My new 1990 HDJ81, Turbo Diesel

meafordmike

Adventurer
Well today I picked up a new to me 1990 HDJ81 Land Cruiser , I got it for a good price and it is in good shape.
I have had a very long day so I will give better details soon
The Good:
4.2 L Diesel
Factory front; rear lockers & center lock
Parts of the Factory Winch
Never offroaded
Built in fridge
NO Rust
The kids like it Becuase it's only lapbelts in rear.
Cost

The Bad:
No records of service
Automatic
Winch cable and remote missing.
290000km
May need some work to safety.
Electrical gremlins/ no hazards lights/ domes lights work sometimes?
Right hand drive/ for insurance reasons.
Wife worried becuase it's only lapbelts in rear.

My short term plan:
Grease it all up
Change the fluids
Air filters
Grease all doors and locks/ I think an old couple owned it and didn't do anything to it, rear tailgate/ tire mount and things are very stiff.
Safety it; and start driving/ wheeling it.

Long term:
Get the service up to date: Big end bearings
Brakes / axle seals
Timing belt/ idler bearing
U-Bolts
Tie Rod ends
Transfer case???
Start Modding it
Here are a few Pictures from the dealer’s lot: I will take some soon.

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hieronymus

Adventurer
Congrats! First thing I did when I bought my '91 was changing to 16" rims and tires. These 15" make it look like a Subaru ;-)
 

meafordmike

Adventurer
Congrats! First thing I did when I bought my '91 was changing to 16" rims and tires. These 15" make it look like a Subaru ;-)

They are 16" on there.
I do have a set of 265/75/16 on FJC rims as my offroad tires for my Tacoma I was hoping they would fit.
 

Wheelingnoob

Adventurer
I would have BEB's at the top of the "short term list" not on bottom the "long term" having a set of those go out will make for a very big repair bill.

Looks like a nice clean truck otherwise.
 

meafordmike

Adventurer
I fixed some problems today. Checked all diffs and Transfer case, front diff was down a lot (I think I have an axle seal gone) But the transfer case was good and I figured it was leaking also, but not much if it is.
New air filter and greased everything. All my lights work except the flashers (hazards), when I press the button I here a weird sound in the dash driver side (it's RHD) and if I press the Hazards, then I lose my blinkers (signal lights).
I will check top left corner of engine compartment (as I look at it) for wire wear.
I have a new problem today, I think I may have fried my alternator, I washed the Cruiser and engine bay, and now I have all my dash lights on and it appears to not be charging, any ideas??
How do you get at the alternator?
I checked and it appears that my Tacoma/ FJC rims with off-road tires will fit fine, but I think I will get an alignment before I mount them, as I am wearing the inside of the tires out bad. The cruiser wanders all over the road. I love all the work I just got myself into.
 

redthies

Renaissance Redneck
Thanks, good to know I don't have a proper spare! I will have to put on my Tacoma offroad spare on.
Thanks again, I didn't notice.

The 15x7 on your spare is the factory wheel for your truck. The 80s came with those 15" rims until 93 or 94. It is totally fine. 16s or 17s are going to let you run a load range D tire, which will carry the weight of the 80 and all the stuff you throw at it much better. And I will join the rest who have said it... Do the big end bearings NOW if you don't know when they were last done!
 

chet

island Explorer
how did you wash your engine bay?Please don't say with a hose and soapy water. bad bad bad. Alt may just need to dry off.
 

meafordmike

Adventurer
I blew my alternator yesterday by getting it wet, all dash light came on and it was not charging. Today at work it needed a boost to get started. So once I got home I started looking for a replacement, I live in a small town and there is not much around here for Auto parts stores. I finally found an old 1991 Tercel Alt (unknown amps 55-70) at a junk yard. I installed the new alt and now the truck charges and runs fine, but..... I still have all the dash lights on, no radio or dome lights. Tomorrow I will check the connector on the alt to see if it's secure (the tercel plug was a little longer, causing binding with the air intake hose).
Any other ideas?

I did drop off my old alt at an Alternator guy to get rebuilt if possible, I will need the extra amps when on trips: ARB fridge/ CB/ radio/ GPS and what not.
 

pattersonimages

Adventurer
JDM 80's

Hopefully that dealership offered you some kind of warranty. but here goes.
From my experience with the JDM 80's... when the dash lights start going..
Many of these trucks have been sitting in Japan for a LONG time prior to being shipped over - meaning many of the belts and hosed are old, dry and cracked.. and many of the tensioner bolts get rusty, and come loose easily when they start driving here.
So when you get the chance - Change all the belts and hoses, and check the bearing and play on your AC compressor. If it seized up, or is starting to go, it will drag the entire system of belts up front.

Also do you BEB's ASAP!!!!!

I ordered some of my parts from EBAY.. many are interchangable with Forerunners and other model 80 series NA spec units.

For parts... check out this website: http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/g_J_1990_TOYOTA_LAND+CRUISER_HDJ81V-RNPEX_4.htmlhttp://expeditionportal.com/forum/-..._1990_TOYOTA_LAND+CRUISER_HDJ81V-RNPEX_4.html
 

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