1986 Toyota Land Cruiser

Wagon

4.2L Straight 6 Cylinder Gasoline Fuel

Manual

JT3FJ60G5G1134745

Gasoline

All about GEORGE My wife and bought George in the spring of 2003 as our wedding gift to each other. The next summer, we painstakingly stripped and painted George, and the finish was perfect. All body panels line up as they should, and the coachwork was rust free. Then came the first winter… One winter morning I came out into the -30 air, only to find that the new paint had splayed up like rooster feathers, reaching desperately to the sky. We both nearly cried. As we had since moved, we did not have access to the paint booth any more, and so we have not stripped and repainted him. However, we did not neglect George mechanically… We purchased George with 171,000 miles, today he shows 190,930 miles. Below is a list of the components that we have replaced or installed within that last 20,000 miles: Complete clutch assembly Oil pan gasket Rear crank seal New Bosch starter New battery Red Line gear oil in front and rear differentials, transfer case and gear box K&N Air Filter installed Rancho shocks all around Block Heater installed Headlights replaced with H4 headlights, with replaceable 100/55 watt bulbs – these provide outstanding night vision New front window All belts, AC, alternator, power steering Car cover All 4 Universal Joints on drive shafts Gas cap Four 31-10.50x15” BFG AT’s (currently at slightly less than half) Alcan springs at all four corners, with a 2” lift. When I ordered the springs, they asked what kind of load weight I typically carry when camping. I told them 500-700lbs. They requested this information to enable them to manufacture the springs to maintain ride height/clearance when loaded…and it does quite nicely. George has: Cold AC Rear wiper Tilt steering wheel H4 headlights Tow hitch K&N air filter AM/FM Cassette…ooooooh! (we use Sirius) 4 speed manual transmission Original manual locking hubs, standard 4-high and 4-low gear ranges Extra spare tire - new rubber (31-10.50x15) Haynes manual Yakima rack with roof storage box Rear window defroster grid NOT functional – has power, grid too thin Floor heat for back seat passengers Original owner’s manual Jack, including the complete Toyota tool kit…rarely seen Car cover 4 keys – two original black plastic wrapped keys, and 2 copies Oil changes have been with either Red Line, or Mobile 1 motor oil. Remarkably, the air conditioning still blows cold on the original R-12 refrigerant – I just checked it out. At 190,930 miles, George runs great – no rod knock, valve train noise, nothing but purring…it’s a thing of beauty. On the road, there are no unpleasant noises from the gearbox or the differential ring and pinion gears. All 4 gears shift smoothly, with no sign of having been repeatedly and unsuccessfully speed-shifted by a 16 year-old monkey. Rock solid drive train, only adult driven. On steep, rough roads, George really shines. In 4-low range, first gear, the original straight 6 has enough torque at IDLE, to crawl over any obstacle (within reason, of course). Doing this at 10,000 feet or more in elevation (super thin air), with 190k miles on the engine, and non-turbo/super charged, speaks volumes to the strength of George’s engine. When we pulled the pan to replace the gasket, all cylinders still showed the original honing without any signs of scoring or wear. Many people change this straight 6 out for a V8 – if you have read this far, you know that this is sacrilege. The straight 6, with a main journal for each rod, is probably the beefiest 4-wheeler engine around. When you are 4-wheeling, you want torque – George’s got it. This vehicle rarely saw stop and go traffic – unless you count stopping to wait for traffic to clear on a one lane ledge road in the Rocky Mountains, or to photograph the landscape. We mostly utilized George for camping, and he saw several trips to Mount Antero, as well as many tours on the Alpine Loop between Lake City and Animas Forks, Colorado. The majority of the 20k miles we accumulated were highway miles to get to the “dirt”. One of the photos shows a full-sized futon mattress in the back (which comes with it if you like), just to show how easy it is to set up for sleeping. The previous owner (Mrs. Mark) and her late husband purchased George from the dealer’s wife who acquired George new, making us the third owner. Mrs. Mark and her husband purchased George so that they could go to classical music concerts regardless of the weather. They lived in Salida, Colorado, and so their mileage was largely to go see concerts in Denver or Colorado Springs. George lived in their garage for the majority of that time. Shortly after the paint issue, we purchased a car cover, and George has lived under that blanket ever since. As for the paint, no car cover in the world would have made any difference – ultimately it came down to the paint supplier telling me “sure, you can use that solvent to wipe down the vehicle before painting, that will work just fine.” Obviously, he was mistaken. The solvent prep I used was incompatible with the PPG paint that he sold me, thus the paint did not fully adhere and bond. Damn. The rust on the vehicle is surface rust as a result of the failed paintwork. None of the rust is beyond that – rust can’t really thrive at 7800’ like it does at sea level, it’s too dry up here. The typical rust zones on these are the wheel wells, fenders, etc. – none of those areas are rusted on George. If you look closely in the images, you can see the areas where the paint has failed, and the associated surface rust. George needs only to be stripped and painted again, with totally compatible products this time, of course. The entire coachwork is still straight without a million door dings. If I cannot get somewhere close to “my number”, I will strip and paint him again this summer. A similarly equipped FJ60 sold earlier this spring for $15,000 on ebay. I doubt very seriously that to have a body shop paint George again would cost $10,000, and the balance ($5k) is much more than my reserve. That is the biggest clue I’m letting out as far as the reserve, so don’t ask what “my number” is, thank you :~). I have a Yakima rack that holds a nice locking roof box, which also goes with George. It’s about 44” wide, 12” tall, and 86” long. It’s a great addition to the rig, and allows for dry, secure storage of camping, sports gear, etc. I have all of my receipts, as well as some of the receipts from the previous owner. “now, the rest of the story…” Winning bidder is required to provide a $1000 deposit within 24 hours of auction close. $1000 deposit is NOT refundable, period. If you are serious about buying, items 1 & 2 shouldn’t be an issue, should it now? Check my feedback. While I have bought and sold small items, I deal from the same platform of integrity – remember what the wise guy said? – “faithful in least, faithful in much” – you can count on me to deliver on my word. Bearing the previous statement in mind, please, don’t bid unless you intend to purchase. Please, do not think that “he’ll negotiate the price when we get there to pick it up.” You will end up going home empty handed, and I’ll still have your 1000 clams. The winning bid, minus your $1000 deposit, brings us to the next point… Bring cash. Daddy likes cash as much as you like a clear title. Sure, you can bring a check if you like – but YOU will have to find a place up here to cash it with YOUR name on it, not mine. Dig? Cool. Daddy likes cash. I will provide a clear, un-encumbered Colorado State title. The state of Colorado does not require a bill of sale to transfer title work. Do the research – I’ll endeavor to provide what you will need to get title work done in your state. I will not, however, DO the title work, or provide you with license plates to drive it home. Ask your questions now – I want to sell George (albeit reluctantly), and I will take additional pictures as requested. Your lack of research/inspection will not change points 4 or 5. Bid, and don’t pay? Well, I’ll have ebay all over you like stink on, well, a pile of something really unpleasant. Have negative feedback? No feedback? “No problem!” DON’T BID, or waste my time, thank you very much…the solution for that problem is to contact me, I’ll give you my address, and you can come to my house and pay me cash straight up. See? Everything has a solution! :~) I’ll store George, off the street, as long as you need me to…as long as that is no longer than 2 weeks. Within 2 weeks of auction close I need to have Benjamins, and George on his way to his new home. I would be happy to deliver George to you, within 250 miles of Gunnison, Colorado, for an additional $150 to cover my fuel and time. I am flexible, if you need delivery assistance, let me know. George comes with a full tank of fuel, and fresh Mobile 1, period. Vehicle sold “as-is” with no warranties expressed or implied. Purchaser responsible for all sales tax and applicable title and registration fees. We are selling George because we just haven’t utilized him like we used to. In the past 2 years I think we put 500 miles on him. Counting insurance and registration, those are pretty expensive miles. There is a fairly significant sentimental attachment for us, and so selling George does not come easy – in fact it’s taken us 2 years to get to this point. We are not selling him because we “are afraid something expensive is going to break” – quite the contrary. We searched for quite some time before we found a ‘cruiser as nice as George. I’d drive George, with confidence, to Alaska to deliver, but I don’t think that anyone would want to pay my airfare home. Thank you for your time…and George thanks you too. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to click that little button to “contact seller”. Put your phone number in the correspondence, and I’ll call you on my dime and answer any questions you may have right away. On May-31-11 at 20:21:06 PDT, seller added the following information: Please Note: ebay will not allow me to change/add photos at this point. If you have images that you would like to see, let me know, and I will have to upload the to my personal website. I had a request for an image of the tires. I took one image showing tread depth, and weather checking. The shot shows the worst part of the weather checking, all tires are fairly close to this tread depth. tire: http://www.toddkramis.com/default.asp?p=233 I want to make sure that it is clear, I did not take a picture of every single spot of surface rust - I took a couple of select photos to be indicative of the whole. If you look closely at the images, you will be able to identify areas where the surface rust is present. To that end, I photographed the corners of the driver's and passenger's doors where the paint has cracked and is bubbling... rust: http://www.toddkramis.com/default.asp?p=231 rust: http://www.toddkramis.com/default.asp?p=234 The files are huge, didn't take the time to reduce them, so you get it all. :~) They can be copied and pasted to your own picture viewer to make navigation easier if you like. One last note - we use a portable Sirius radio unit, which transmits the music to the radio via FM signal. George does not have Sirius satellite radio, we just use one of our two receivers in him when traveling. Having an older radio in George doesn't really matter since we live in a "radio wasteland" anyway. ;~) The speakers work fine, and you can't hear the stereo thumping from 4 miles away. If you have bid on George, and any of this should make you want to change your mind, I understand. Please contact me, and we can make the proper arrangements. I have no intention, nor desire to mis-lead anyone, that's not my style - I will never be that hard-up for cash to sacrifice mine integrity, and I'm not in it for the money. We simply do not utilize George that much any more, and we feel it would be a shame not to allow someone else to enjoy him more instead.