The Heretic

I use my pickup for chores around my property. I do not need or want to do trail driving with it, just the occasional trip into my woods for property maintenance. BTDT with the four wheeling off-road as a sport, and would just prefer to not spend a lot of $ fixing things I break, instead, rather have a smallish 4x4 pickup to tow behind my one ton flatbed (eventually an RV) as a run around/etc.


'92 XCab with Tacoma wheels

I got the pickup about 7 years ago. It has 200K+ miles on it, isn't in the best of shape. The clutch slips, and before that started happening the engine was doggy, and there was a vibration at 60-70MPH that didn't seem to be wheels/etc., but I did not drive it enough to let it really bother me. The clutch is getting annoying and I need to take care to keep from letting it slip in the higher gears, but it is still workable, it is just slow going up hills due to the clutch and doggy engine.

I am retired now, have a shop, a-frame hoist, tools and experience (used to be a diesel mech in a previous life, and I once converted a Datsun PU to 4WD), so I am thinking that maybe this winter I may roll it into the shop, pull the engine/transmission and replace it with a MB 617 diesel. I want a bit more power than the Toyota JDM diesels (at least the ones I am aware of) and I do not want any electronics in the engine control domain. OTOH, if there was someone local (Portland, OR) who would save me the trouble/time who made a profession out of these kinds of swaps, I would probably just as soon save my poor back and knuckles and pay them to do the swap instead. As it is, I have another truck that I need to pull the trans on and replace 5th gear/etc. ('97 Dodge 4x4 with Cummins & 5 speed) so I would just as soon work on that this winter instead.

I am given to understand that it is easier to replace the clutch/etc. by pulling the engine/trans as a unit due to the upper bolt on the trans/bellhousing instead of trying to drop the engine in these pickups, so since the engine is maybe worn out or near it, I was thinking of doing the swap at that point instead of replacing the clutch (and maybe flywheel/etc.).

Anyway, that me and my situation/Toyota/etc.

Looking forward to further interactions on this forum.

Discombobulated

Welcome!!!!! Can’t wait to see your progress!!! Always good to have more techs in the forum.

rattlewagon

Those upper bell housing bolts a cake with a 3 foot extension and a little swivel socket..

But I like your plan! Yank it all out!

Welcome to the forum!

moto809

If you're dead set on a diesel swap, all the power to you! BUT, if you're looking for an easy power gain with much less effort, a 3.4 sets right in there with no motor mount or bell housing mods required.
Just food for thought.

coopster

Nice looking truck IMHO.
Not gona lie; saw those tree trunks thrown in bed and had to "cringe" as the young folks say.

swampedout

for diesel, a lot of people are doing a vw tdi these days