Ey_Amigo

I've hit the search and found quite a few helpful tips. But has anyone done this? And have photos they could send me?

I'm doing a frame up restore on my 83 and while the L52 is in good shape (for 160,000 miles) the last thing I want is to have to go back into it and screw up a freshly painted chassis to install a new transmission. Rebuilding the L52 also seems kind of silly at $600 w/parts why not pay a little extra for a rebuilt W56 and put it in while I have the truck completely pulled apart.

From what I gathered I need to:
-Fab a new cross member
-Get a shorter Driveline shaft or shorten mine and drill out the mount for larger bolts
-Possibly get a shorter transfer case shaft?
-Get a new t-case? Or will my old one work?

What do y'all think? The help is much appreciated.

-Z

UTAHYOTA

I'm pretty sure the old T-case will work. My plan is a W56 with dual T-cases, with the research I've done, I'm adding quite a few inches to my driveline (L43 to W56) and simply shortening the driveshaft won't do the job. According to https://www.marlincrawler.com/tech/t...ar-ratio-chart the W56 is almost 5" longer than the L52. I believe you're going to want to run a CV type rear shaft to adjust for the steeper driveshaft angle. Check out http://www.4xshaft.com/ for drive shafts. There are more places to get a driveshaft but this is who I plan on using

Ey_Amigo

Thanks for those links, that chart is very helpful.

I'm sticking with the stock lift on my 83, do you still think I would need a Type A (CV) shaft? I'll also be running a single t-case, this is going to be a highway driver that i'll maybe use for some camping.

It looks like Crazy Eye ( https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f114...w-yota-196902/) fabbed up a crossmember that fit onto the back of the t-case, people have also mentioned sliding the original crossmember back and then using U-bolts to hold the transmission, is this because the original cross member doesn't match the bolt pattern of the w56?

Looking at the original cross member and mounts I was considering cutting off the original mounts and re-welding them further back to accommodate the w56 (if the original cross member will bolt up to the w56.)

Finally, I was looking somewhere (maybe pirate 4x4) that a w56-c was what was needed to swap for a L52 in a first gen 83, but looking at the chart it looks like I need an A or B because of where the shifters are located, I know that some modification and fabbing will be necessary and I'm certainly not into cutting corners but I would of course like to go the route of least modification necessary, will I still need to modify the cab to fit where the shifters come out for either the A or B?

Thank you!

UTAHYOTA

I don't think you would need to run a CV shaft. What I've read you should be able to shorten the rear and lengthen the front. Because I plan on taking out so much it is going to change the DS angle drastically therefore requiring a CV.

Ey_Amigo

Hey Utahyota your right I don't need any of that! I had a plan figured out and I got under the truck today to start measuring and drawing new crossmember mounts so I could fab them up this afternoon. Well I got the whole thing drawn up and then out of curiosity I decided to look at exactly how the transmission mount attached to the crossmember. Well I was looking at the transmission mount and just started scratching my head because it didn't look like all the stock ones I had been researching and it definitely looked like the p.o. fabbed up something further back, like for a W56...so in disbelief I googled original cross members and they definitely didn't have this extra plate welded on them, then I looked at what the L52 transmission looks like in the Marlin Crawler webshop and it didn't look one at all...and finally i measured the transmission and holy crap! I got a W56 already in the truck.

I am the second owner of the truck and the guy I bought it off of was a car guy (chevy's though) so I doubt he did that work because I figured it would have been mentioned in the sale. Im just surprised with how clean and primarily stock my truck is that it already had this swap. I bought the truck and it already had a Weber 32/36, it was desmogged (albeit the quick way with vaccuum line plugs instead of block off plates), and the engines been rebuilt before (I just found that out by the guy that did my rebuild) and now I find out it already has a W56...strange, i'm just still amazed.

This saved me so much time, no need to do anything to the shafts, or fab anything or buy a rebuilt transmission, damn.

UTAHYOTA

Well whaddya know? Interesting mount. Looks like the top portion could be OEM. I just took mine out since everything else is out thought I'd clean it up a bit. Only thing under my truck is the gas tank and axles. Will it ever end. So what's your next step?

Ey_Amigo

Next step is to pull the cab, remove and clean this transmission and t-case then blast and paint the frame.

Was planning out the w56 swap before all that so I didnt get the frame painted and realized I need to re-weld something.