Double cab manual transmission swap

I Just read the post by FL4T (OP), back in 2017, he converted his '03 to a manual. Has anyone else attempted it? I have an '03 4X4 DC and want it to be a 5 speed now. I'm in SoCal and I wonder if I can pay someone to do the conversion,

 

Pretty labor intensive. You need a new ECU, all the slave/master hard lines, need to cut and re-weld the transmission crossmember, etc.

 

A buddy of mine did it in a weekend. It can be done for sure.

 

The ECU is the hard to find and expensive piece of the conversion. Average price I've seen used is $400.

 

Might just be easier to sell this truck and buy a 5 speed.

If you can find a shop that has done the swap to quote a price if they need to source the parts .

I venture a good $3000.00 maybe more .

So many of the little things even having done a few of these get forgotten .

The best is to just bring a complete donor vehicle home having it there can save so many hours.

Not something I would want to pay to have done.

 

I was thinking of buying an 03 donor vehicle. Couldn't I just use all of the parts and ECU from it? And paying a competent Toyota specialist to do the conversion.

 

Yes you can. Not going to be cheap btw. Parts and labor will probably be in the ball park of 6-8k imo.

 

If you’re going to pay someone to do this then it isn’t worth it. You’re look at maybe $5,000-$10,000 in labor alone. This is very labor intensive.

 

My friend bought a rolled truck and did the swap like that. He paid 1500$ for the complete truck and took what he wanted then sold it as a whole for 1000$. Ended up with all of the parts for 500$ and all he did was buy a new clutch and a couple other pieces. Estimates he got about 1000$ in parts. Probably cheapest to go about it the same way.

 

That's if OP decides to take up the challenge and avoid the shop for service and install.

OP, you'll end up paying triple the price. You'll pay the shop to remove the parts from the wrecker, remove parts from the automatic, and the install.

 

Agreed. Can only be done “budget wise” if you do it your self

 

Sometimes when I look for a 2nd gen (shhh) keeping the 1st gen of course. Best Gen. Anyway - I seem to find quite a few Double Cabs with the 6 speed manual. Manual is the only one I would want. Why is this? Were they done like that as a request from the customer who bought it new?

 

Except that the only 5 speed doublecabs that exist are conversions... If OP wants to keep the doublecab, the only option is a swap, unless yo find one that's been converted already.

That's the way that makes the most sense. Buy a whole donor, sell the remnants.

If you're planning to pay someone to do the swap though, it's honestly not worth it. Assuming you find a donor vehicle for 2-3 grand, I'm betting a shop will charge anywhere from 3-5k for labor.

Are you $8000 desperate for a 5 speed?

Only way for this to pencil out is to do the work yourself.

 

I don't think you don't need the ecu, I have run manuals off of the automatic ecu's on other toyotas. just have to wire up the clutch switch to the NSS on the automatic plug, or jumper it and be able to start car without pushing clutch in (that is how I wire all my cars and how toyota used to do it, my '85 Solid axle pickup never came with one). the manual ecu usually has a higher rev limit but otherwise should work. and you have to connect the reverse switch on the trans to the reverse wire on the auto plug.

You need the R150f transmission, you can reuse your auto transfer case (will need new shifter for correct angle), driveshaft modification or swap for right length (any local driveshaft shop can do it in a day for cheap), flywheel, clutch kit, inside shifter console for a manual, and install the clutch master cylinder to firewall (I did this in a few hours a couple months back not that hard).

Skip all the hard lines unless you have a donor truck, get the usual toyota metric to AN fitting online and use a simple 3AN stainless steel hose all the way from master to the slave.
the trans mount crossmember is in the same spot I want to say, you just need the manual trans mount. also not sure about the cut and welding, it is bolted on underneath there guys.

Its pretty straight forward removal of a transmission and reinstall of the manual transmission. and install the clutch pedal and the other stuff above.
I wouldn't pay anyone to do this as its a bunch of labor and time, but is is something you could do in a weekend if you have all the parts, or take your time over a few weekends.
If you have never pulled or installed a transmission before... maybe throw in another weekend lol.

 

Man - couldn't you find an extended cab with all the stuff you want and then swap on the double cab body? I know some things wouldn't line up but just maybe - might cost just as much.

 

There a specialty shop that does it . I recall a forum member using the shop and they did his swap

 

Curious if you've done a swap on a 2003 Taco before.

My brother and I did a swap on an '86 4runner I used to have, but those motors/trans were significantly less complicated and didn't have nearly the computer integration even the early model 1st gens do, let alone the later 1st gens.

 

If you need the check engine light to stay off and work correctly to pass emissions. You need manual ECU.

 

California this could get real interesting .

Never saw a Double cab in person but one . I had no clue they were only Automatic Soccer Mom Truck??

 

We also get screwed because the TRDs come with Tokico shocks rather than the Bilsteins for some unknown reason. Not that I really care too much about that, my shocks are a different kind of blue now anyway...

I don't think a trans swap matters in CA. They care more about emissions than what you use to shift gears. Hell, we don't even really have much of a "safety inspection" to speak of. Only time you get pegged is if it's bad enough that a CHP lights you up and gives you a fix it ticket (like your headlights or turn signals or something).