Has anyone ever attempted this?

My wife’s 4runner is tired, needs a fresh engine and will eventually need a trans. I would like a diesel pick up so I thought about trying to put the 4runner body on my pick up frame. I love my 4.0.

 

Not without a fair amount of modifications. For starters, the body mounts in the rear of a 4Runner are true body mounts with rubber isolation grommets. A pickup just has flat perches and the bed is hard mounted, no rubbers.

I’d have to get my body book out to see if there are any dimensional issues too.

 

Yeah the more I think about it the more I want to bang my head against a wall. Fresh 3.4 and a supercharger will be much easier.

 

Is the current motor and trans bad? What motor is in it now?

If you aren’t up against the wall of needing it back on the road immediately, see if you can buy a bum motor with blown head gaskets or high miles and rebuild it at your leisure.

Have you done a full fluid flush on the trans? Not just a pan and filter, but a full run through until clean fluid comes out. Several of us have done the DIY trans flush with about 5 gallons of fresh ATF and it really rolls back the age.

 

Engine has around 280,000, minor head gasket issue is causing a misfire. The engine is tired, valve cover gaskets need replaced. The plan is to get one of those jdm imported engines with around 60,000 miles and put that in while swapping a 5 speed. That way (hopefully) I can find one with a M/T computer that comes with it so I don’t have to shell out $800 for one. I just have a son on the way and my pick up is a little tight for a family wheeler so I thought why not have the best of both worlds? It’s obviously too much work I was just wondering if anyone has done it.

I’ll tell you what, that 3.4 is an amazing engine. We’ve probably driven over 3000 miles on this bad head gasket and the thing will not stop. Very impressive, I just love the power of the 4.0. I can be content, not a big deal.