For sale: Toyota LJ70 in Burkina Faso (or Mali?)
 

For sale: Toyota landcruiser, diesel, manual, short wheelbase, LJ70.

In beautiful condition - it's not been thrashed or molested. 6 recent BFG tyres. Recently serviced. Very solid, starts and stops perfectly, twin batteries, coil springs all round &c, and the 70-series are indestructible - you know the deal.

I can also include a full set of equipment - shovel, camping gear, GPS, tools, jerrycans &c if you want them.

The vehicle is UK registered and right-hand drive. First registered in 1993. Comes with a comprehensive binder full of paperwork.

For sale in early February 2010, preferably in Ouagadougou but Bamako / Sikasso / Bobo-Dioulasso may be possible for the right price, or even Niamey.

Ready to go anywhere. What do you think is a fair price? Please email bobrayner at gmail dot com.

Give us a shout if you want help finding a buyer.

Hej,

Are you in the market, or do you know somebody who might be?

I stumbled across your blog 1-2 years ago, it was very helpful when I was preparing for a previous journey (in The Jeep Cherokee From Hell) - thanks for that :thumbup1:

Hi Bob
Did you find a buyer in B F ?

Ian :thumbup1:

My pleasure!

I thought I did - I'll have to dig out their details though...anyway...did you ever write up your "Jeep Cherokee from Hell" story? I ask as I bought one cheap off ebay and was thinking of taking it down to morocco...

Ok - found their contact details - is the vehicle still for sale?

Hi Bundhubasher

I sold the vehicle to Bob last year. His plan was to drive it down to Africa and sell it there. I think he was starting off in Feb - so he may still be traveling with the LC.
Thanks

Thanks

Thanks to cts1975; he sold me a lovely machine :-)

Plans changed (as always), and the Landcruiser returned to the UK with me. I might sell it here. (I'm undecided; keep it for another trip, or let somebody else have fun?)

Oh wow... have fun out there!

I have a writeup lying around here somewhere; will try to find it. But here's some of the main points:

1. Various Cherokee electrics failed in hot conditions. Especially the windows. Sometimes the immobiliser. An annoyance rather than a crisis.
2. Cherokee roof rails aren't as strong as they look. Expect it to break when your fully-laden jeep hits in a ditch in the middle of nowhere.
3. The PCD of Cherokee hubs/wheels is not a common one in Morocco, which can be infuriating after you've damaged a couple of rims on some rocky route across the Atlas.
4. The cooling system. Oh god, the cooling system...
5. The boot lock seems prone to failure if subjected to load (ie. when you have lots of expedition gear in the back). For us it failed to both "locked" and "unlocked" states at different times, and defied repair. If it fails "locked" you can strip out the rear door trim and jerry-rig a rope/wire to the front of the cabin that you can just yank to release the catch. If it fails "unlocked", you'd better hope those wire guards around the rear lights haven't rusted too much, so they can take the tension of a ratchet-strap holding the rear door closed. :-)
6. On the upside, a Cherokee is relatively economical, and the aerodynamics are good for a 4x4. It did very well as a tow vehicle when we came across other travellers who had worse problems (and heavier vehicles and more luggage).

Presuming you got a diesel Cherokee, it'll probably have a VM Motori unit which is used in a hundred other vehicles, so parts availability is fine. We did suffer a cracked head though (individual heads) before departure, and later a cracked oil pipe in Western Sahara, and apparently those symptoms aren't unusual. Various other oil and diesel leaks, nothing disastrous.