so i have been looking around to see if anyone has done a 4bt swap and if so i would love to pick your brain and or if anyone knows anything about it not working i would also like to hear it! thanks and have a nice day

 

I have done a lot of studying on diesel swaps. The 4BT is supposed to be an excellent motor. All the reviews say that it is to heavy for a solid axle truck and not recommended at all for an IFS truck. I was disappointed to hear that, but weight is just to much for these trucks. My .02 cents.

 

So, after reading what you are talking about I did some home work and found out that the 4bt is around 500-650 and the 22re is around 400-430

and the 3.0 slow is around 350 - 450

but the difference from 450-650 is a lot when you think about it....

but is it the springs, or is it the axle? because if its the axle there really isn't any point in going foreword..I'll post once i know more =)

 

I am not sure, but I would suspect both. You could always get heavier springs but I feel it is the axles. The solid axle might could handle but feel that is a load on it. The cv axles, I would think are just to flimsy for them no matter how you beefed up the front end.

I understand that the 4bt is about 700 pounds. I dont know the weight of the 22r series motors and I am not a big guy. With a 22 motor at waist high and no attachements and just block and head, I can move a motor from a truck to a bench. I cant lift it off if the ground though. I guess there is about 500 pounds difference.

If you are wanting a diesel, as I do in the future, the Mercedes OM617 and the VW TDI motors are the ones recommended for these trucks. The one that has me most intrested is an 81ish - 85ish year time frame. There are youtube videos of it just needing a battery to make it run and then disconnect the battery and it will run til out of fuel. It is most basic and simple of the diesel motors from my studies. I think the cars are a 300 D S model or something like that. I know one when I see one.

If you do a search just for OM617 on craigslist, they are usually easy to find or in my area at least. As far as the TDI, I hear it is a great motor as well, but turns me off on it is that it is Turbo Direct Inject. I feel turbos are just one more thing that can go wrong. They seem to have it working great in the big rigs but in cars and trucks, I think it can be problematic in my opinion.

It will be a while before I could do a diesel swap and is something I want to do and it is still a ways off so some of the info could be a little off as it has been a while since I studied all of that.

 

Sub'd.
A fully dresses 4bt is pushing 800lbs plus. Also to what was said above I couldn't see swapping a non-turbo diesel. If you have the mentality that is "one more thing to break" just get a good pair of shoes.

 

I would love to do a diesel swap.

Terry is right. The 4bt 3.9 cummins is very heavy. It is also not internally balanced. Which is how it gets the name paint shaker. Vibrates really bad.

Sad thing is that the 4bt has a lot more options for parts and supplies. And it's cheaper from what I understand

 

There is at least one of them running around. I saw it at moon rocks in Nevada. It seemed to wheel fine. He was also using it as tow rig to toy another yota. Seemed strange to see a first gen 4runner towing another truck.

 

A diesel without a turbo is not worth swapping.

Those TDIs (1.9L) will get 50mpg and generate well over 300+ ftlbs of tq at the wheel in a jetta with the proper mods.

The 2.0s will get upper 40s and the same or more tq...