05-15 2wd to 4wd conversion guide (for dummies)

Good idea. One of these days I need to add stiffness to all of the skids, they’re not gusseted

 

Conversion complete. Everything working as it should, with plenty of room for all ranges nothing cut outside the bottom part of the coin hole. Man I feel so relieved.

 

Man that’s awesome! Congrats it’s quite the accomplishment one more step, gotta change that TW vehicle description lol

 

I will be putting together a couple of videos from the full conversion on YouTube, still working on the edit. The least that I can do for the community that help a lot. Here are a couple of the pictures of the process.

As you can tell I flipped it around and welded a 3/16" metal plate to provide a solid ad stable surface for the transmission support. i did not wanted to cut a solid piece that toyota put together.


clearance from the crossmember to the driveshaft is about 1 1/2"


I opted to cut the factory connectors and add a deutch connector, 2 of the cables coming out to the chassis went directly to ground, the other 2 to the dashboard connector c10 pin 16 and pin 15. i marked the transfer case for ease of reference.


this is the hole i cutted on the floorboard. is about 3 x 3 1/4"( more than enough room to access bolts of the lever if you need to(i welded my shifter in place)


no, my cables are not routed through that hole. you will see how at the bottom.


front driveshaft clearance view.


c10 connector pin 16 for 4L(outermost to the left) and 15 for 4H. I did not use a pin, I trimmed the wires to perfect fit, and once I had proper connection with some wiggle test I used a drop of gorilla glue gel and then secure it with a small zip tie(not shown) as you can tell i used shrink tube to keep the wires together.


lights working as they should (test phase)


this is one of the only things I pay for someone to do since a don't have a tube bender. went to a guy in Oxnard, Ca called mofles el chapo. charged 50$ and ill happily pay double for what he did. zero
leaks and perfect clearance.


ow this is my final product when it comes to the shifter. I have perfect fitment and only cut the bottom part of the coin tray. doesn't make contact with absolutely nothing not even with 4L and some stress on the driveline. Yes I welded everything on the vehicle using some humid towels to decrease any risks of catching shit on fire. GMAW(MIG) at 18.8v and 150 ws as you can tell I used the bit that I cut and then some extension I had out of commission. Cant beat the stiffness of the material.


As you can tell I marked a dotted line of the position of the coin tray for awareness of my playground (shifter movement) and did markings of each position of the tip of the first or bottom portion of the transfer case shifter.



I used a file to reduce sharpness and then flextape (clear) and then aircraft aluminum tape over the flex tape and the other half on the actual tunnel as shown. I used the boot of of Amazon and did not use the metal plate it comes with the kit. I pushed the first and second ridges of the boot to the outer part of the cut(down towards the transfer case and used some tape underneath.


I used the boot and knob of an fj to pay tribute since already comes with shape wire at the bottom just did the rectangle shape that mirrored the coin tray and secured itself with just spring tension I guess.


The closest the come is 1/8" as shown.



DriveshaftPro are the pro's when it comes to the business, total of 427$ for cut, add flange, balanced and full service to perfection. My measurement from front flange to carrier bearing was 20" and from carrier bearing to diff. flange was 47.5 inches. They ship nationally BTW.


Below you will find the part numbers and prices.


This is the small hole I used to route the cables for the dashboard indicator lights.


Special thanks to @6 gearT444E @pdaddy @zippsub9 @Brian422 for the quick reply on some of my dumb technical questions.

As you can tell I went back and added information for context. I am going back to delete the double posts and decrease the size I did it from my phone. btw I tested the truck yesterday(40 miles speed ranging from local stop and go traffic and 85 on the highway with a big ass hill (the one from Camarillo) and everything went smooth as butter. Again I'm an non-ADD dude

 

Aww shiiit this is awesome! Nice pics. What did you use to turn on the 4wd lights? Just stick bare wire in there?

 

4x4 all day. Put around 450 miles this weekend. Drove like a dream. Not a single weird noise or drop of anything. Loaded with a dirt bike and gear.

 

I guess you did something right then

 

Just did the front end of my swap. Getting that diff in is no joke; you couldn't be more right by saying how exhausting this was!

I was by myself with a regular floor jack and had to do some interesting stuff to get it to fit but she finally nestled in. Picking up my T-Case tomorrow and hoping to knock the rest of the swap out next week. This is such exciting and rewarding stuff! Kudos to the folks that just finished.

 

Just now seeing the tag. Congrats man. Well worth the effort lol. Go wheel that sucker haha.

 

I opted for man handling the thing in place. Sketchy AF but had more control over the assembly for proper routing. Did the same for the transfer case since I installed the transmission for for proper angle fit up, then I man handled the transfer case in place and thread a couple of bolts to be able to re position and take a quick sip of a tecate I had with me. Cheers man! No way back!

 

Hell yeah dude! I installed the trans cooler as well and that shit looks factory

 

Good thread; wish I had it when I did my conversion last year

I’m pretty sure I read thru all the threads on here just to check out different pictures etc to make sure I didn’t mess up

only thing I need to fix on mine now is add althat ecgs sleeve/bushing in the front diff

 

Nice! Definitely gonna need it with the added weight. I have 2 in my truck now lol. 2 full size ones my temps rare get higher than 190

 

Just called my insurance to discuss any issues about insuring a converted truck. They said it would be covered under the “up to $5K in modifications” clause. It took awhile to explain what I was asking, it didn’t help the words “transfer case” was completely foreign to the lady on the phone but she went a got some help about what I did and how they cover it lol I have USAA, may be different under someone else

 

Yea i called them a while back and They told me i think i have additional coverage for off-road and modified vehicle. Its an endorsement you can add.

 

What’s offroad coverage entail? I just have modification

 

Auctaully not too sure but alot of my modifications are covered. Say i total the the truck and want to me indemnified for the loss of my roof rack, tent, bedrack etc, It covers up to a certain limit.

 

Yea I think 5K covers most of what I have on the truck. I wonder if the offroad endorsement covers doing dumb stuff on the trail like sending it lol whereas regular insurance won’t cover something if you went up a risky trail or jumped it or something.

 

When I started modifying my truck I called usaa and they told me the same thing. I've just been scanning and saving receipts in a dropbox with pictures just in case.