These printers are very old so something tends to fail every year or two and no one will even talk to you about repair. I have kept one going for 19 years by buying a total of 4 of them and using the older ones for parts. I just installed a fuser roller yesterday from one of the other printers. The manual feed tray is so unreliable I have to feed the pages in one at a time after lightly creasing the first quarter inch of the leading edge.
But the biggest problem is the toner cartridges. Although they last for years, the original Apple cartridges cost between $150 and $300 and often don't work because the drum wiper blades have gotten stiff and I have never found a source for the wiper blades. The Apple cartridges are sealed in boxes and sellers often will not refund your money if they print a gray background (toner remains on the drum). I wasted $480 this month for two bad cartridges. Its is probably better to buy remanufactured cartridges but they can cost just as much.
The only possible reason I can think of to own one of these printers is because you use a computer that will not communicate with any other high resolution printer. I bought an Epson P800 inkjet for $850 after rebate that will run circles around the LW8500 and even a $200 inkjet printer will make better prints but they aren't compatible with my Powermac 7300.
The cartridges are for the Fuji-Xerox P880 engine used in the LW8500 and many other printers. However, the cases for other models don't always fit the LW8500 with modification so search for the Fuji-Xerox P880 cartridge but make sure it fits the LW8500. The remanufactured cartridges are original cases with new wiper blades, drums, doctor blades and other easily worn parts. I would refill them but its necessary to empty the waste toner compartment which requires disassembling the cartridge. I guess you might get one refill without doing that but I'm not that desperate yet although its increasingly tempting.
If you didn't pay much for the printer, you have a backup and friends will help you carry it, go for it. Good luck with the drivers.