Let's see your FJ case swap

mine is just a green crown royal bag

 

Sorry to keep bugging you but I want to nail this the first time! It looks like you used the FJ boot from the console as well? How was it adapting that and are you also happy with that fitment? I'm talking to the Redline leather guy, and the price doubles if I want a custom job (eg, make the FJ boot with a lower section to fit the Tacoma console). From the looks of things, the FJ boot is a bit on the long/tall side, and the base shape at least looks a fair bit different so I'm not sure how much fudging it would take. I'm thinking if I do the boot, I may as well do the boot, but don't need to go too crazy.

That said, while I'm held up here - can one twin stick the VF4B without cracking it open? And would a part time twin stick shifter fit the full time case? I saw somewhere on an FJ forum I think where they mentioned one rail operated the diff lock and the other high/neutral/low range. I was unclear if there was an internal interlock that would have to be defeated somehow. Since I'm guessing odds are low that anyone knows that; if I jab around at the shift rails while I have the shifter off, is there any way I can screw anything up, short of dropping something inside? The more I think about it, the more I'd love to be able to operate the center diff lock independently of high/low. 4-LO unlocked would be a really nice thing for casual trail riding without all the tire scrubbing and drivetrain binding, plus for trailer work and the like. I had the 2-LO mod in my 3G and it was pretty nice, used it more than I thought I might, but having 4 driven wheels with all that reduction would be even better.

 

Question: should the driver side front wheel be activated if front ADD has not been deleted yet?

things i learned tonight playing in the snow: need to keep momentum on hard pack icy hills. Sliding backwards in park is scary.

 

Adapting the top boot is a bit more involved. I removed the wire from the Tacoma boot and then had a family member sew it into the FJ boot and adjust it as needed to make it fit properly. It was pretty involved but it turned out nice. Should be a piece of cake for an auto upholstery shop or someone that can sew.

I’m not sure on the twin stick thing, but I’m curious now too. I was thinking about adding manual hubs to my truck if they come back available again so I could have 2low with the AWD case. I have a crawl box in my other truck and it’s great but it was a ton of work

 

open diff will send power to the passenger side axle tube so if the add is disengaged the front drivers side is useless in 4wd. If you have an. ARB you can lock it up to get 3wd

 

Ah ok. So i basically went out in 2wd but thought I had 3.

I really need to not be lazy and get the FJ tube in, or at least do the poor man front add delete, and slide the fork over, until i can get the FJ tube in.

Is there a way to jump the front actuator without pulling it off? I think Ill need to lookup @Dm93 diagram to figure out what powers the actuator

 

Pins 1 and 2 on the add connector side you can supply 12V and ground and manually lock it up. Not sure what pin needs 12v vs ground to lock it up vs unlock but you got a 50/50 shot. If I can find my drawings I will let you know which side to apply the positive to for locking the ADD

 

Not sure if this copied at the time I wanted, but around 22:15 he's testing 4lo and add off, and he says 3wd with driver front spinning. Doesn't 3wd drivers side make sense if the add is disconnected, not connecting passenger axle shaft?

https://youtu.be/1-pLyGRmtnc?si=tFDYzTzr5uijpdGs

 

Thank again Ant! You save the day. Next time i see you, i owe you some beers
No rush, as i probably won't get into this until the weekend

 

Why crawl under the truck? Grab the wires at the 4wd ECU connector and apply power and ground there.

Connector F12 Pin 3 (Red) Power F12 Pin 4 (Black/White) Ground to move the ADD Actuator to the locked position, you only need to run it a second or so to move it.

 

No 4wd ecu anymore with the FJ case

 

Isn't the wiring still there though?

 

as long as you left the subharness connected by the diff you can apply the voltage under the dash, EC1 connector is by the motor itself so as long as you left the ADD plugged in from EC1 to the ADD itself. Purple wire under the glove box is switched fused 12v positive.

 

I'll probably just go the custom route via Redline. Will have to get it back together first as they need measurements..

Mine's mounted to the transmission but still on the jack, was hoping to get the floor cut before reinstalling but this storm has me waiting on parts still. It's getting tempting to fiddle with it a bit to see if the rails can be operated independently. Since you'd had both, did you notice if the shifter bases the same - as in would a twin stick conversion shifter for a part time case work for the full time?

I was really eyeing the manual hub conversion before this swap came in to the picture; maybe the unavailability was a sign to nudge me in this direction..

 

Unfortunately I am not 100% sure if the twin stick base would work on the AWD case. I never did twin stick my part time case before swapping it out and it’s been a while since I did that. I think the base is the same but the lower portion of the shifter is a little longer on the AWD case vs the part time one. You’ll want to double check this to confirm..

 

I did dig up a document on the VF4B/BM and it confirms the rods for high/low and diff lock are independent. The B model has the dual selector rods up top, while BM has one up top and another on the rear of the case with the actuator. It didn't seem to indicate there was any other difference between the two models. If there is no interlock on the B model (and there isn't one I was able to identify in the schematic), twin stick looks totally viable with no internal modifications.

 

It's in, and did a "dry run" today after what felt like an eternity (everything live, but no driveshafts). Outputs move when and how they should, no horrible noises or hard shifting. Noteworthy is the rubber shift bushing does not seem to be available for the transfer case like it is the transmission shifter, and mine was completely missing, but I rolled the dice and got a 2nd transmission version which went in just fine after trimming the OD down with some flush cutters (lacking any better way to do it). There is a chamfer on the bottom side; take that completely off (but no more) and it will be the right OD. I thought I took a picture of it after cutting but apparently I did not. P/N for the bushing: (will edit in later, need to look it up, remind me if I don't).

Not really much to report yet I guess - other than it all went together. Physical fit wise, no complaints other than the shift knobs being pretty close when in 6th and in high range. I anticipate a pinkie collision or two until I retrain my muscle memory. Trimming for the FJ lower boot was a bit more invasive than I hoped but I didn't have to do any relocating or console mods or anything like that with the exception of an E-brake cable guide, which I will probably just move to one of the new boot mount fasteners. I hacked the top side out via dremel and carbide burrs, but the lower side is nice and flat so I spent an afternoon with the boot and my 3D printer and made a nice fitting jig to cut the main opening out with an air nibbler. That turned out fantastic, except where I got to the bottom of the curve and drifted off the guide about 1/8" while distracted with the air hose rubbing on the seat.



From the electrical side of things, I did wire up my 4WD and Low sensors, but I do not have locker or A-TRAC in low range anymore from the looks of it; but a very important asterisk is that I also did a rack replacement (and a ton of other stuff) at the same time, and need to re-zero my steering sensor as the traction control and ABS light is on, so that could very well be preventing A-TRAC from coming on at least. I already bought locker anytime stuff in anticipation of it being out of order.

Will continue to update as I go here..

 

Don't forget about front diff ADD.

 

I popped it in to 4WD when everything was still connected and then disconnected the actuator (well, more specifically, I got a 2nd harness and cut it so the connections stay sealed; will either leave it, or make it stand-alone operable for 2-low action). I want to leave this as "un-doable" as I can for now in case something goes awry with the case, don't have much time to futz with it should something come up, I may be moving cross country in the coming months.

 

Thats what i had to do also, well jump the pins. I thought i had 3wd, but didnt.
just waiting for spring to actually get rid of the actuator and fork