$1300- Are the 85 automatics atill good???

I should have mentioned that it is a 4wd- 22re

Buddy, you can hardly find a decent riding mower for $1300 these days. :lol:

I have an 85 toyota pickup with an automatic, its pretty nice but i think that the automatics have a little less power for some reason but other then that it is great. The auto's depending on which you have is the same automatic jeep uses in the 4.0 cherokees(found that out on this forum).

If it's in good shape, runs, and the frame's not rusted out (and frame rust is a big issue with those), a great deal.

Is the frame rust worse on 85's or all strait axles? Also, the Tranny felt terrible, the body was pretty dinged and there was oil all under the front on the bottom of the motor. Somebody told me you couldn't find one that did not leak oil but it scare me so I backed out.
Thanks

Mine has 250k and the rear main is original and doesn't leak. The front main just started to leak but the seal is aftermarket as i changed the timing set 50k ago. Either way the seals are pretty easy to service at least in the front (2 hr job).

my point is don't be too afraid of a leak, better oil out than dirt in and you can always fix it for cheap. The 85 efi's a desirable and hard to find these days. I looked for quite a while to find my 85 runner with efi.

Yeah this truck had the EFI but it was an Automatic, which I did not want and I know there was something wrong with the tranny. Well before I made it on to the highway I noticed the gas pedal was really hard to press and the tranny shifted terrible. It would downshift going 50 mph and you wouldn't go any faster, it would just sound like the engine was red-lining. It had 32x11.50's and I know that did not help but the power was terrible. the body may have been pretty good on rust, but it was banged up too. what do you think.-
By the way, it had originaly come from a 19 year old who said " I stretched the timing chain but I did not break it, so I replaced it" - How in the world do you stretch the timimg chain.

well you never do know what you're going to get when dealing with some folks. timing chains do 'stretch' as they wear our. The individual pins start to wear causing slop or 'stretch' which mechanically retards the timing some. Assuming he's not talking about some more catastrophic event that's probably what he's referring to. I'm sure you could get a used tranny for it for a decent price or just get that one rebuilt or do it yourself. The 85 FSM which is floating around this forum in .pdf format has step by step instructions on rebuilding one with pictures for every step.

Or you could go to a junk yard and get the parts to convert to a manual... it's understandable if the truck seems like too much of a basket case though... I'd bet there is a rock-crawling guy out there that would love to have an 85 solid axle efi with an auto to play with.... just a thought.

taylanemilyme said:

Yeah this truck had the EFI but it was an Automatic, which I did not want and I know there was something wrong with the tranny. Well before I made it on to the highway I noticed the gas pedal was really hard to press and the tranny shifted terrible. It would downshift going 50 mph and you wouldn't go any faster, it would just sound like the engine was red-lining. It had 32x11.50's and I know that did not help but the power was terrible. the body may have been pretty good on rust, but it was banged up too. what do you think.-
By the way, it had originaly come from a 19 year old who said " I stretched the timing chain but I did not break it, so I replaced it" - How in the world do you stretch the timimg chain.

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my 85 EFI Auto does the same thing he probably had stock gears in it which i believe is why mine has a highway issue. I also stretched my chain do to the timing chain tensioner going out..if he didn't say he replaced everything that has to do with the timing chain you want to be careful because from what i have been told, once the chain stretches you need to replace the tensioner and chain guides(cause the chain will tear the apart after it stretches) and chain. If he didn't do that i would be Leary too. the power issue probably isn't as bad as your thinking i haven't talked to too many guys with yota's that can get 70 on the highway i know i cant and my motor is tuned and only has 30k miles on it.

taylanemilyme said:

Is the frame rust worse on 85's or all strait axles? Also, the Tranny felt terrible, the body was pretty dinged and there was oil all under the front on the bottom of the motor. Somebody told me you couldn't find one that did not leak oil but it scare me so I backed out.
Thanks

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The rust problem is on all the 80's and early 90's, unless you're in the SW USA.

If it didn't feel good, you did the right thing. :clap: