Toyota LandCruiser - 84 BJ60 (Lola)
SOLD - sorry!
pvalchev@sightly.net
Lola's website
With great sadness, I am considering selling my beloved truck, Lola. I
would really like to find a great new owner, someone that will take care of
her and take her driving on the terrible roads that she most enjoys.
Reason for sale: I've owned this truck for 6 years. It was my first car.
I have taken care of it as if it was a family member and driven it with
utmost respect. It has taken me through some amazing adventures, and has
*always* gotten me home safely. Through this time, I've driven it nearly
every day. From commuting to the university, to cross-country road trips,
to taking me to the mountains every weekend, it has served me amazingly. In
August last year, I moved to California from Canada. I have faced a lot of
paperwork hassle here, and in addition to that, my drive to the mountains
now involves several hours of gruelling highway driving - with no A/C
it's no fun driving through the central valley of California in the summer.
It's just not practical for me to keep Lola any longer, despite how
attached I am. :( I hope to find her a loving new home. This is a very hard
decision to make, but I don't want to keep Lola parked and neglected, and
would prefer to see her enjoyed by someone the way I was able to...
The truck is legally imported in the US and currently registered in
California (I'm in Mountain View, CA), but cannot be easily re-registered
after August, 2008 due to Toyota (the story is very long, and I'm sick of
dealing with the paperwork). I'm not 100% clear on the US rules for
vehicles older than 25 years, but if someone were to store this truck until
October, then it will be 25 years of age, and thus possibly exempt, and
ready to register it (Canada has a 15 rule like this, but I'm unsure of the
US rule). It's also possible to pay a register importer to go around this,
details can be found on this
message board (for example
this post). I believe other states are easier to deal with.
If I can't find someone in the US that is willing to take this on, I'm
considering driving it back to Canada (BC or Alberta) to sell it there. My
Alberta plates are still valid, and the California DMV has said they'll
return my Canadian registration (that they took), which is valid until July
31, 2008.
84 BJ60 (born October 1983), 464,000km (290,000 miles). $5000
The Good
Strong 3B motor (despite the mileage, these engines last a very long
time). Perfect oil pressure (cold idle just above 1/3 of stock gauge, hot
idle just below 1/3 gauge, never exceeds 2/3 of gauge). Can maintain
110-120km/h (70-75mph) on non-mountaineous highways comfortably and can do
130-140km/h on the flats when pushed. I've driven this truck from Calgary
to San Francisco twice without any issues. It always starts on the first
crank (even in winter in Canada, despite the smoke), has strong glow plugs.
I wouldn't hesitate to take this truck on a long road trip again.
H55F transmission (5-speed manual) with split transfer case.
Power steering
Gets 20-22mpg (10-12l/100km) city and highway, regardless!
Amazing mileage offroad as well, due to the low RPM and high torque diesel.
Two new batteries from Costco (winter of 2007).
Set of brand new tires, Bridgestone Dualer AT Revo, 31x10.5" ($850 paid).
for $500 (extra), or excluded: Webasto diesel furnace with timer ($1300 new).
ARB Aussie front bumper with winch mount, and CrushersRule side body sliders
for offroad protection.
Australian Belton 2.5" over stock suspension (all new springs, shocks,
steering stabilizer) - 3 years old.
New aluminized 2.5" exhaust in summer 2007 - everything new from the
manifold onwards. From Wayne's/CrushersRule's favourite place in Calgary.
Recored/painted/flushed radiator in summer of 2006.
Bosch H4 headlights, rewired with relays (strong).
Front axle was fully rebuilt in 2002.
Can easily run biodiesel, or straight vegetable oil (SVO)!
Maintenance records of all work done
here.
The Bad
The clutch slave cylinder is failing. It's an $85 part, and I plan to
replace it soon. I replaced the master a couple of years ago and should have
done both...
The fuel gauge stopped working last year. I fill up every 500-600km and
there is always plenty left (for the record, I ran out of fuel when my
gauge was working, but not after it failed).
I rebuilt the transfer case seals (took apart, everything else was
fine) about 3 years ago. The oil comes off otherwise clean, but there are
aluminum shavings once in a while that show up and kill the plastic
speedometer gear. You can most likely ignore this problem and replace the
gear once a year if that happens again (maybe it won't), or you may prefer
to rebuild the case again.
Parking brake doesn't work - rust prevailed.
The Ugly
Has rust on the body, the frame is very solid however. I've sanded and
painted rust patches several times during the years, and have sprayed black
rust-proof paint on the undercarriage and wheel wells, etc. but there is
still rust. The bottoms of the rear quarter panels are rusted through.
The engine has the typical 3B engine leaks. However, if I don't top the
oil off, it slowly goes to the L line on the dip stick after 3
months/5000km, some of which must be burned - so it's not terrible.
There is such a thing as having a name that is so great that the actual
thing or person is unable to live up to the name. The Land Cruiser
name has reached grand proportions as a 4X4, yet it has continuously
lived up that name in extreme enviroments around the world even down to
the South Pole, earning a reputation over a period of 50 years.
In that sense the name Land Cruiser is most appropriate to this vehicle.
Think about what it means to be a Land Cruiser owner. It means to have
the privilage of driving a Land Cruiser and wrapped in it's history.
When you stand in front of a Land Cruiser you are looking at a survivor
of 50 years of hard and well-earned development, loved by people around
the world, thoroughly representing the spirit of post-war Japan,
possessing an almost mythical degree of reliability and durability,
certainly a source for pride for any owner.
To drive a Land Cruiser is to vicariously drive the rough roads of the
entire world over the last 50 years, to ride in the drivers seat of a
real chariot. What other 4X4, indeed what other passenger car can take
you to that special place?
(Nobby Fukushima 2001) (from the 50th Aniversary book, on page 190)
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