Has anyone done this? I want to, but I don't weld or have friends who weld. So what I've been told is: you get the W56 (which is the 84 or so to 88 or so tranny), then you would need to lengthen the front driveshaft and shorten the rear. You would, unless you put the rear driveshaft from a truck which used the W56 transmission (84-88). Then a front driveshaft from an 84 or 85 since they were still solid front axle, but they were using the W56 tranny. This idea works as long as the differential bolt-up was the same on 79-83 as it was on 84-88, and as long as the wheelbase was the same. I've been told this is so.

Well I saw a table on Pirate 4x4 with Toyota wheelbases by year. Our first gen 4x4's are about an inch shorter than the 84-88 regular cab short beds. Anybody have experience with this who can aswer the question? I think I've got a cheap W56 lined up, but if the driveshafts don't fit or bolt up to my differentials, I don't want to be stuck paying someone to lengthen and shorten driveshafts...

Anyway, anybody with experience or good alternatives, I'd love to hear from you!

 

why swap an L52 for a W56... ive rebuilt both transmissions before the L52 is much more durable than the crappy W56, ive got a friend running an L52 behind a sbc350 in a second gen pickup. ive also got a friend who had an entire parts truck with the bed litteraly full of broken W56s....

 

Well....I've heard the W56 is much stronger. The Marlin Crawler HDL52 is described as having the guts of a W56 in the L52 housing, which they say eliminates the L52 weaknesses. So far you're the first person to tell me the L52 is strong, but I know nothing, I'm just going on what people tell me. I've also had an easier time finding W56's than L52s. I've found plenty of 79-83 4 speeds, but I definitely want a 5 speed. Much cheaper to find a used tranny than to have mine rebuilt.

Apparently it's an issue with a bearing which was made too small, when the truck's in overdrive and going between 55-60 miles an hour or so, it's just too much of a load and they were going out. Can't remember the name of the part....

Anyway if you know differently, I'd be interested to hear about it.

 

'84 and up trucks have a different driveshaft flange bolt pattern and size ('84 and up use 10 mm driveshaft bolts - most '79 - '83 trucks use 8 mm driveshaft bolts). It wouldn't be that hard to remove the pinion flange from your differentials and drill them to match the later driveshaft. Or you could get the pinion flanges from an '84 or '85 and use them on your existing differentials.

 

Ok thanks. Still need to figure out driveshaft lenth compatability, though....I wish I was rich, I'd have a Marlin Crawler L52HD on the way right now..

 

well i have had both the w-56 and the L-52 trannys in my truck and the only difference ive noticed there was about a 4 inch shifter placement. i have a 79 short bed that had a 4 speed in it, then i converted it to a 86 w-56, i had to move the crossmember back 5 inches, shortened the rear driveline 5 inches, and installed a ifs front driveline, it is almost 5 inches longer than my stock front driveline. then a year later the syncros started going out and i bought and swaped in the L-52 and everything bolted right up. the only difference is the L-52 tranny and t-case shifters got moved forward about 4 inches. i've had nothing but problems with the w-56s, but i got all my trannys used, so it truley depends on the previous owner. my personal opinion is to stick with the L-52.

 

Hey buddy, marlin's L52HD is definintely worth the money. That thing shifts beautifully. It's a joy to drive. Speaking with Marlin he said the same thing, the W56 is an upgrade for our trucks, but the drive shafts and cross members need to be retro'ed.. Good luck.

 

Well this is a super old thread....I've since (two years ago) bought an L52HD, and it already went out on me...it's sitting on the garage floor right now until I get around to shipping it back to Marlin..........

 

R151f ftw.