Tired of Old Junk but no Interest in Newer 4x4s

[Fishenough]

I took the comment above to speak toward reliability.


Funny you say that. The 4.0L was the only good thing in that Jeep. The transmission, transfer case and rear end all needed to be replaced...

The 4.0L in my WJ never gave me grief either. Actually the only issue I ever had with the WJ was a blown fuse causing a no start once and the water pump went out...

View attachment 719525

My 98 ZJ, my trail vehicle about 10 years ago, was like that. Engine never had the slightest problem, but every spring a couple electric items would stopped working after sitting through the northern winter. It was a game of wack a mole that I gave up with after a time. Before that had a zero option beat rough YJ like we all seem to at the time, powertrain was great but for eating speedo cables. My 10 year old Honda atv seemed refined compared to the YJ.

Sometimes I want to find a rust free 60 series with a non turbo 2H diesel and stick, than drive it to the end of my time

Sent from my SM-G981W using Tapatalk

 

[Grassland]

You can kill anything, especially if you put it in fleet without somebody managing fleet. I put a couple 4 speed AODs in the grave prematurely, amongst other things while working at companies that expected you to book maintenance on your own time.

 

[plainjaneFJC]

You can kill anything, especially if you put it in fleet without somebody managing fleet. I put a couple 4 speed AODs in the grave prematurely, amongst other things while working at companies that expected you to book maintenance on your own time.

Maintenance on your own time..lol talk about a good way to never get maintenance done.

 

[Ozark_Prowler]

Maintenance on your own time..lol talk about a good way to never get maintenance done.

I heard it said by a mechanic that only about 25% of cars on the road actually get maintained properly, if at all.

In the US at least, a lot of people are averse to, or unaware of the concept of preventative maintenance, in part because of the cost of labor, not to mention healthcare.

Cars tend to get driven as long as they will still move down the road, until the owner is forced to either deal with the breakdown or give up and cut their losses.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Wow... must have been a bad year. I had a '84 and a '86 and they never consumed much.



They went to a single row chain and plastic guides in '84... and they did not "last forever". Fortunately my '84 still had the extended cover from the 22r so I had room to install the old chain and guides at ~200k miles. Besides the oil pressure sender exploding and dumping all the oil ~80k miles, that was the only engine issue I had in 250k hard miles. It was losing compression in the cylinder closest to the cab at the end though.

Meh, I went back to stock nylon guides when the supposedly better metal guides gave up very prematurely. Now it's only fair to say this was not a factory setup but that short lived (guess why) single row conversion that used machined down double row guides.

Lifespan was installed at 145k, blowed up at 187k. The stock parts I used after rebuilding (I can tell you first hand the late 22R is without question an interference engine) are still in the truck AFAIK well beyond 300k now. I sold it about 5 years ago to a friend who uses it for daily chores.

Basically my $0.02 is for late 22R and all 22R-E that the M.O. should be to do a new headgasket (another weak point on iron block/alloy head Toyotas) and guides and tensioner on a periodic schedule of probably 125K or so.

Nothing lasts forever and even the fabled Toyotas of the 80s and 90s only might tolerate and last longer with abuse. I find the most important aspect of old Toyotas, in particular mini trucks, is the quality of the parts. When you use factory or OEM suppliers (like OSK timing parts) they run well. Use cheap parts and they don't.

In my case I think the tensioner was the issue rather than the concept or the guides really. I also don't discount that I didn't pull the head when I did the conversion, just dropped the pan and did a hack job when I put them in. I got to do things "right" by skimping on them initially...

 

[jgallo1]

some of this might have been mentioned already in this thread. I have skimmed through , so sorry if it is redundant, Hopefully not.

I agree with the OP. I love my 1987 Toyota pickup. It is kind of a pain. I have only found 1 mechanic who will work on it that I trust. I end up doing alot of the work myself, but not having an actual shop makes the work more arduous and less fun. At first, scouring forums, craigslist, eBay, and pick n pulls was fun personally, I think it gets old. If the OP has an 80 series Landcruiser that's a tough rig to replace. They are tanks in the best way. I love the older vehicles, most of them seem closer to tractors, which is why they perform so well offroad. With modern hwy speeds, the way people drive, and needing to travel to trails the older stuff can get frustrating.

I just lucked into a very clean 2004 Tacoma, so I will be building that up and selling my 1987. Hopefully, that will equal less wrenching.

I had a 2017 Tacoma and really did not like the vehicle. Nothing mechanically wrong with it just didnt like it. I then went into a ram 2500, I needed it for work. It has its issues but was a pretty good rig.

After reading countless truck reviews, I went to a Ford F250. I have had the truck for 2 yrs and absolutely love the thing. It is extremely capable. It came stock with manual front locking hubs, & rear locker. The truck is big so parking in cities is annoying and tight trails are a no-go. I know not everybody needs, wants, or can afford a full size. I lucked out and bought mine before the craze. I need it for work. I have been very impressed with the truck.

The drawback is maintenance is expensive for the full size, which is the joy of older vehicles. Parts are and labor is pretty cheap. When I do need to get work done to the F250, the parts are always available and any mechanic in any state can work on it. I am hoping the 2004 tacoma will be less wrenching than the 1987 and I won't feel as guilty about it offroad if anything less pinstriping.

lastly, I have been typing all this sitting at the ford dealer waiting for my F250 to get an oil change. I test drove one of the new rangers they seem pretty nice. They have a full ARB kitted one here it looks pretty darn good.

 

[Ozark_Prowler]

some of this might have been mentioned already in this thread. I have skimmed through , so sorry if it is redundant, Hopefully not.

I agree with the OP. I love my 1987 Toyota pickup. It is kind of a pain. I have only found 1 mechanic who will work on it that I trust. I end up doing alot of the work myself, but not having an actual shop makes the work more arduous and less fun. At first, scouring forums, craigslist, eBay, and pick n pulls was fun personally, I think it gets old. If the OP has an 80 series Landcruiser that's a tough rig to replace. They are tanks in the best way. I love the older vehicles, most of them seem closer to tractors, which is why they perform so well offroad. With modern hwy speeds, the way people drive, and needing to travel to trails the older stuff can get frustrating.

I just lucked into a very clean 2004 Tacoma, so I will be building that up and selling my 1987. Hopefully, that will equal less wrenching.

I had a 2017 Tacoma and really did not like the vehicle. Nothing mechanically wrong with it just didnt like it. I then went into a ram 2500, I needed it for work. It has its issues but was a pretty good rig.

After reading countless truck reviews, I went to a Ford F250. I have had the truck for 2 yrs and absolutely love the thing. It is extremely capable. It came stock with manual front locking hubs, & rear locker. The truck is big so parking in cities is annoying and tight trails are a no-go. I know not everybody needs, wants, or can afford a full size. I lucked out and bought mine before the craze. I need it for work. I have been very impressed with the truck.

The drawback is maintenance is expensive for the full size, which is the joy of older vehicles. Parts are and labor is pretty cheap. When I do need to get work done to the F250, the parts are always available and any mechanic in any state can work on it. I am hoping the 2004 tacoma will be less wrenching than the 1987 and I won't feel as guilty about it offroad if anything less pinstriping.

lastly, I have been typing all this sitting at the ford dealer waiting for my F250 to get an oil change. I test drove one of the new rangers they seem pretty nice. They have a full ARB kitted one here it looks pretty darn good.

I don't understand why mechanics are so afraid to work on old Toyotas. I went to an alignment shop and they wouldn't touch my front axle for some reason. The owner was really down on older Land Cruisers actually; he basically said they weren't worth the trouble and were the least reliable Toyotas he had seen. His words not mine.

First gen Tacos are really great little trucks as long as they haven't been in the salt belt. Just make sure the ball joints are good.

 

[calicamper]

I’m reading “I don’t have time, funds and patience” grad school is priority.
Why do you need a car? Hell when I was in school a 2dr Toyota Corolla for dry transport to the grocery store was about all I had time or funding for. My off road was by bicycle which was my daily commuter on campus.

 

[Ghetto Fab.]

I don't get where you need to put a ton of money into an older ride to have something reliable. I've recently finished the latest round of mods on my pickup-err...1994 4runner, and its been completely reliable. I too have redone quite a bit on it (swapped to a GM 4.3 engine and trans, dual cases, custom rear axle with lift springs, custom front axle with coil overs and links, custom made bumpers, sliders, and tire carrier, I even built a fridge slide and shelf in the back), but I'd be amazed if I had $15k into it at all.

I work with new jeeps and we recently acquired a new bronco. They are super nice, and they should be at roughly $50k plus.

Nothing wrong with wanting new, its just gonna cost you. Nothing wrong with having something old, and no reason why it has to cost a lot either. I'm guessing though that you can't do the work yourself and maybe that's why its costing you?

 

[billiebob]

I have to say, 500K kms on my 4.2L YJ, I bought it for $4500.... averaged a grand a year on maintenance, tires, a new engine, and sold it 10 years later for $3500 is pretty cheap for an '87 with the dreaded 3.07s and a Peugeot 5 speed on 33s. Maybe the best, most reliable, cheapest vehicle I have ever owned. Nothing ever broke, ot never left me stranded.

My first TJR, an '05 went 400K kms without a problem til it met a Bimmer going fast head on.

Now on my third Wrangler, an '06 TJR i bought 18 months ago with 110K kms.... it now has 180K kms. I average 40K kms a year pulling a 2K# trailer half of that in the mountains, some of it off road. I do not want anything newer. The TJR was the laast of the no nonsense, no fanny systems, pure driving vehicles.

To all the nay sayers, with over a million miles on Wranglers..... they are absolutely one of the worlds best overlanders period.

On that '87..... 4500 in, 3500 out.... 10000 over 10 years..... In 10 years I "lost" $11000....... You buy anything new today you lose that within a week.

 

[LocoCoyote]

meh, you either drive an old truck and deal with the old truck problems bc you want old truck things.. like no nannies and manual everything; or, you buy a new(er) one and don't worry about fixing it all the time and cruise in comfort.

They don't make em like they used to, and thank goodness they dont. An old truck is fun for when you want to drive the old truck.

This….exactly this

 

[LocoCoyote]

No. Canadian pesos. And the engine was pooched because of it.

So it wasn’t 4K for head gaskets, it was 4K for the engine

 

[perterra]

I don't understand why mechanics are so afraid to work on old Toyotas. I went to an alignment shop and they wouldn't touch my front axle for some reason. The owner was really down on older Land Cruisers actually; he basically said they weren't worth the trouble and were the least reliable Toyotas he had seen. His words not mine.

First gen Tacos are really great little trucks as long as they haven't been in the salt belt. Just make sure the ball joints are good.

Probably because something else breaks a week later and the customer says you broke it.

 

[perterra]

Two thoughts, walk or use public transportation for a month and the tired of old stuff not interested in new stuff is less of an issue.

I always liked old stuff, but old stuff is not practical when your livelihood depends on you seeing customers. It's no fun laying under a truck at 1 am on a Monday morning trying to get the truck going for the next day. As a 3rd vehicle, they are great, as only transportation less so.

 

[calicamper]

I didn’t own a j80 till I owned a house and has a sizable play money fund. Mine was purchased from the original owner at 98,000 miles. It was custom ordered no running boards, top trim. Basic Maintenance was done correctly but even the Toyota dealer maintaining it didn’t lube the knuckles and the other J80 stuff.

at 100k I replaced the garbage radiator due to cooling issues never was run hot no Head Gasket issues for my 9yrs and 60,000 of ownership. Front axle seals / knuckles done twice only paid once Toyota dealer Screwed it up also a well known J80 issue (dealers even back in 2005 didn’t know crap about J80 services)

Pesky water hose I did. That was fun. Not.
ABS system and harness rebuild yeah that was $$$ and not fun finding parts in 2007.
Valve cover gasket that was a huge pain in the ********. The first $5 gallon gas to hit CA just so happened during a trip towing my 2000lb racing boat 500 miles. J80 only did 180miles a tank with not a drop left which was massively painful on that trip.

Due to its abysmal range and my wife needing a sports bra to ride in it, our subaru actually saw way more trips and off road action?. As a 3rd vehicle play thing the J80 can be fun but definitely not a low cost easy keeper. I sold it in 2011 for what I paid in 2003. But it was in far better condition at that point basically cherry J80.

My current 3rd car play car has been way way cheaper and one hell of a road trip rig and way more fun. Grandpa’s SLK 350 had 18,000 miles on it at 16yrs old when I got it. Today it has 28,000 on it. All it gets is oil change once a yr and premium gas. Tires tend to age out before they wear out thats $980 the J80 285 KO2’s were$900.
The 350 does 500+ miles a tank at 80-100mph ?.
Definitely not a dirt rig but hell even my J80 saw less dirt than my Subaru due its miserable range and long on pavement trips that it sucked at.

My current truck does dirt roads to trail heads great in stock form plus it rides like a Grand Marquis especially at 80+ mph lol. 500+ mile range on a tank.
Dirt trails? Yeah when I do that again its probably going to be on a Ebike. Way more fun and way less money than a full on 4x4.

Get the schooling done, land one of those awesome jobs that pay $$$$$! Lots if them out there now! Get a condo purchased then dump the cheap college beater for a nice modern rig. Pick up a fun toy car to putz with when you have time to putz. ? I’m headed out to the boat with my son in the 350 burn a little rubber off the tires. Have a great Sunday!