PreRunner 4x4 Conversion Journey Thread

A rite of passage...cleaned up the prerunner mud flaps, coated them with bumper paint, and laid on the 4WD vinyl. It looks great, curious to see how the vinyl holds up, bought them on ebay.

 

I used some spacers to correct the angle. I used one of those digital angle gauge to find the angles. I would really read on this if you need to fix the angles. Theres some good threads on here on how to correct it the right way using the right sized shims depending on your needs.

Driveshaft Angles | Tacoma World

 

When I do this to the mud flaps i was thinking of using that tire marker people use to paint the letters white on the tires.

 

Sweet thanks! My alignment just came back all within spec, so I’m assuming this is indeed my issue. I’ll have to get under there soon to check.

 

You’ve earned it haha. I think when mine is said and done I’ll go for the sleeper pre runner look and keep the badge on.

 

Initially when I did the 4x4 conversion on my truck I said I was going to remove the prerunner badge but at the end I decided to keep it and roll with it. A few times when out on the trails guys would trip out that my truck was able to do some of these "4x4" trails thinking my truck was a 2wd because of the badge. More like Postrunner lol

 

Oh hell yeah I'm keeping the prerunner badge on there for sure haha. But I do dig having the 4WD mud flaps, as the easter egg for the build. Honestly I have always gotten so salty seeing the 4WD flaps on other trucks and getting a slight pang of regret that I didn't buy 4x4...no more.

 

I still need to get under there properly and take some better measurements (was having a bit of a hard time getting a flat reading on the rear diff flange) but just did this quick one today and it looks like I'm at 3.5 degrees comparing the rear diff flange to the driveshaft angle, which I assume is what is causing my vibration issues. I'll double check this measurement tomorrow as well as the other angle measurements (still wrapping my head around it, there's some conflicting info out there on what is "best"). Logically speaking though, I think this would make sense based on my symptoms of it being most prevalent when I'm coasting at speed. When I accelerate, the pinion is turned upwards (I think?) with axle wrap, temporarily decreasing the angle and decreasing vibration, when I coast, it returns to this less ideal angle. I'm still just a bit confused as to why this is now an issue post-conversion as from my logic this angle shouldn't have changed. The rear section connects to the center support bearing at the same spot and height it would have previously, but I'm sure I'm missing something there geometry wise. Again perhaps something to do with the weight on the rear leafs? Who knows.

I took it to get it aligned today and heard the tech come back in and say to the manager, "somebody has done a LOT of work on that truck," and I was just sitting there like oh man you have no idea lol.

 

This seems like a good spot to post this. I can move it if there is a better place...

Here is a tip for the OEM factory mudflaps on your 2nd Gen Tacoma with faded-out letters/numbers.

When the white "4X4" letters/numbers eventually fade to black on your mudflaps as they will over time, Sharpie makes a very good satin-white Latex paint marker with a spring-loaded paint tip/applicator. I have had to do them twice over time, and you can do a nice job restoring them with one. The paint is thick enough that you can easily work it right up to the edges for coverage. They do leave some applicator/"brushmarks", but the coverage is good enough that they don't really show a couple of feet away due to the sheltered location, and it all blends in over time with some weathering, such as rain. Remove them and wash them good with soap and water to remove any paint remnants, let them dry and finish the prep with an alcohol wipe. Replace any missing clips or bolts when you install them back on the truck. A two-pack is about $6.00 and is more than enough to do the two mud flaps.

It looks as good as factory if you take your time. It lasts about two years until it fades enough to have to do it again. Might last longer in a better climate than New England. Only thing I would change is tone the color down to a light-gray color if they had one. I think it would be much harder to get it perfect by hand with a small brush.

I'll post a pic if it ever stops raining and snowing here someday.

 

Welp, seeing as it’s a 1st gen just teasing, but really it is.

 

I hate it when that happens! The price I pay for reading all the "flavors" in here.

 

Too many flavors out here brother, all good!

 

Yes this can be tricky to figure out. I also never really understood it when i was trying to figure out the right angles on the drivetrain. Never really made sense even after reading a lot of these threads online relating to this subject. At the end I played around with the thickness of spacers I ended up using. For me I ended up using multiple spacers. It did take care of the vibrations/rumbling noise I was getting. Like you before the 4x4 conversion I did not have any of these issues. I even got another Tcase thinking maybe that was the issue and nope kept doing the same thing. Tried another driveshaft and still the same. Till I started messing around with the carrier bearing and spacing it down those symptoms went away. At the end I dont think I got the angles right but the symptoms went away.

Also im not sure if the link i shared had this but if not there is another link that also shows you how to align the driveshaft to the rear pinion with a string/rope. That may also be causing problems if not aligned

 

i want to do this to my pre runner

 

Wow, all I can say is good job on being Dedicated to complete this project on your own. Great Job, you should pat yourself on the back for this one.

 

I may have missed it, but what do you think the total cost of this conversion cost you, not time wise, but financially.

 

Finished up the 4WD and A/T P indicator light wiring today! Big shoutout to @Area51Runner for the write up, inspired by @mjhenks and company figuring out the original wiring for this mod. It feels so cool to have these lights come on in the way they would have from the factory. I used some donor bulbs from my ebay cluster to make sure I had bulbs at the three new spots that would light up on the cluster (4WD indicator, A/T P, and A/T Oil Temp). It took me a minute to wrap my head around the wiring as I am not savvy on the subject at all, but it is actually very straightforward and in the end I made a nice harness for the two 4H/4L switches, and a separate harness for the N switch for the A/T P light. I wildly overestimated the necessary length of both harnesses, as you're basically connecting to sensors directly underneath the shifter area, and it only takes a couple of feet of wire from there to snake it behind the glove compartment. I had never used molex style connectors before, so did a little research prior and think I ended up using the right style pins for the factory female plugs. For the 4WD harness where you have to run the two plugs in parallel, I ended up crimping two wires into one pin to run the splice between switches, which I can't imagine is recommended, but it worked out ok for me and visually looks good.

Big tip if you're like me and bought new t-case sensors for this project, install them BEFORE you install the transfer case. In my head I thought it would be nice to have access to the new sensors as I was building the harness and figured it would be easy enough to swap them later, but man do you have very little room to maneuver up there once the tcase is in. After fussing for over an hour trying to get the old sensors out unsuccessfully, I had to make a monstrosity of a "special service tool" which involved grinding flats onto a 27mm short socket to fit an adjustable wrench, and then cutting a giant chunk out of the sidewall so I could install the new ones with the sensor wire connected. The tunnel above the transmission/tcase was juuust short enough where I could not fit any configuration of a ratchet and socket in there. Huge time suck, but in the end I got them snugged up to a degree I'm comfortable with (there is a torque spec for these, I want to say 27 ft lbs).

Wiring in the cabin was pretty straightforward, I had to tug a bit on the green/black wire on the IK3 connector to get enough space free to get a t-tap on there, but the blue wire for the A/T P light is much more accessible on IK2. Just be sure to read through the original threads as you have to come up through the transmission shifter port with the harness, not the transfer shifter port. I made this mistake the first time and wondered why the shifter seat wasn't sitting flush, and I had to disconnect all the wiring in the cabin and do it again.

Something else I'll add as an aside, every time I have previously tried to shift into 4L on the tcase, I would be at a complete stop, put the transmission in neutral, then shift slowly over to neutral on the tcase, then up into 4L, and I was getting a kind of gnarly grinding sound that I did not understand. No issues at all between 2H and 4H, and after researching this a bit, it seems like its a thing? Most people said to go from 4H straight to 4L (presuming the trans is in N and you're stopped), no pause at N, and do it fast and hard. Well, I tried that today and it worked much better, no grinding at all. Is that a thing? I don't understand the inner workings of a tcase well enough to see why that would happen, but I'm glad I discovered it.

One last thing, @Area51Runner or anyone else, have you ever had any practical use of the A/T Oil Temp light after swapping the cluster plate? I'm assuming that this light gets a signal from the oil temperature sensor on the passenger side of the transmission? I'm curious what the heat threshold is for it, and if it's essentially pre-wired to be functional as long as you have that cluster bulb in place. Would be a nice added bonus if so, I'll have to check out an old FSM to see if there is any info on it.

 

Oh man, I've been afraid to tally it up, but I'm going to guess between 3-4K, probably on the upper end of that. However, I truly did not spare any expense for this build, and you could probably do this for less than half of what I paid realistically. I basically used exclusively brand new OEM parts everywhere that was feasible (hardware, seals, oil, hubs, bearing, u-joints, and on and on, the toyota parts counter guys at my dealership knew me very well by the end). I also took the time to restore almost every part, so think cost for paint, abrasives, solvents, etc. Personally, I just figured that I want this to be my main vehicle essentially forever, and if I was going to embark on this huge project, I could justify the expense. I still hope to get back a little cash selling some of my used parts (i.e. I got a pristine multimode transfer case with my A340F trans I couldn't use, have my prerunner driveshaft and trans, stuff like that).

 

Just checking in to say: "Great post/thread!". Have been following it since the beginning and while I'm very fortunate to be able to own a 4x4 Tacoma and so will never have to tackle this, just the same it's a great education and quite an eye-opener as to what was involved. That you used OEM parts to do it was the icing on the cake. The section on bringing the warning and indicator lights back to life was one of the highlights for me.

I'm still reading through it but eventually/finally couldn't resist cheating and skipping to the end. lol

Thank you for taking the time and posting it.

 

Do you have part #’s for the Lexus drain and fill plugs? I know @turbodb posted part #’s for the transfer case but wasn’t sure about the diff.