I'm thinking of buying a 1991-1997 Land Cruiser but hate the MPG. I've read that converting one to a part-time 4WD can increase gas milage. Has anyone done this? Any real-world examples? What kind of MPG did you end up with?

It'll probably depend on which model 1991-1997 you end up getting. I've heard that on stricly highway trips it's gotten as good as 16-17 mpg (on a 93-97 I think). Probably be close but a less on a 91-92 model.

You might want to check on www.ih8mud.com. A few of those guys either have done it or gone the manual hubs in front w/driveshaft removed.

I have heard that this is possible on a FJ80 (91-92) and I think there are even "kits" available to do this. I have also heard that it is not possible to do this on a FZJ80 (93-97). While not possible is probably not entirely accurate, you would probably have to swap out the transfer case for a part time one. Either way though, I doubt that you would ever recoup the cost of conversion through gas savings. I have a 89 FJ62, same engine and transmission as a FJ80 but it is lighter and part time 4wd and I average around 12 mpg -- I doubt that a full time 4wd heavier FJ80 gets much worse.

My suggestion is that if you can't live with the gas mileage of a stock 80 series, you should probably buy something else, sorry.

There are "kits" available from for all FJ80's (both FJ80s and FJZ80s) to convert to part-time 4wd. You DO NOT have to swap out the transfer case to convert to part time 4wd with the "kits".

As I said a couple of the guys who have done a "conversion" of types (the manual hubs and removal of front drive shaft when not off-roading) have gotten as high as 17.8, up from an average of about 12. If you consider 15 mpg as an average and $2.25 as an average for the price of gas, that's a savings of nearly $400 over a year (for 10k miles and over $450 for 12.5k miles).

Aisin manual hubs are somewhere between $50-80/set. . . it's a significant savings especially with the price of gas nowadays. Over a few years, that's quite a bit of money. Even if you went the kit route, you'd still start saving money after the first year (kit is about $500).

Not quite correct. There is no conversion kit from a viscous transfer case (HF2AV) from a fzj80 to part time. The kit is for a non-ABS vehicle with HF2A transfer case, which generally means '91 and '92.

If you want to convert an ABS fzj80 to part time, swap to a non-viscous transfer case, make the conversion to part time, install manual hubs, and install the center diff lock switch. Not an economical modification IMO.

Edit:
Saving 5MPG due to a part-time conversion is not realistic. Those comments were from one highway trip. IMO you would net about 2MPG average.

I stand corrected on the "kit" comment, but I stand by my other statements. I was reading about the kit on Marks4wd and forgot about the whole Australia thing.

I didn't say he would get 17.8, I said someone got as high as that. I used a gain of 3mpg, [color:"red"] NOT 5MPG [/color], (re-read my post) to figure out the savings. I was also just pointing out an economical way to get to part-time 4WD, a way that could net you some decent savings easily. I realize that's not the best way, but pointing out it's possible, trying to give some options rather than just saying NO it's not worth it. Is that alright or am I doing something wrong by doing this?