madness soon!

Any body want a nice SD or swap for an 80?

or clean:

 

[blupaddler]

I would trade, except we're not exactly equal...








An 80, even if high miles can still be really good. I know of a bunch of people who use theirs on a regular basis, and they have more than 200k. Especially if you know the p.o. like you said, and they have good records of the maintenance.

Make sure to check out:
www.ih8mud.com
http://www.sleeoffroad.com/newbie/newbie100.htm

 

[dino2000]

Rob, send me some pics of your rig.