pray4surf

Hi all, my name is Rick - Been lurking, searching and reading this forum for a few years now. Gotten a lot of great and helpful information and thought it was time to start contributing - giving back...

Many may recognize my username as I use the same nom-de-plume on other toyota and offroad forums.

I currently own a 98 non-TRD 2.7L PreRunner with a few mods:
2.5" SAW coilovers
5-leaf replacement leaf pack from Wheeler's
Bilstein rear shocks
Tundra brake upgrade
ARB rear locker
Viair OBA system
4.88 rear gears
1" 4Crawler body lift
285/75R16 BFG AT's
CB radio, diff breather extension, Hella 500 driving and fog lights, etc.

Is a capable truck, but I want to go more places than 2WD can take me. I am undertaking a conversion to 4WD using stock Toyota parts. To date, I've installed the A340F trans and tcase that came out of a 99 3.4L 4Runner. Had to have a custom rear driveshaft built (front half only) as the stock 3.4L part was to long. This coming weekend, the front drivetrain components get installed, effectively completing the conversion.

Still have a couple of bugs to work out; No speedo due to problems with the #1 VSS, tcase shifter lever will need to be modified so it enters the cab in the right location, and I'm sure that other bugs will crop up during the front drivetrain installation.

While some have had an easy time converting, I have not - it's been frustrating to say the least, but I am determined to see this through.

With all that said, here is a picture of my truck...


Rick

PS - I'm not new to Toyota's - here is my first - a 1981 Toyota 4x4


And some more of my 98


White trucks rock!

904_runner

Wow!, Can't wait to see it onces its done. That is a big project. Hope it turns out well. Good Luck!

__________________
1990 4runner SR5, 3.0 with 254K, 5-speed, 4.56 gears, , Rancho 9000's, 33X12.50's trxus mt's, rear lock right, 4" lift with lc coils in rear


My build thread
http://www.yotatech.com/f152/904_run...thread-158746/

Fo_SheeZy

Nice looking Tacoma, welcome to YT!

__________________
Check out my 2008 Urban 4Runner on CarDomain!!
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3108855
http://www.myspace.com/bmplayar


Hella 500's FOR SALE, PM me!

pray4surf

This past Saturday, with the help of three friends from SCTC, we bolted up the front diff, 4wd spindles, CV's, etc. Just need to lengthen the front driveshaft and hookup the electrical and vacuum lines. Also need to weld a dogleg into the tcase shifter and diagnose/fix the #1VSS problem. Then she'll be done

__________________
1998 Tacoma Ext Cab
prerunner -> 4wd conversion

zlathim

Welcome to YT! I really like the looks of that '81, thanks for sharing the pics.

ozziesironmanoffroad

welcome, and good luck

__________________
The 22r series engines are made from the fires of hell, and will fight tooth and nail to not be sent back.

1988 Toyota P/U 4x4
22RE 258,000 miles on original motor
pioneer CD deck
31x10.50x15 BFG A/T
BAJA 100W lights on prerunner bumper
KC Daylighters 100W
rancho rs5000
MUD IS A VALID PAINT JOB!
If not living life to the fullest, why live it?



my trucks official buildup thread

pray4surf

Just a quick update - After picking up the front driveshaft (needed to be lengthened) and bolting it up last night, the 2WD -> 4WD conversion is complete...

The process was much more involved than I expected. A word of advice to those considering this conversion, don't attempt it with a 4-cyl (2.7L) vehicle.

But it's all good now....

Here's a recent picture


Rick

__________________
1998 Tacoma Ext Cab
prerunner -> 4wd conversion

zlathim

Nice work and welcome to YotaTech! That is an awesome looking truck, thanks for sharing.

__________________
Do you think Einstein walked around thinking everyone was a bunch of dipsticks?
Idiocracy (edited for family friendly viewing)

kramykram

NICE!!!!! I LOVE WHITE PU's.

__________________
89 T4R 22RE 31 x 10.5

198,000 and still kickin!!!

And I can't keep stupid people off her ass!!!!

96redtoy

I was wondering what made the 4wd conversion so much more difficult since it had the 2.7L compared to the 3.4L

__________________
96 tacoma stock
2.7L,
5speed,
manual locking hubs,
31x10.50
cobra cb

GO GATORS

pray4surf

Basically, the lack of 4-cyl A430F transmissions and transfer cases available.

Course I didn't find this out until I had gotten in too deep

The tcase shifter on the 4-cylinder 4WD trucks is what is known as a 'Forward Shift', and on the 6-cylinder trucks have a 'Top Shift'. This creates problems when the 6-cyl trans/tcase are bolted up to the engine. This picture gives you an idea of what I faced...


You can see that with the top shift setup, the shifter lever is too far aft.

Here is another picture


The opening on the left side of the picture is where the shifter is on a Top Shift, the other opening is where a forward shift lever would exit the trans/tcase (actually in the tailhousing extension). To resolve this problem, I had the shifter lever modified



What this did was move the upper portion of the shifter lever forward and up (to accomodate a 1" BL)

So what caused this 'mis-alignment' of the shifter? From what i can ascertain, the block on the 4-cylinders is 'longer' than the 6-cylinder, so the entire trans/tcase is 2-1/2" further back than it had been on the donor 6-cyl truck. This also necessitated shortening/lengthening the driveshafts.

Other hurdles I encountered:

The #1VSS wouldn't work until I obtained a higher tooth count gear. = No speedo and glowing CE light

The first trans/tcase I purchased for the conversion came out of an 04 and due to the throttle-by-wire setup was incompatible with the truck - luckily I was able to sell it to someone else without taking a $ bath. So another trans/tcase had to be found.

The final hurdle was getting the electrical parts needed to hook up the ADD. The prerunner did not have the ADD Control Relay (although the plug existed behind the passenger kick panel. None of the Toyota dealers could do much to help me, but Rancho Truck Parts (MSTRecycling.com) was happy to work with me and found the relay (and a few connectors).

So what started out as a weeklong project back in March took me 5 months to complete. But whatever I did on the truck during the weekend (or evenings) had to be completed enough to drive the truck the following workday...

I went into this project expecting to knock it out over a few short days. Everytime I turned around (or so it seemed) another obstacle presented itself....

__________________
1998 Tacoma Ext Cab
prerunner -> 4wd conversion

scuba

I honestly think i saw you in oceanside/ vista the other day, i was staring wayy to hard, you have a beautiful truck.
(if that was you or not the previous statement is still true)

Recognize this combo maybe ??

Sorry for the thread jack btw

__________________
^Say GO DJ..Uh thats my DJ

The Blue Biche
91 4x4 p/u 22re--elbow mod, 500ff's. BFG A/T ta KO's. Smokey the Bear

I Work on my gas tank while smoking a cig...Sue me

Dad- 1999 4runner base 2x4, 2.7, 5speed, 52k, cherry.

Chat with meeee

Pacific Crawlers
UltimateYota

pray4surf

thanks for the compliment - I try to eyeball any Toyota trucks I see rolling around town myself, but I do not recall that combo you pictured.... My wife drives the truck on occasion, but I don't think she looks at other trucks. She has commented that she does get some 'looks' when she drives the truck

I live up the road from Tri-City Hospital, so if you happen by and see me out in the garage, you are welcome to stop an introduce yourself...

This weekend is the big test. Fri-Sun in Big Bear with the TTORA chapter. Hope to have lots of pics, little carnage/breakage, and many stories to tell...

__________________
1998 Tacoma Ext Cab
prerunner -> 4wd conversion

pray4surf

Well, the maiden trip went without a hitch. The truck did everything I asked of it. I couldn't be more pleased. The only problem occured while waiting my turn on an obstacle on Gold Mtn, the airline to the pressure switch let go from the barbed fitting. But was able to finish the run sans locker. Later that evening I re-connected the airline and made sure the hose clamp was tightened down.

Here is the first obstacle on Gold Mtn

__________________
1998 Tacoma Ext Cab
prerunner -> 4wd conversion

toyNG

My girlfriend also says that she gets "looks" while driving my truck. I told her not to worry...it's likely just other Toyota fans.

I love the work you've done on your truck. White pickups are awesome. Although my current pickup is black, my first car was an 87 white 2wd toyota pickup.

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1986 pickup 4x4 SR5, 31x10.5 BFG All-Terrains, Ranchos, 2" body lift, Downey grille guard and skid plate, TG sliders

Buhundred

Welcome to Yotatech! Be sure to read the rules, nice truck by the way

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'96 Toyota 4runner

Bone Stock, 96,200 miles. Its my dads, I can't even drive but I keep it nice & clean.

ocdropzone

I recognized your name from ttora...Congrats on getting the 2WD to 4WD conversion done...I would love to find a set of those wheels you had on your old '81 for my '81, those are cool...

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~Robb
'81 Trekker SR5 B4Runner Build
'89 Tercel Project POS Gas Saver
'05 Camry 'Wife's curb destroyer'
'03 Tahoe Family Truckster/Tow Rig

TREKKER Forum

LINK TO ONLINE FACTORY SERVICE MANUALS

All Toyota Website Search Engine

Wheel Responsibly, Don't screw it up for others...

pray4surf

Yep, I'm pretty active over at TTORA - I'm involved with the local chapter...

Those wheels are (were) manufactured by a company called Western and the wheel style was Bullet. The rims on the truck were 15x10 (backspacing unknown) tires were Denman Ground Hawgs around 36" in dia. - Yes, they were bias-ply...

Western Wheels are no longer in business

__________________
1998 Tacoma Ext Cab
prerunner -> 4wd conversion

pray4surf

Just post whoring with a few more pictures.. 2nd outing took us out to Corral Canyon OHV where we ran Sidewinder.







And a couple others out there with me...







I left after Sidewinder, but some of the others tackled Bronco Peak and the double black-diamond Bronco Connector. Nearly rolled one FJ80 and lost a birfield on the other FJ80... Pics can be found in the Ih8mud forum....

__________________
1998 Tacoma Ext Cab
prerunner -> 4wd conversion