Replace Xfer case with one from a 1st Gen Taco?

[Mudhen459]

Hey fellow 4Runner owners!

As the situation with trying to solve the transfer case shifting issues on my son's '01 SR5 continues to confound me, I'm starting to consider replacing it. I don't, however, want to replace with one that uses the electronic actuator. I have come to despise these things. My '17 Taco has them, and at 45K, I couldn't switch into 4WD two weeks ago when we had snow here in Denver. Very frustrating for a solution that's nothing more than added (in)convenience. I did notice looking at 1st Gen Tacos for sale in my area that it appears Toyota added the electronic shifting in the '04 Taco (last year of the 1st Gen), so I would try to avoid those).

I started thinking about the possibility of swapping the transfer case with one from a 1st Gen Taco that had the automatic gearbox. Not sure if the 3rd Gen 4Runner and 1st Gen Taco's shared the same automatic gearbox, so my concern is if the Taco's transfer case is a direct fit. Anyone have experience with this?

Electronics-wise, I would assume all of the same sensors exist to plug into the wiring harness; 2H, 4H, 4L, and neutral.

Any thought and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[RodrickHeffley]

Hey fellow 4Runner owners!

As the situation with trying to solve the transfer case shifting issues on my son's '01 SR5 continues to confound me, I'm starting to consider replacing it. I don't, however, want to replace with one that uses the electronic actuator. I have come to despise these things. My '17 Taco has them, and at 45K, I couldn't switch into 4WD two weeks ago when we had snow here in Denver. Very frustrating for a solution that's nothing more than added (in)convenience. I did notice looking at 1st Gen Tacos for sale in my area that it appears Toyota added the electronic shifting in the '04 Taco (last year of the 1st Gen), so I would try to avoid those).

I started thinking about the possibility of swapping the transfer case with one from a 1st Gen Taco that had the automatic gearbox. Not sure if the 3rd Gen 4Runner and 1st Gen Taco's shared the same automatic gearbox, so my concern is if the Taco's transfer case is a direct fit. Anyone have experience with this?

Electronics-wise, I would assume all of the same sensors exist to plug into the wiring harness; 2H, 4H, 4L, and neutral.

Any thought and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

I believe they're the same, but don't quote me on that

Regardless, the J-Shift is what you're looking for, and there should be plenty of threads around to help you, it's a common swap when the actuators die

 

[clearock]

they r the same, my 02 4runner has an 04 taco trans in it right now. I have used a number of taco tcase's and trans in 4runners and vise-versa, there r a # of diff tcase/trans so they need to be the same type or u need to put the work into adapting to the diff model

 

[Bad Luck]

Hey fellow 4Runner owners!

As the situation with trying to solve the transfer case shifting issues on my son's '01 SR5 continues to confound me, I'm starting to consider replacing it. I don't, however, want to replace with one that uses the electronic actuator. I have come to despise these things. My '17 Taco has them, and at 45K, I couldn't switch into 4WD two weeks ago when we had snow here in Denver. Very frustrating for a solution that's nothing more than added (in)convenience. I did notice looking at 1st Gen Tacos for sale in my area that it appears Toyota added the electronic shifting in the '04 Taco (last year of the 1st Gen), so I would try to avoid those).

I started thinking about the possibility of swapping the transfer case with one from a 1st Gen Taco that had the automatic gearbox. Not sure if the 3rd Gen 4Runner and 1st Gen Taco's shared the same automatic gearbox, so my concern is if the Taco's transfer case is a direct fit. Anyone have experience with this?

Electronics-wise, I would assume all of the same sensors exist to plug into the wiring harness; 2H, 4H, 4L, and neutral.

Any thought and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

There's a few threads on the subject. It all depends on how factory you want the swap to operate.

2001 Multi-Mode to J-Shift Conversion?
Transfer case question (Swapping TO a j-shift from a pushbutton)
Multimode to J-Shift Transfercase Swap

 

[Mudhen459]

There's a few threads on the subject. It all depends on how factory you want the swap to operate.

2001 Multi-Mode to J-Shift Conversion?
Transfer case question (Swapping TO a j-shift from a pushbutton)
Multimode to J-Shift Transfercase Swap

Thanks for the feedback. I'm not too concerned about the factory configuration so long as the 4WD indicator lights aren't constantly blinking. I'll search for the threads on the swap.

 

[Mudhen459]

I believe they're the same, but don't quote me on that

Regardless, the J-Shift is what you're looking for, and there should be plenty of threads around to help you, it's a common swap when the actuators die

Thanks Rodrick! I'll search for through the threads and find what's out there. Much appreciated.