Well i havent finished my 4runner yet and i picked this 85 longbox 4x4 sitting in a guys yard along with tons of garbage (mopars and chevys) lying around his trailerhouse. I had been eyeballing it for a month and decided to go talk to the white trash pirate who owns it. He said he was taking it to the junkyard for scrap and i said id give him $150 for it. He said it would scrap for more than that so i went to $180, He said $250 and then i noticed it did have a right side tailight and housing in good condition which i needed for the 4runner so i gave him $250. I pulled the dipstick and of course it was black but it was full of oil. The radiator had coolant in it. I asked him the last time it ran and he thought it was in 08 but he said it did run. He said it had a 4spd tranny which it didnt it has a 5spd which i believe is a G52 or G54, 6/85 is the build date so it should be a G54 assuming its the original so. The top shift plates for the tranny and t case were lying on the passenger floor along with a cardboard box for a clutch (he says he put a new clutch in it) but the transmission is stuck in either 3rd or 5th, i think 5th. Its red which sucks cause i hate red, it has a 2 piece rear driveshaft which has a rotted out n rusty carrier bearing crossmember that will definetly need some attention. I put a battery in it and dumped a little fuel in the carb and she popped off. Runs a little rough and has a exhaust leak at the exhaust donuts. I reinstalled the shift plates and id end up breaking the shift rod off before this thing would unlock so it definetly has issues in the tranny. The transfer case shifts fine and acts ok. It has typical nebraska rust and has a wing window passenger door and a newer style drivers door without wing window. The frame has a few rusty spots which i could patch. It has 192k miles.

 

Nice parts truck

 

I'm jealous.

 

Pulled the transmission and transfer case out today, took it apart to the point i didnt want to dig to much further without doin some more research so i stopped for the evening.

 

Does it move freely now that its apart. Out of 5th gear

 

No, still stuck. Have to dig deeper. Im going to do some measurements and see if the 4spd transmission and transfercase would fit. Athough i dont see how it could beings its shorter overall and wont line up where the crossmember bolts to the frame.

 

I bet a shift rail is bent

 

I dont think so, the main one in the picture isnt anyways, its getting in a bind somwhere on the left side.

 

So the only way to determine the difference between a G52 and G54 is if it has a sealed or open face input bearing?? So i believe i have a G54. Anyone have any good links on teardown procedures, or more importantly what not to do??

 

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/faq/parts/

 

So i checked on a rebuild kit from marlin and its $339!! Holy moly, too much for this cat! People must be bankers lawyers and drug dealers to afford stuff from marlin.

 

Thanks for the input KelvinB! Appreciated. Need to find a fsm breakdown on the internals for the G54.

 

Install 4speed and drive...don't even worry about the headlight...

 

So i found the output shaft was sheared off. I put it back together for now and brought in the 4spd to do some measuring to see if it would fit. I also have a couple w56s but dont know which way i want to go with it yet. So if anyone needs a parts g54 i have one.

 

As far as body parts, just keep an eye out on Clist or other ads and eventually you will find things at a great deal if you dont get in any hurry. That is the kind of truck that you can improve and learn on. If body work ever crossed your mind and you have the patience for it that would be perfect for it.

That is one thing I have found out about transmissions is the gears are nearly as expensive as replacing the whole transmission. I have several W56 that I am just going to try and learn on and see if I just can combine different gears that are bad out of different transmissions and see what I can come up with. Will be a great learning experince at the least and who knows I might be able to make one or two of them work.

Salvages around here want about $500 for a used transmission but I can find them on Craigslist from $150 to $250 if I take a little time and look. If I absolutely want a new transmission, Trail Gear, Low Range or Marlin one, I dont recall right off sells rebuilts $800. I havent bought one off of them but instead of paying salvage price that is the route I would go. Before I pay $800 I am going to see what I can do on rebuilding one of mine at a later time. It will be a while but I am starting to search threads, videos and books on rebuilding one and what tools are needed. I will spend a few dollars for some parts if need be but will have to decide where to stop at cost wise for building one.

I dont know how to tell the the different models yet, I just know I have G52 and W56s as that is what they came out of.

Other then the bed of your truck, I wouldnt be worried about fixing something like that one up. If you have a Mig welder and some sheet metal, that would be the perfect bed to learn some metal working skills on. When I get back home, I will have a welder and that is going to be my next learning step.

If you decide to do a rebuild on your truck, from my experience it is more rewarding to take a truck like that and literally build it to the way you want it instead of buying one. Keep it as a project and dont get in no hurry.

 

Thanks terry, as for telling the difference between models of transmissions and applications for them w specs, marlins website is a great place to go for that. As far as i can tell the four speed will fit but its shorter overall but the driveshafts that came with the fourspeed truck (which i have) are longer on rear and shorter on the front. Only dilema i see is the crossmember might not bolt up in the original location on the frame.

 

I found a transmission and transfer case today for $250. Guy claims he bought a rolled 86 4x4 with 94k miles on it and just needed the engine. Hes suppost to take some pictures for me so i can identify it a little better. Sounds like a good deal with only that kind of mileage.

 

Man! Another Nice Find!!

 

Was looking through my parts and found some things that i can utilize on this build. Stock air filter housing, the mirrors instead of the ugly ones, the trim pieces for the cab, a pair of turn signal housings (still looking for the other lens),and a headlight housing to replace the drivers side thats kinda banged up.Also found two mech fuel pumps a factory intake with carb, and three didtributors. Really need to get the tranny i found and get it moving.

 

So the transmission i found is a couple hours away from me but my uncle is going to take a look at it and make the guy an offer this afternoon.