Advice on a land cruiser

[calicamper]

Our current truck rig is a late 06 Sequoia Limited. Which these days you can find really clean ones in your price range. Only weakness is lacking locker and odd sized rear end no after market for it. But its still pretty capable and a far nicer long haul rig. 17-18mpg with no roof gear is common.

 

[Upland80]

All depends on what you want to do with it. I wouldn't own one for a DD, but as my 3rd vehicle used for expo/camping/crawling, I love it. A 100 series is much more refined for a DD type rig, but off road, a locked 80 is simply unmatched.

 

[Klierslc]

I also wouldn't worry about the lockers--I have had 3--a 93 and a 94 with lockers and my 97 without lockers. I run an aussie in the back of the 97 and have not yet wished that I had the front locker again. The lockers were nice, but they can be a bit finicky and need to be exercised regularly in order to have them function reliably. I got stuck one day in my 93 when the lockers wouldn't engage--would have been able to drive right out but no amount of fiddling, switching, wheel turning etc made any difference. 10 min after getting strapped out, they engaged and worked great....

 

[onemanarmy]

What is the plan once you get to CO?

I wouldn't buy an 80 series for highway cruising. They get terrible MPG. Quite a number of good highway cruisers that get much better MPG.

 

[calicamper]

The I6 in the mountains is a dog also. 100 series for the rockies and long highway trips hands down. They amazing vehicles but today there are so many options out there with strong positives the prices today do not make them attractive.

 

[Thebus]

Ive got a 93 with locked axles...skip the lockers add arb. buy the cleanest most upto snuff your budget can afford. remember your buying a truck that was around 30k plus in 93 expect parts to run high... i know ..new oem front axles are $1900 with all bearing etc. if you can do your own work. trucks not bad. i love it every time i get into it. figure its a 23yr old truck now expect things and its slow!

 

[calicamper]

Ive got a 93 with locked axles...skip the lockers add arb. buy the cleanest most upto snuff your budget can afford. remember your buying a truck that was around 30k plus in 93 expect parts to run high... i know ..new oem front axles are $1900 with all bearing etc. if you can do your own work. trucks not bad. i love it every time i get into it. figure its a 23yr old truck now expect things and its slow!

My 93 LC stock leather, no running boards or locker was $52,000 msrp. The original owner gave me the window sticker.

 

[Bscott1]

Once I get to Co the plan is to hit as much off road as I can. Not looking to do any crazy crawling just hit some good trails that are fun with some good views. Might start looking towards a newer model of yota since it'll be 1,000 miles of interstate just to get out there.

 

[onemanarmy]

any 4wd SUV/truck built in the last 15 years will handle scenic fire roads anywhere.

 

[turboedtoys]

i have a 94 with 236k miles. I've done tons of PM but I drove it this past July from FL to CO. We went all around the San Juans and ran a bunch of passes. Truck did just fine. It was loaded down full of camping gear, 4 people, dog and on 35s. Awesome truck. If it is clean i don't think it is out of the price range at all. They go between 35-4500 all the time but these trucks probably need a lot of PM to make a trip safely like that and the parts alone on a LC are very expensive. However they do not tend to fail. I purchased my truck for 3200 but I have put about 6000 in it doing all the work myself. wheels/tires, lift, sliders, front and rear axle rebuilds, all new cooling system, brakes, some a/c work, fluids, fan clutch, waterpump all sorts of other tune up stuff. It adds up quick. I keep thinking about selling mine because it's a third vehicle but there just isn't another vehicle out there like it that can do what it does.