tc and deathcougar, need to pick your combined experiences
 

ive been kicking around the idea of regearing etc for 33's for a while now. read a few posts regarding auto to manual swaps and herein lies my questions.

would that be a viable option to regearing as my diff's are already 4.88's? what should i be looking at in terms of manual tranmissions for this scenario? i have a few options open to me for acquiring the necessary parts but i would like to hear your thoughts, opinions and suggestions.

i would like to hear from others that have or are interested in this as well. my thinking is, if i can swap a manual in, i can run 33/10.5/15 on stock rims with minimal lift/trimming of the body thereby minimizing other expensive options.


i look forward to your input.

lee

Let's start with the easy questions:
Yes, 4.88 is the "right" gearing for a manual transmission V6 running 33's...
For a 3.0 V6, you only have one option R150H

As for your real question though ... I hate to say, but the "viability" is up to your mechanical ability and ability to have the truck down for a while.

IIRC, there is a very specific thread started by "Schooler" on her manual tranny swap and what all goes into it.

The alternative is to have the diffs regeared to 5.29 or 5.71 and install an auxiliary tranny cooler. Of course, since you have the "bastard" diff, that means buying a whole new thirdmember for the rear. If you are wanting to do a locker though, buying complete thirds from Randy's R&P, Marlin, TrailGear, etc is VERY competitive to buying the parts and having a local shop set up the gears. Nobody sells front IFS "chunks" though, so you will be stuck having them installed in your diff unless you can find someone who just did a SAS and is unloading their IFS stuff - which is not at all uncommon!

We converted my 86 4Runner from auto to manual, it not hard to do, but its very time consuming. you will need to find a good transmission/transfer case, the clutch master cylinder and oil line, clutch peddle, fly wheel, and you will need to have new drive shafts made for the front and rear. if you have a pic n pull near you that would be a good place to start looking for the parts needed, you won`t find everything there (unless you get real lucky)but you will find alot of the small stuff that you will need. if you can do most of the work yourself then you will save alot of money, but plan on spending at least 1000 dollars by the time your done.

the one option i might still have available, is a complete runner with an m/t. the only variable is the cost associated with procuring said vehicle!

i will search around for that write-up tc, myyota, thanks as well. a member of my club is a certified mechanic so the r&r should go relatively smoothly. i do have the hard copy of the fsm as well although i might have to locate the transmission portion as i dont think it is covered in depth in volumes I & II.

much appreciated folks, i will update along the way.

lee

i agree, and so does trailgear.com
but if you your going to buy 4.88 is it worth while just to go ahead and get 5.29?

my diff's already have the 4.88's in them, came with the automatic transmission option. as tc mentioned, the v6 diff's are a 'bastard' diff and cannot be regeared as say diff's with 4.56's.

the only big concern is the ecu and how much hacking i will have to do, hopefully this will be covered in the write-up tc suggested. better get my reading glasses!

lee

Since I swapped in a 3.4, I have no problems turning 33s.

:)

You shouldn`t have to do any hacking on the wiring harness, just unplug the plugs for the automatic transmission and unplug and remove the computer for the auto trans if you have one, mine was located under the center console. you will either need to find a way to hook up the neutral safety switch or bypass it with a jumper (thats what i did on my 4Runner).

IMHO, 4.88 is good enough gearing for 33" tires. Many people recommend regearing to 5.29, or 5.71 but honestly I think its a lot of marketing and hype.

My 87 4runner runs stock 4.10 gearing and I run 33's.

As for the wiring regarding the swap, I see there being several possible options.

#1, pin the neutral safety switch plug to make the system think its in park or neutral.
#2, take the neutral safety switch off your trans, plug it into the harness, and tie it up out of the way with the switch in the "Park" or "neutral" position.
#3, find someone who can sell you a 5speed harness, and swap it in. That would be the correct way to do it, but certainly more time consuming and difficult.

thanks guys, finished reading the posts (there are a few of them!) and it looks like its doable in time. i will see if that 5 spd runner is still available as it will have everything required other than rebuilding/replacing m/c, slaves etc.

lee

btw one more thing i thought of. If you swap the harness, make sure it comes from a 4Runner, or a truck with ADD, so it will have the ADD connector.

the truck im looking at is so equipped, keeping my fingers crossed till i can contact him monday. all things taken into account, this looks like a pretty straight forward swap in a reasonable time frame.

lee