4x4 Conversion - 2.7 DoubleCab

Alright. I measured and freed up the torque converter from the flex plate. Pushed it back a little and it’s now more than the 32mm spec’d by the manual. With them both free, able to rotate the torque converter by hand, no noise. When turning over the engine by hand there was still an audible ticking noise, so I removed the starter and that went away.

Arm chair quarterbacking over here but could I have a bent flex plate? The starter is a remanufactured denso unit straight from the dealer (also new to the project, haven’t run it before here)

 

I want to be able to give a definite but can't - just not experienced enough with transmissions. My take, you caught it quickly and now that things are fully seated and secured properly it's going to be a "wait and see". Noise is gone so just run it.

 

oh nothing is back together yet - will do that now and report. I just pinpointed some sort of noise coming from the flex plate and starter. Will reseat and torque everything up. TBD.

 

Alright alright.

So - screeching / scraping noise.

I worked backwards on this. Rotated the engine by hand to pinpoint any noise. Noise coming from bell housing. Disconnected the torque converter, slid it back, rotated that independently - no noise. Rotated the engine again, noise came from the flex plate towards the starter, pulled the starter - no noise. Strange. I reset the depth of the torque converter, torqued it down starting with the black bolt. Pulled my starter, that I just got from toyota as a while I was in there replacement and compared it to my original. A few differences to note in the attached photo, observe the boss around the gear, the gear it self protruded farther into the bell housing. Swapped in my old one, ran the truck - no noise.

So the screeching noise must of been the flex plate ever so just touching the new starter.

My original starter - 2810075140
My 'new' starter - 281000C01084 (supersession to the above)

So good news - trans is in and appears to function! (granted no driveshafts yet, so yes putting it in park while running emits a fun noise).

Weird news - both these starters are listed as compatible with 3RZ 4x4 auto setup via dealer parts databases. So I'm going to head back to toyota and hope they can swap these models out. Peculiar how there would be small difference like this between starters for the same vehicle. Any thoughts here?

 

Small update. Still waiting for the correct starter from the dealership.

Got my driveshafts picked up - adjusted - balanced - and returned in under 24 hours, so thats pretty rad.

 

Very cool they make house calls...

 

Anyone wire the transfer case so the 4wd light functions in the dash?
Left mine unplugged. Curious

 

I haven't yet but may do so in the future. This thread looks like a good reference - https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-light-after-a-j-shift-4wd-conversion.624354/

 

Hell yeah. Perfect. Would have not guessed it was done this way. Lot of leg work. Thanks

 

If you happen to have the A/T P indicator on your temp gauge (this might have only been on pre-02 models - not sure) or want to add that functionality, take a look here as well.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...dicator-light-and-a-t-p-neutral-light.783875/

It's not necessary of course but I wanted to have that functionality.

 

Alright alright.

New starter in from toyota and it starts without any noise! Strange that the other one had an interference issue. But good things - officially out of the garage and en route for an alignment! Still need to throw in the front driveshaft later today but that's the only thing out of the truck still.

Big excite.

 

Congrats! Awesome news on the noise being gone

 

Nice. Good job working through the set backs. It looks good on the road!

 

@dunc_werks what year was this donor truck? I am not planning a swap anytime soon, but have plans for it in a few years. I also have a 4cyl 2002 so I’m invested in your thread seeing the setbacks you worked through.

 

Thanks.

Transmission, transfer case, front diff, cv's, spindles, hubs - came off this 2000 extended cab 2.7 4x4.

My setbacks could have been avoided if I knew the difference between the 6cyl and 4cyl placement in the vehicle and how toyota accommodated that with the transfer case shifter placement.

Glad to answer any questions - I've put a good 600 miles on it already and no issues to report since. Appreciate everyones help here - sincerely.

 

Dude...

 

So was the 2000 completely plug in play in terms of the wiring harness and sensors? I’m also looking to do manual hubs. I have been hunting car-part.com to try and find a transmission and t case w/o ADD for that year, but it appears they didn’t make non ADD after 2001 for the 4cyl?

 

Why not just stick with ADD?

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/toyryd04s-4x4-conversion.442349/#post-24003181

 

The ADD just seemed a bit overwhelming with the 4x4 ecu and the vacuum lines, but the thread you referenced seems like he was able to avoid the ecu. And the hybrid transmission seems like a cool idea. I’ll have to give that write-up a full ocular pat down tonight.

 

Yeah, if I would've known about it - might have saved me a bunch of additional cash. I originally (when I first started part collecting) had a set of ADD hubs/knuckles, they just needed new bearings. Also had freshly re-built OEM green CVs with beefy Porsche boots (still do).