Operation Crash Bandicoot 4x4 Swapped 05' Tacoma

Didnt realize it's been almost 12 months since i last posted in here.. lol

In any event i figure this is a good time as any to post an update

I've acquired every single piece needed to FINALLY convert my prerunner to a hybrid

• 4x4 Transmission w/twin sticks (@SGTCap/@aspurlock it will go to good use my friend)
• 4x4 Hubs (shoutout to @BamaToy1997 for the hookup and killer price)
• CV Axels off a 2015 with 11k miles
• Transfer case off an FJ with 17k miles(@dianasaurusrex001 for the Christmas present )
• Transmission crossmember (@EddyRRT looking at you for that modification tho )
• One piece rear driveshaft (shoutout to @Sandman614 for the quick text )
• LCA Skids for shits and giggles
• Front driveshaft off a 2014 taco
• ADD Harness (@ahspurlock once again coming in clutch)

Thanks to all my friends who've helped me find and acquire all these parts along the way. Im hoping during the month of January we can all get together and throw this on so we can wheel some more

 

Glad to hear it

@ahspurlock , you still got my ADD harness...?

 

Nice!
Out of curiosity why a 1 piece rear driveline?

 

maybe

 

I couldn't find a decently priced driveshaft that wasn't high mileage and when i was getting ready to buy one new, a deal popped up in the forum i couldn't turn down. Just gotta drive to Raleigh at some point to pick it up @Sandman614

 

yep it's in the back set of my taco

 

4x4 swap is finally complete!
After saving for years and gathering pieces bit by bit it's done.

So the day started early around 8:30 in the morning on March 24th.

I had the gracious @EddyRRT at SOS Concepts let me use his shop for the install, @ahspurlock with tools(and myself) and @JimboAnz as a helper, this is def NOT a 1-2 person job if you want to get this swap done in about in 13 hours like we did.

Naturally i didn't take a terrible amount of pictures as i was working on it as well but i'll fill in pictures as i find them afterwards so basically this is what i got.

Jacked the truck up on stands and we first tackled removing the old hubs and bearing assembly while @ahspurlock started removing the driveshaft and transmission






The hubs and bearing are for the most part easy to remove, just make sure you've got a nice hammer/mallet on hand to break the bolts loose, once you loosen all of them it just pulls right out.

Reinstalling the new hubs/bearing is the easy part, 4 bolts tight and everything's golden




From that point we moved on to the transmission side. Removing the Transmission from the bellhousing will required what looked like a 3 foot extension and an impact tool. If memory serves me half were 17 mm(the ones on the top half) and 14 mm were for the bottom half of the transmission. It sucked, mostly all would break but there were 3 or so that were stubborn as hell.Transmission Jack was a must.



@ahspurlock cheesing for the camera


Finally lowering it down


How we felt about my old transmission


At this point in the game we were basically on auto pilot, not too many pics were taken but i'll narrate it best i can. The front diff bolted right up no issues. We got the CV's installed and put the front tires back on. While i was at the shop eddy sold me a skid for a deal i couldnt say no to since i banged up my OEM skids at Windrock last year







It was at the installation of the transfer case did we really hit a roadblock, the twin sticks i opted for when we cut the hole for them ran into my shifter assembly, not knowing where any electrical stuff was in the box, we shaved as much off the shifter plastic until we called it quicks. Luckily @EddyRRT had some pneumatic metal bendy things that he used to re-angle my twin sticks so i'd clear the A/T shifter. I knew i'd have to trim the plastic when i got home so we made it work. Without that i think we'd be up Shit's Creek with no paddle.


After about 11 hours everything was mechanically back together, The only thing left at this point was to wire the ADD harness from the Front diff to the Switch i drilled out for it in my dash, @ahspurlock had 2 on hand but all i did at this point was plug it into the Front diff, and wire it around the engine into the Firewall. I set the power and ground up and left the switch disconnect until the next morning.

The drive back home sucked lol. Having a hole from the transmission tunnel going directly into the cab was loud but the speaker mod fixed that real quick.

After some quick checking after trying to reinstall my trim pieces i took an angle grinder and cut "rough" cuts so everything fit and the sound went down tremendously. I suppose i'll have to get a boot and plate for the twin sticks to completely kill the sound out but for the last 3 weeks its been bearable.




CV Angles looking pretty good along with my new SOS Concept IFS Skid


Final thing was the ADD Switch. here are the photos from that, basically ran the wires through the hole, and there is a certain pin that each color wire corolated to. I dont know the pins off hand but if anyone needed it, i can go look again. it's purpose is to tell the diff to Open/Close so i can engage the 4wd, it's a 3 way switch and it was the last piece stopping us from doing this sooner than we did along with other conflicts. It has a on-neutral-Off switch. I hold the On or off for 2 seconds to respectively open/close the diff. I plugged it in and everything checked out good. I went near my house to a hill i could never climb and i eased right up it. Hopefully going to Gulches in the next two weeks to really see what the trucks capable of.






Overall the journey for the truck mechanically is about over, i dont plan on running 35's/regearing/front locker. For what ive always wanted to do having power to the front wheels really held me back but ive learned to wheel 2wd locked up to this point. All thats really left is clean up the electrical rat nest to my battery and run dual batteries and i think i'll be pretty content with the girl for now. Got a turbo charged is300 that has recently taken priority and it's come at a good time i think for me.


For any advice or help for anyone out there who has a 2wd and wants to go 4wd, I'd be more than welcome to help. It's been a long road but im glad to have had good friends and good deals come at the right time.

 

Great write up Cam. Was glad i could be there to help out and learn a lot more about our trucks.

 

I appreciate you helping me man! we learned alot that weekend!

 

Awesome man!

 

Just woke up and realized i forgot the welding master @EddyRRT played in the exhaust reroute.. when you add the FJ cruiser transfer case you have to modify the exhaust pipe from the drivers side cat slightly so it bends around the case, otherwise it aint gonna work. I think that about wraps it up though!

 

Any chance you went with the Lokka, like ahspurlock has?

 

I did not. I will use my current setup as it for now and see how often i get stuck doing the wheeling i normally do. I got a feeling i wont need a locker though.

But deals have convinced me more than once to change directions

 

Happy Bday!!!

 

Hell yeah cam!! Congrats, been a long time coming!

 

THanks

Yeah man, i couldnt wait to be almost done building this thing haha

 

When is the next trip to gulchez?

 

Mannn it's been a hot minute since updating this thing. Gotta add some new pics and stuff but bascially in the last year:

I grenaded the ring gear/pinions wheeling in Windrock lol thanks to @SGTCap and others for unfucking that situation lol.
FWD my black ass 4 hours back home and drove the tundra(which i now sold lol) until i got the funds to regear.
Regeared to 4.56s about 2 months ago thanks to EGGS and went to @Sandman614 's house to finally dual battery my truck lol.

Other than that, swapped out the soft shell RTT to a Hardshell Design and that's been about it. I feel pretty good about where the truck stands and im looking for a 100 Series LC/LX470 for a daily.

Pics to follow.