Converting J Shift to Electronic Shift 4wd?

Has anyone done this or would know what would be involved in doing this?

I know most people do this the other way around - however I plan to install a crawlbox and the Electronic shifter is much easier to relocate as it doesn't require four sticks in your shifter area, only 3 (I have a 5 speed manual so 4 sticks would get a little crowded)

Thanks

 

Never heard of anyone doing that. But man 4 sticks would be cool as hell!!! I gotta see a pic of that! Wait wouldn't it be 3 sticks? Tranny, transfer case, and crawl box?

 

If you don't want your J shifter in the cupholder from the tcase being moved back, you'll need to break up the two shift patterns (2wd/4wd, hi/low) into two sticks.. so there would be a 2/4, hi/low, nocrawl/crawl, and 5 speed shifter. It looks like a mess, but you retain your cupholders. There's a lot of shifter bending to get them in the right place without hitting each other.


Here is a super duper CLEAN install pic stolen from @Jonyd182

 

Here's a vague sense of what it would look like with an electronic shifter, I think this is a 4runner though, and I have no idea why he used two E shifters either.

 

It' d be a bitch. But it's doable You'd first have to swap in a 2-4 button transfer case to use the associated push button shifter.

 

Oooooohh I gotcha.... I've never seen that and I love it though. But I get what you're saying. I'd imagine that if the year and model you have had the option of the push button then it would be possible to do. But I've never heard of it.

 

Ultimate theft deterrent

 

Welp I was gonna type a response but @Snowy is in here now so I'll let him respond to this lol

Bottom line is I would swap the tcase also.

 

Well then the 4wd ecu has 12 wires. Half are shared with the j-shift transmission relay. The rest of the wires go to TC actuator.

I converted from a push button to a j shift. If you get the TC & transmission harness it'll make your life easier.

 

ah, I figured there would be some ECU crap in there somewhere. Thanks!

 

Nah it's more like a fancy relay. It does things like scream out at you if you push the 4x4 button if you're going over 55 mph.

 

@tacotime1 Installed it and his truck never came with 4wd.

 

Honestly, keep your j shift. I dont see it worth it to swap in that push button tcase. Tcase shifters are easier to manipulate than swapping tcases. Dont have to twin stick the jshift case.

 

I'm with Greg. 9 out of 10 posts of "My 4x4 no work" are from folks with the 2-4 TC.

When I found out the FSM is completely wrong in it's diagnosing process. And there's no proper way to troubleshoot it I ripped mine out.

 

Thanks fellas, you guys are right, can't beat the J shift reliability.

 

Mine didn’t have any issues in Moab.

 

Glad it's working perfect for you! I'm sure there are thousands of those TC's with no issues. But there are plenty with issues. With no ability to diagnose it. You pretty much have to throw parts at it. And those actuators ain't cheap.

 

Interesting. Cool to see someone going against the grain. I’m sure it’s possible. But I don’t have any 1st gen knowledge. Good luck though.

 

Appreciate it! Yeah that’s true. When it goes out, I’ll either convert to J-shift or do a gear driven swap.