PreRunner 4x4 Conversion Journey Thread

Thanks man! I'm not super familiar with that type of swap, but I assume that means you swap out the front CVs/diff for a rigid axle across the front? Are you going to be wheeling with it?

 

Finished putting both driveshafts together today. Was a bit of a mental exercise as you need to have all the zerks in a particular orientation and all of the splined parts need to be aligned. There's also an interesting torque procedure for the middle flange shaft nut on the rear shaft where you torque it way up to 134 ft lbs, loosen, and then set it at 54 ft lbs (you will almost definitely need to fabricate a duplicate of the "special service tool" to hold the flange while you torque it, I made one from some flat stock steel), so I'm glad I had the FSM for that bit. I couldn't get a torque wrench on the middle 10mm flange bolts, so settled for güdentight.

I wanted to do a final measurement to make sure that the lengths of both driveshafts were correct now that they are fully assembled. I wasn't getting a clear direction as to how far the slip yoke should be extended when measuring, so I just ended up mimicking how far out my prerunner slip yoke is in it's resting state, and guessed on the front driveshaft. That said I have cross checked the compatibility from the donor vehicles, and I should be good. The correct measurements should be 26.38" for the front, and 65.875" for the rear (for XtraCab, 3.4L, 4WD, Auto), which I did confirm for my parts.

Dropped off a Carolina Powertrain for balancing today! I've never been in a driveshaft shop, but there was some sweet equipment in there.

 

Yeah, cutting off all the ifs, install straight axle. Been collecting for a while, just found a tranny and t-case. Took a few years off the project to build a house, now done with the house, the truck is getting built.
Just a capable hunting/wheeling rig for now. It’s gonna be my kids truck, he can do whatever he wants with it, and he’ll have a good start.
I’ll have a little driveline stuff to deal with as well.
Thanks again for the write up, forever on the interwebs..

 

Finished cleaning up the exterior of the trans today (popped off the bell housing for a thorough cleaning, used a scotch brite to get rid of some surface oxidation on the trans body, and removed some surface rust from the oil pump housing), so I finally took the pan off. Everything looks good, and I was able to confirm that the valve body matches my A340E and does indeed have the ETCS-i electronic throttle (aka no "kickdown cable"). This was admittedly totally by chance as I completely overlooked that important point when I bought the trans, but I pretty much knew what I had right when I got home as I could see the plastic plug that the ETCS-i A340F/E units have that cover the hole where the throttle cable would normally come in on older models. Need to clean up the pan and gasket surfaces, put in the new filter, and the trans should be nearly ready to roll. I'm just going to also replace the input and output oil seals for good measure.

 

Subadubbed

 

This is one of the things that really filters my search efforts when I feel I can only optimally source from a 03-04 for a 340F.

 

Mine is from a 4runner! So there are def options, but yes it does limit you a lot. There some threads on a valve body swap to make it work with older models but seems like a bit of a headache.

 

I haven't been able to work on the truck much in the last week as I've been helping my brother with some serious landscaping at his house, but as I'm getting close to the end of the prep stages, I got to do something tonight I've been looking forward to big time.

The infamous cutting out of the "X" shifter panel, birthing the transfer case shifter hole. I did my trans shifter bushings too while I was at it, although mine were in pretty good shape still (pic is the old ones), which I knew given I didn't have much slop in the shifter, but still glad I did it. I damn near blew up my grandpas dremel from the 70s cutting it out, but I think it came out pretty clean in the end. I think I should be within a week now of dropping the trans. Super excited for it, and I feel well prepared.

 

Meant to ask, anyone have a line on the factory sound deadening material that goes around the t-case shifter boot? I've seen it in several videos but haven't found a part number yet. I could always rig something up or go to the junkyard but just wondering.

 

Agreed. I imagine for 4Runner drive by wire is 00-02? Correct me if I’m wrong.

 

Also are your driveshafts OEM? Just wondering, I am currently piecing together my conversion.

 

I haven't found super clear info in this regard, but yeah I think it was around 2000 for the 4runner that they started using ETCS-i

 

Yep! Front is from a '99 4runner and rear is from an '03 double cab. There's definitely some nuance with which models will work from you depending on the drivetrain and such

 

Do you have a tranny yet? I’m on the search, kinda pidgin holed into an 03 or 04 Tacoma tranny, not a bad price I’m finding, but hard to source from a private party.

 

Yep that was the first thing I sourced for the project (my first couple posts on this thread have more detail on it). Really the main reason I decided to actually do the conversion was because I found a really nice trans for a good deal. I actually found mine from a 4runner, so there are some options beyond just the 03/04 tacoma ones if you need the ETCS-i setup, just need to do a little homework before buying

 

Most yards around here have a 90 day warranty on the transmission, I want to have everything in and done, purchase and install the transmission last, try to keep the warranty days available while it’s on the road/trail.

 

Higher-res version of that chart, with more supporting info, over here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/toyota-etcs-i-electronic-throttle-on-2003-2004-trucks.524499/

 

I ended up just swapping in a black shifter with black boot from a 3rd gen 4Runner. They have the sound liner in the boot. I first tried some off Amazon but after cutting and trying to hot glue gun it in, it looked like crap.

Black goes well with the rest of the charcoal grey interior. I even swapped in my stock grey overdrive button lol. Transfer case shifter handle is from an FJ.

 

Yeah that makes sense. I think I was ultimately only able to convince myself to commit to the project because I happened upon a really good trans, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have done it, but def true that I’m at risk if something doesn’t work out. I guess at the very least I know I have a good A340E and I could always have the output shaft swapped as a last resort, but hoping for good news once I get the new trans in

 

Nice! Yeah I saw someone else do that, for some reason very few of the yards near me have the actual truck in the yard to pick through, it’s usually loose parts from what I’ve seen. I bought an OG grey jshift knob off eBay and I guess I’ll have to rig something up for the sound deadening! I might have some questions for you soon on the transfer sensor harness but I’ll reply on your thread