4wd conversion shops??

I know it’s frowned upon by about half the community and encouraged by about half the community from reading a ton of 4wd conversion threads but, what I haven’t seen is any mention of professional shops that do the 4wd conversion for these trucks. Do such shops exist? Would they be willing to talk with me about converting mine? Wife and I are thoroughly considering every option before we decide our next move and this is a big one for us. If you know of any shops anywhere at all in the country that do the conversion, including finding the parts ideally, please let me know. I really need an accurate cost for doing this and a real pro con benefit analysis from someone that has done it. Thank you!

 

Gonna cost a lot. You're gonna need to find a custom shop that can also do some major fabrication. No regular shop will do this type of work.

 

My dealer is asked once a month, and we tell them once a month to buy a new truck. I would expect 20+ hours of labor even with a donor truck.

 

https://www.rocksolidtoys.com/single-post/2018/05/16/2WD-to-4WD-Conversion-for-2005-to-2015-Tacoma

 

Thank you for this! I have emailed them. Looks like they only do this for second gen but I will see what they say if they respond to my email. Thanks!

 

No problem, hope they can help you out.

 

Won't be any fabrication involved for a 1st gen, it's all bolt on.

But expensive for a shop to do, yes...there are several on here that have done it on a 1st gen themselves at home over the course of several days and around $2k in sourced (used) parts

 

I did not see where OP said what truck he had.

Edit: oh we are in the 1st gen forums lol. I never look at what forum I'm in

 

1st gen forum so I'm guessing it's a 1st gen

 

I noticed after I posted that lol

 

Hard part is finding the parts for your specific conversion. There's a lot to learn if you read through the many threads on this subject but here's a quick run down of what I'm looking at for my conversion since I'm also in the process of -

Manual hubs/spindles
Axles
Front differential (same gear ratio as rear differential)
Drive shafts
Transfer case with transmission
Mud flaps to match

Since I want an easy of a swap as possible, I'm opting to stay completely away from ADD.

All bolt on.

 

There's a reason shops don't do this work, it is niche, a lot of labor hours, and uncommon.

This will cost you a lot of money to have done. 20+ hours is a good estimate on how much it would cost. The 4WD conversion is simply no longer worth it if you don't do the work yourself, it would be at that point cheaper to sell your truck and get a 4WD one.

I always say this when 4WD conversion threads come up, and as someone who has done the conversion himself: it is not that hard.

Just to show you how easy this is, I did this by myself with my only prior mechanical experience being changing brake pads as a Junior in High School. It is 100% Bolt-On

If I can do it, anyone can do it.

 

It also might be good to Know just where the OP lives and what Truck.

Now bolt on if it is a prerunner what if it is just a 5 lug 2wd truck

 

Excellent point...

 

Thanks for the info everyone! I live in Missouri and have zilcho mechanical experience. I have a trd off-road prerunner. 2003. 4dr.

I imagine it will be pricey but I really want to know how pricey. We do not take on debt to buy vehicles and are doing a ton of stuff to the house over the next few years so dropping 10k plus what we can sell our truck for won’t get us very far in another Tacoma unless we get really lucky like this current one. Our market is stupid with pricing on these trucks.

Keep the thoughts coming everyone! Super helpful. Thank you!

 

Like everyone has said, you can DIY for less than $3k since it’s a prerunner, you just have to get past the intimidation of it. I bet you could even find a TW member close by who’d be willing to help for some cold snacks

 

Thanks for the info. I have seen your comments in some of the threads on this topic. I guess my issue is that I start getting overwhelmed at all of it and trying to find everything and the. Even after you get the parts there is still all the electrical stuff. Connecting it to the computer, speedometer stuff, lights in the dash.. etc. all of that is kinda much for me. I’m sure with someone with a bit of knowledge that lived near me that I couldn’t pester I could do it but I don’t have that. I’m looking at doing other stuff myself though. Things like the tundra brake conversion. Maybe changing my own shocks etc..

 

Hmmm that would be amazing. Maybe I’ll ask around in the regional area. Thanks!

 

Honestly, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start with the shocks and the brake conversion to gain some confidence. I started with small jobs and have gotten increasingly more complex as I’ve gained confidence. I’m looking at doing a manual trans swap as my next big project

 

Lucky for the first gens lol