Twin Stick Transfer case

I was going to post this months ago, but now is probably better since I have used it extensively over the last 4 months. I drove down to LA in May so that Wyatt of Rock Solid Toys could do the install for me. We worked together on it for two days and I was back on the road. I want to thank Wyatt and his family for their hospitality! I also want to assure anyone thinking about this conversion that Wyatt is as good as they get to deal with! Aside from being a nice guy, he has this conversion nailed.

Basically what he does is convert an FJ transfer case to accept custom made twin sticks and adapts it to the Tacoma. It involves some internal work on the case, and modification of the Tacoma electronics. Wyatt pioneered this as far as I know, and his conversion is very well thought out and executed! That is not a compliment that comes from me easily. I'm a nit picker . It has worked flawlessly for me thus far. Wyatt tears down each transplant case and inspects every aspect before it is accepted for transplant. He does some internal mods that I won't divulge

The actual case is a direct drop in where the tacoma case comes out. No modifications to the driveline or mounts are needed. Wyatt's sticks mount directly to the case and come through the floor behind the shifter. It does require cutting the floor, but the pass through is sealed with a rubber piece. I have a manual transmission, so in my case the sticks actually came up under the tranny shift boot. This posed a rather unique situation. In order to have traditional looking shift lever's, an offset almost 5" long would have to be welded to the shift stubs to move the levers far enough back to clear the tranny shifter. This means the levers would swing up as well as forward to shift. Instead of that I decided to use horizontal levers. The twin levers are very discreet since they sit down in the console where the cup holders came out. This winter I plan to build a pop up cover for them, but for now they just live in the cutout. I can reach them very easily.

Of course this eliminates the electric engagement of the Tcase. It also eliminates the 4wd ECU. The ADD is wired to a lighted switch in the dash and activated manually. This is where I was really glad to have Wyatt's help! The dash lights still activate, but the "4LO' light comes on in 2LO as well. The factory 4wd switch is left dead in the dash.

Many times this conversion is done in conjunction with a crawler box from Marlin. The crawler does require shortening the driveline. In my case I skipped the crawler and just did the FJ box.

So what are the benefits? First off you lose the troublesome electric engagment. Nothing beats just pulling a lever. I can get in and out in a heartbeat now with no beepng. In a bind up you can jockey the stick a little to get engagement. Secondly, you get the use of 2LO. I use it several times a week at least. With the 6 speed, reverse gear is absurdly high. If you tow or ever have a need to make a controlled reverse, this utility allows it easily. Come to think of it, I have only been in 4wd a couple of times all summer. 2Lo with my air locker gets most things done easily. My truck gets used in a wide variety of circumstances

This is one of the better mods I have made.

 

Your a lucky man!!!! Can't wait to build my fj tcase

 

always wondered how to best deal with it with the 6-speed. not that i plan on doing it soon, but drooling over marlin's page and wyatts build (im pretty sure marlin uses wyatts pics) all i have seen previous to you were autos.

congrats and i hope you enjoy the hell out of it/ them

 

Now the big question... What did this cost you?

 

You leaving the sticks like that ?

 

I've been debating on it. I plan to get a marlin tacobox eventually, which will basically give you a 2Lo defeating that benefit of twin sticks, so I can't decide if it would be worth it to do both or just the tacobox.

 

I would still do this Tcase even if I did the crawler just to eliminate the damn electric engagement. I would ask Wyatt what he thinks. There could be another reason why this case might pair better with a crawler. It seems like there was something, but I don't remember. I stayed away from the crawler because of gear whine and other possible issues that I didn't want to deal with. My truck sees a LOT of highway use. For my uses this Tcase alone works fine.

As for price, I'll pass that question to Wyatt. I do know that good FJ cases are getting harder to find, and more costly. I will also say that for the work involved and the quality of what I got, it was a bargain. I expected it to be beyond reach, but was pleasantly surprised.

 

Aside from a cover, yes. It has worked out very well. I just lift a lever or pop one down to shift. Very easy and nothing to bump. The left lever is Hi - Lo and the other is 2wd - 4wd.

 

Will this work on a 4 banger?

 

i just need my sticks from wyatt and it will be going in

 

It can be done on a 4 banger, just not sure if it is the same transfer case. I imagine it is though.

 

The cost of one of my FJ T case's with the twin stick mod done to it is $950.00 plus a core charge that is refunded to you in return for a complete working T case from your Taco.

The FJ Case is torn down and completely gone through and checked for signs of wear and issues and the oil pump and pick up screen are cleaned and checked with a micrometer against Toyota specs, ( can't tell you where i get those specs from as it would get some people in trouble). Recently I have found a very good source for the oil pumps and new screens and have since just replaced the oil pumps and screens with new ones.

The twin sticks mods are made to it, some of which can only be done through Marlin Crawler and RST and again these mods are checked for proper clearence.

Then the case is put back together using all new Toyota seals front and rear even though it is not necessary to remove the rear seal I do it anyway and then new Toyota Flange nuts are put back on the output flanges. The stock ones would be fine to use but I want my customers to have the best.

The split case is sealed with Ultra grey and tested. Once it's tested and passes it can be sent to a customer and or installed in one of my projects.

The twin sticks are $189.00 and they come with the twin stick boot as well.

I'm currently working with one vendor for RST sticks but I'm also working on another idea for twin sticks myself.

To do the installation myself, the cost would depend on the type of truck you have and what mods you have done to it already.

 

The twiin stick mod is especially good for anyone using a crawler. It helps to save vital front end parts when your front is in a bind and you just need to bump around a corner or your front is just bound up.

Many times I have had my front bound up and then just put it into 2wd/lo, unbind the front and put it back into 4wd/lo and move forward instead of having to back up, realign myself and try again. No broken parts and no backing up.

I wouldn't do without my twin sticks or my crawler...

 

Working on that. Finally heard back from my supplier. Should be here soon but I'll reserve saying that until they are in my hands. LOL

Thats another reason I'm looking into doing them myself. More control over everything.

 

Hey David, how are you doing? I'm glad your truck is doing well and the conversion is living up to the hype.

Thanks for the compliments. Words like that is what keeps me trying to improve this and my other works to make you guys happy. thanks again,

Wyatt

 

I can also build your FJ case as well. I have taken in case's from Taco owners and done everything I do to my case's and send them back to them complete with all the mods, upgrades and checks that are done to RST FJ case's.

 

The only possible difference in the transfer case is the input shaft. On the 4-cyl, both AT and MT have the "small" input shaft. On the 6-cyl, MT has large input shaft, AT has small input shaft.

As far as the "internal modifications" go, it is a matter of grinding off a piece between the 2/4 and the L/H shift rails, to allow them to operate independently of each other. In some cases, it is also necessary to replace the input shaft with the one that came from the target truck.

Here is a link to the twin stick mod (FJ): http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/foru...n-aids/118700-twin-stick-fj-cruiser-case.html

(just to note: awsumdc is the same "Wyatt" who OP dealt with for his mod, so no trade secrets were revealed in this post).

I've been thinking about this or similar modification, but more focused on the existing tacoma transfer case. The main difference between the two cases is that the controls on the FJ case come out the top, the Tacoma has a servo operating the shift shaft from the back. It pulls and pushes directly on the 2/4 shift rod, which in this case, is longer than on the FJ so that it sticks right out the back of the case. It actually wouldn't be at all difficult or complex to rig up a manual control for this case. In fact, it would offer a greater flexibility in terms of the control hardware since you could rig up a lever relay system, or could even run it on a push/pull cable.

The "twin stick" type of modification could be done on the Tacoma case like this: The same "cut" made to allow the two shift rails to operate independently of each other would leave only the 2/4 shift on the existing servo. The back of the case would need to be drilled to expose the end of the H/L shift rail, which could be drilled and tapped to allow the connection of a pull/push cable (or a rod extension).

Now if you wanted to, you could get all creative electronic on this and rig up a second servo to operate the H/L rail, and even wire it in to the existing 2/4/L switch to leave full factory functionality, and add in a new override switch to operate ONLY the H/L rail when the dash switch is in the "2" position.

Or you could ditch the existing servo and rig up a fully mechanical system.

Either way, I don't see any particular need to replace the transfer case.

 

I am glad i did mine.

 

I think I made it quite clear that you COULD add more electronics, or you COULD make it fully manual. Why go to the trouble of tracking down an entire transfer case when you could just modify the one you already have?

And I don't agree on them being "inherently unreliable".