Ack, should have said knuckle. Anyway, we had everything put back together, upper and lower ball joints torqued, etc... then noticed the missing axle.

If you have access to all the tools, have the time and find a good parts truck, this swap can be pretty cost effective. Most of the maintenance parts that I am putting on would be something you would do with a normal used 200k+ truck (parts truck had 210k on it, mine has 265k on it) anyway, so that $$$ doesn't really count. Put another way... the $400 I spent on fixing the 2wd driveshaft issue is MORE than I spent on the parts truck... The beer budget is on par with the parts truck too...

All those things are a big IF though... if you are paying a shop - well, you'll want to just sell and buy.

Most of the other walk throughs on here have been much more complicated - auto to manual, etc. I think a SAS is probably more work. Or, at least harder to get right. This is all OEM stuff, just taken from one truck and put into another.

The last bit is wiring - some of which is already in place in the truck (when I was doing the speedo calibration, I found the ADD relay plug...). I've done multiple Toyota motor swaps, so that part isn't intimidating for me. I'll have a good walk through of how it all worked out for me when I get to that point in the project.

-Charlie

Awesome build!!!
And your in Pasadena, so am I. Hope to see your rig around.

Great job! Ode to have a lift. Must be nice.

This is awesome!
I'm really appreciating all the pictures and details, I'm hoping to do a 4x4 swap in the near future as well. Just waiting to find a deal on parts and get some time off to tackle it (it's hard when you only have one vehicle).

Just the speedometer calibrator part? Well, it fits right there, next to the rest of the harness, behind the kick panel. Once you have it set (that's why its out in the open), it isn't necessary to have access to it again.

If its for the truck in total... well, not 100% sure yet.

-Charlie

My answers in BOLD

Ohhhhhh didn't get the fact that it was just a correction unit. I thought it was tapped into the computer and then corrected it for separate speedo

You sir are skilled! Slow clap moment!!!! Great thread!

Drove up to Northern California for a long weekend at my parent's cabin... Got the 4Runner back to its native environment (where it spent its first 12 summers for weeks/months at a time). It got to visit with its replacement ('07 SR5 4WD, bought used in '11) that my Dad still drives.





No offroad challenges or anything. Just a 7 mile dirt road in/out and the last ~0.5 mile unmaintained stuff. Of course, I used to drive my lowered WRX in there... (just not up the last hill)

-Charlie

Big update!

Last weekend was transmission swap time. Planned for a 2-day event. I didn't take all that many pictures, but here are some key points along the way:

Step one, remove the interior:


Next, make the plan of attack for the mods to the body. We chose to separate the floor pan from the stiffener plate to keep as much of the original floor plan in place. More on that later...




The 4wd trans waits patiently for its new home, while pissing fluid (forgot to drain it before we pulled it...):


Time to remove all the electrical connectors, remove all the other bits around the trans:


And a pic to show how you can get to all the bell housing to block bolts... extensions!


2wd trans supported and ready to come out:


We made a mis-calculation when we put on the 4wd crossmemember... the crossmember bolts are too long to come out with the new frame horns on there!


So, the oxy torch had to come out a bit earlier than expected:


And then the 2wd trans comes out. I'll keep this for spare parts, unless somebody wants it... I swapped the neutral safety switch and trans temp sensor over ('97 into a '99 - wasn't sure if the older trans just had a switch there instead of the sensor)






To be continued...

-Charlie

More to finish off day 1 of the weekend:

While it was up in the air, I checked the rear axle seals... leaking! They were wet when I did the 3rd member (just did the seals, no bearings or anything else). They are still leaking. Parts ordered from Camelback for the whole shootin' match back there. That'll be another day though.


We cut out most of the 2wd shifter stiffener plate to match what we had from the 4wd (there are some matching holes, making it easier):


Bolt in the 4wd plate to mark all the plug weld locations:


Grind weld locations clean and weld:




Then paint to hide the welds. We also put in a small filler piece to allow the shifter rubber seal to seat correctly.


And that was it for day 1. We took the evening off to watch the speedway races. Harley night at the dirt track is a little too much fun.

-Charlie

Day 2 started with dealing with a broken stud on the exhaust downpipe flange.



Normal stuff, right? Double-nut, pull it out. NOPE. Weld a nut, unscrew it. NOPE, x3:


Each time, the stud got a bit shorter, so we just drilled it out. So there was a 2-3 hour waste of time. At this point, I wonder if we even needed to remove the exhaust?


Back to the regularly scheduled program... Lift trans in place, bolt it up, and put it all back together!








I somehow forgot to put the 4wd shift knob in the box of parts, so I got to drive home with no knob there. I did get it on that night and made a short trip to work and back with it on there:


The trans shifts very well. Possibly better than the totally babied (but 270k mile old) 2wd trans. We did do a drain+refill on the trans, the fluid that came out was a medium to deep red, so the trans was at least somewhat taken care-of.

There are still some loose ends:
- The 4wd shifter cup was completely disintegrated. I have a new one on order from Marlin.
- The front nuts for the rear prop shaft were half missing, and all the washers were missing. The 2wd uses a slip yoke at the front, so no dice there either. On order from Camelback... so no more driving 'til those are in place.
- The wiring is still left. So no actual 4wd yet. It does a mean 2-low right now though...

So, for now I wait on about $600 in OEM parts (all the rear axle stuff + misc other stuff) and I'll be back on it again soon. Poser shots to come after the wiring is done....

Medium term will be the new rear axle bearings and seals and Tundra brakes (with upgraded rear wheel cylinders from the small '15 wheel brake parts).

-Charlie

Cool build you have there would love to 4wd swap my truck someday.
How do you like the Dakota Digital calibrator? I like the idea of not having to remember how far my speedo is off at various speeds

It seems to be working just fine so far. I have seen in glitch momentarily sometimes right around 55mph, but it is very fast and doesn't repeat, even if you stay at that exact speed. Not sure what is up with that.

I really wanted/needed it on there, as my tires are 13% bigger than stock now...

-Charlie

Nice job! Are you going to extend the diff breather when you do the axle seals?