So you want to convert your prerunner to 4x4, eh?

Ah I gotcha. The extra mount I need is for the transfer case right? Where did you find it?

 

I got mine off autozone I believe for like 30-40 dollars which is the part that mounts to the crossmember for the transmission and mounts to the transmission.

 

I am repurposing this thread, @tcBob could you please move this to the 1st gen section por favor?

 

Are you planning on doing a writeup? There are virtually no 3RZ-FE PreRunner write ups around they're all for the v6.

You have a v6 right?

 

I don't think I've ever seen a 4cyl swap but I will probably end up doing some sort of post op write up on the swap for people like yourself who are curious about parts, labor etc. I have a 3.4L V6

 

Just finished a write up, view it here:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/prerunner-to-4x4-write-up.501237/

 

Perfect. I'll give it a read, thanks!

 

I did my '99 Prerunner 2.7l back in 2014 (2wd auto to 4wd 5sp). My best advice would be give yourself a weeks worth of time and an extra vehicle to take care of all the "unexpected" snags and slight modifications. I was in college at the time and had tons of time, needed a 4x4, and was/still am keeping the truck forever. In terms of it bolting right up, it mostly does. The only physical modification on mine I had to do was weld in a new tranny mount in front of the existing one to accommodate the shorter manual tranny mount. Alternatively, I could have hacked the mounts off of the frame and then re-welded them forward on the frame then patch the frame. The best thing I did was buy a wrecked taco (96' single cab) for $600 bucks from a local member. After 6 months of searching/waiting here's the basic breakdown: transferred the basic hardware (front diff's, hubs, spindles, interior plastics and seal, hacked tranny crossmember, etc.) directly from the wreck to my truck - $600 '99 tranny (from 2.7l) shipped with less than 80k on it - parted out the wrecked truck over the following month for $1000 (cracked tranny bell housing but good motor and M/T's) - bought the remaining parts (new cv's, fluids, clutch/flywheel, 4.30 front gears from Nitro) - Installed tranny at @BamaToy1997 (stand-up guy who donated his time and shop for a night) and paid him to re-gear the front diff. I don't have emissions so I just wired the park to neutral safety switch and pulled the CEL. It was the best decision I ever made and am thankful for the truck everyday, it's still solid @ 230k. I learned a ton, definitely could not have done it without the help of others on here though. I read probably 6 different write-ups before going on my own. If you feel confident you can do it - go for it. It's got about a 50/50 pass/fail rate from what I see. That's about as close to a write-up as you'll get from me. Check out the 1st gen mods to start perusing threads on conversions.

 

Here's the write-up to start reading and will provide you with the most comprehensive idea of what you are getting into. Don't expect it to go as smoothly as it appears to be but find comfort in the fact that many others have done it without issues.

 

this is painfully true

 

That's great, thanks for the advice. Where did you get the wrecked truck from? I called around and put a bunch of prices from a bunch of different scrappers into a spreadsheet and determined I can do the conversion for around $1,600 with taxes and everything.

 

I got lucky and one popped up in a small town in North Alabama about 2 hours away from my shop. I had started looking in January and didn't find anything under 1k till this in early June. I was almost to the point of pricing out the individual parts but got lucky. I was planning on putting a different low mileage tranny in anyways so really all I needed was the hardware and odds/ends. The donor had 330k on it I believe and I'm impressed how long some of the components have held up in the last 45k miles. I just recently replaced the wheel bearings and serviced the hubs but other than that no problems with a high mileage donor (both original). I spent a pretty penny on the tranny with 80k on it but it's from the same year truck as mine so I could make sure the speedo worked properly and could wire it up correctly using an existing conversion diagram in order to pass emissions. $1600 sounds in the ball park though, just remember the 48 hours of time you put in

 

If you are buying individual parts try and get them from a truck close to your year and same set up. No reason to buy a rear drive shaft that you have to end up hacking and rebalancing. If you know how to re gear diffs then that's your biggest money saver.

 

Ha! I remember us doing that! Wow that was a while ago. Evidently things have gone well?

 

3x cross country and not a problem since! How is Florida treating you?

 

Loving every second!