3 Tons of Fun! Littles' Build, Travel, and B.S. Thread

Took 20 weeks, but it's finally here!

 

Got the planetaries, shift rail and alignment collar removed from my donor cases and the NWF box partially assembled. FJ left, Taco right.



Here is the 23 Spline input from my donor FJ case on the left, which gets disassembled and the sun gear re-installed on the special NWF shaft on the right next to it.

The far right is the larger, 22 spline input out of my old taco case, which gets installed on the NWF box with the corresponding flange for my transmission so it all mates up like the factory tcase.



Here is the sun gear (is that the right term?) taken off the 23 spline FJ input shaft ready to go on the NWF shaft.




Carefully swapping oil seals...



Here is the sun gear (?) swapped over to the new NWF shaft. When I spin the new shaft, it sounds a lot noisier in comparison to both the 22 spline input that i didnt disassemble, and what it sounded like before with the OEM shaft, even after greasing up the new gear inside the plantary. We shall see if they quiet down when they get used to each other. EDIT: It was noisy because I forgot the thrust washer.



Here is pulling the shift collar alignment (transfer clutch hub) off the back half of the donor FJ case. I could have pulled this from either the Taco or FJ case (I think), but I my thought was that I should be able to re-assemble a working electronic shift tacoma case for an auto at the end of this, since I am not cannibalizing anything other than the input out of that one and I will have a working 23 spline input after swapping it out of the FJ case currently in my truck behind the marlin.



This alignment collar goes on the new NWF shaft to engage the shift collar that I am swapping over, but not until after I swap the newly built input into the the working FJ case in my truck, since I need to put the flange on first.




Sealing up the bearing retainer (flange) after installing the ring gear and 22 spline planetary into the NWF box.



So at this point, I have my input built with the new NWF shaft that I will swap into the FJ case currently in my truck.

I also have the front half of my NWF box built, with the planetaries out of my old taco transfer case, and the shift rails out of my donor FJ case.




I didn't think I'd be here so soon, but it looks like the next step is to give the truck a bath so I have a clean truck to work under, and start pulling skids to drain the cases and rip this marlin setup out and swap inputs and fit up the NWF box.

 

Does your kitchen smell like gear oil?

 

It's even better than waking up to the smell of coffee.

Actually isn't that bad smelling ince both these cases got cleaned out back in 2019 when I did the tacobox. Should be stinking real good when I get the other FJ case out in a few hours. Should have it together and hopefully test fitted tonight

 

Super stoked to see this come together, Bryan!

Looking forward to seeing how @Squeaky Penguin ’s clocked setup comes out too.

 

Out with the old!

 

It should not have had to come to this...



Got a little hung up taking apart the FJ case on this staked flange nut. I don't really want to talk about it. It's going to take a little frankensteining but I have all the parts I need to overcome this with my donor cases. Moving on now. Stay tuned.

 

Sometimes deconstruction is the way

 

Do you think that output is still good?

 

With that much thread loss?

I'd consider drowning it in red Loctite and run it but I'm a shit mechanic.

The threads aren't load bearing you just don't want the nut to back off, right?

 

I think I know where you are going with this...

 

You could definitely tac weld the nut on there instead of staking it #sendit

 

I definitely ground of the spot it would stake to. I already have the front output pulled off my donor case, and made sure I could get the nut of the rear of this one to pull the rear output. It's just extra steps and now I face those shift keys pulling it apart which I was hoping to avoid. I have a path forward, which is all that matters when your truck has its guts all over the place.

 

You could probably stake it to the flat and be OK, especially with Loctite...

Is the rest of the case coming apart alright?

 

Everything has been perfectly smooth sailing up to this point. Assembly of the NWF, pulling the Taco case...no issues whatsoever except this flange nut that had the force of the almighty holding it on. Just split the case easy peasy so it's swapping the guts and the new NWF shaft and I should be able to test fit one night this week.

NWF case is 2 full inches shorter, so new shafts need to be made.

Marlin is looking like 8 and 9/16"



NWF 6 and 5/8 loosely bolted right now.

 

Maybe some cleaning. This thing is nasty from all that shifter spew....

 

Toss it in the dishwasher while you're at it!

 

The dishwasher leaves this lime residue on everything. Don't want that on my transfer case

 

Just did a quick bench test...everything works as it should. My first bench test was shifting through the low range on the crawlbox into a neutral position that I knew wasn't right. Called Kris at NWF and he explained that I had to swap over this gear from 23 spline FJ planetary to the 22 spline planetary out of my electronic shift. The FJ collar engages the alignment collar flat with the back of the gear, vs the electronic shift (left) is slightly recessed





Next step is test fitting against the trans to measure shafts and start fingering out shifters. Hope to have new drive shafts next week and back on the road after the 4th.

 

"Nobody beats our shaft!"

Have used them twice in the past, and will be going to them again for this. He's always been quick and done a great job.