I'm trying to find out if there are any differences in the transfer cases on the 1st generation four runners. I thought i heard something about the early ones having gear driven cases and later models...88-89 having chain driven ones. Is this true and are the early ones the good ones. I'm looking for a four runner and found some 87-89's that look great but want to hear some feed back on the drivetrain and such. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

i heard the ones that came with the 22re 4cyls were the good ones and the ones that came with the v6s were the harder to mod ones. Im sure others will chime in

 

Everything you wanted to know about t-cases:
http://www.marlincrawler.com/htm/tra.../tcaseinfo.htm

 

4 cylinder trucks will have gear drive, V6 will have chain drive. Both are stout - the least of your worries on buying a 20 yr old truck. IMHO, the tranny would be the deciding factor - I would not buy an automatic because of the HUGE overdrive and bad performace and mileage.

Crawler adapters are now made for any engine/tranny combo available in the earlier trucks.
- If it's an automatic, Inchworm is your only option
- If it's a V6, Marlin makes the only adapter that keeps the chain drive case

 

Thanks for the tips fellas! I have it narrowed down and I'm almost positive that both runners that I'm looking at are 4cyl gear driven. Soon as I get some time off I'm going to look them over real good and hopefully (fingers crossed) buy one.