Hello everyone,
Hoping to contribute a bit here. I gain a lot of knowledge and rarely post from the forum, so here goes.
A lot of people complaint about the 80 series shifter. If you're tall, like me, your knee hits the lock-out button and it's uncomfortable to keep your knee in an akward position. The shifter is dated and awkward. There are some comments about using a third gen 4runner shifter floating around out there, but the closest thing to a write up was lacking and completely different than my experience. Almost the entire thing ended up being sorted out with critical thinking. I will say, it was not hard. It took more time in thought than actual time working. Its certainly not for the light of heart, being more than a 1/8” off on any cut will ruin both assemblies and you wont be able to go back to your oem set up once you start.
For those interested in doing this, you want a 1997 4x4 4runner shifter. It has the correct OD button, the 99+ is def wrong (learned that… and had to order a 97 overdriver button from toyota). Im not sure what button 98 got. The entire 97 assembly may fit better, and require less work. I simply dont know, i used a 99+.
100% worth it. My knee no longer contacts the shifter button.
Disclaimer: Do this at your risk. This isnt hard, but its easy to mess up and some assemblies may be different. These instruction are from my memory, but i suspect theyre pretty spot on.
Source your shifter, I bought an entire 99 4runner shifter assembly off ebay because it was less than going to a junk yard and trying to find one. Our salvage yards here do not keep inventory well.
Enjoy!
Hoping to contribute a bit here. I gain a lot of knowledge and rarely post from the forum, so here goes.
A lot of people complaint about the 80 series shifter. If you're tall, like me, your knee hits the lock-out button and it's uncomfortable to keep your knee in an akward position. The shifter is dated and awkward. There are some comments about using a third gen 4runner shifter floating around out there, but the closest thing to a write up was lacking and completely different than my experience. Almost the entire thing ended up being sorted out with critical thinking. I will say, it was not hard. It took more time in thought than actual time working. Its certainly not for the light of heart, being more than a 1/8” off on any cut will ruin both assemblies and you wont be able to go back to your oem set up once you start.
For those interested in doing this, you want a 1997 4x4 4runner shifter. It has the correct OD button, the 99+ is def wrong (learned that… and had to order a 97 overdriver button from toyota). Im not sure what button 98 got. The entire 97 assembly may fit better, and require less work. I simply dont know, i used a 99+.
100% worth it. My knee no longer contacts the shifter button.
Disclaimer: Do this at your risk. This isnt hard, but its easy to mess up and some assemblies may be different. These instruction are from my memory, but i suspect theyre pretty spot on.
Source your shifter, I bought an entire 99 4runner shifter assembly off ebay because it was less than going to a junk yard and trying to find one. Our salvage yards here do not keep inventory well.
- remove your shifter surround. This is pretty easy. There is a connector for power/2nd that you will need to remove.
- there is a rod that runs under your shifter with a 17mm nut on either side. Remove the nut and washer from the driver side. There is a 17mm on the passenger side, loosen it maybe a turn to give some wiggle room. Remove your shifter, there are some screws on the gear indicator that you remove.
- fiddle with your shifter to understand how it works. Look at the lockout button function. Pay attention here, if you don't understand how it works you're probably going to screw up and should just stop.
- cut your overdrive wires (2 in a single loom) as close to the shifter as you can. They stick out the bottom and connect to a conenctor that's under the center console. If you can depin them, you'll save yourself minimal effort, but depiningg them is hard...so I cut them.
- 2 screws hold the shifter knob on the rod, remove them. Pull the knob off and the over drive wires will come out with it. Then pull the gear indicator off and the bulb connector and set it aside, you will resuse the indicator from the 80.
- take the shifter rod off your 4runner assembly. Cut the overdrive wires as close to the connector as possible (or de-pin). The 4runner shifter is easier to remove than the 80, figure it out.
- compare the rod from the 80 to the 4runner (pic attached). Youll see the 80 rod is longer and needs to be cut down. You could probably make this work with it being taller, but the shifter would contact your dash because the 4runner shifter goes forward. Mine is about an inch from contacting the dash. You want to compare the rods and where they mount, like a fulcrum point. I noticed on mine the black paint stopped at exactly where the rods were lined up based off the bottom leverage point. Yours may not. In the pic i added, you can see my 80 rod is cut. See the black paint lines?
- remove the inner guts from each assembly carefully. There is an orange cap that screws on to a threaded metal rod, with a spring that will fly out like crazy. Pay attention to how the 4runner orange cap is clocked, only works 1 way. Count how many times you spin it, it will help you set your base tension later. The bottom part of that metal rod has a pin you punch out carefully, it functions as your lock-out. Notice how far is sticks out side to side on the 80, take a picture of it - you want to mirror that. Keep the 80 and the 4runner parts separate and organized.
- 4runner rod has 2 set screws for its knob, closer together. The 80 is further apart. Mark, drill and tap the 80 rod to match the 4runner. I dont remember the size, sorry.
- cut your 80 rod to length, again mine ended up being able to be aligned off the paint transition (see line I drew on the pic).
- test fit your 4runner knob. Remove it. Dont skip this step, if the screws arent perfect you will want to stop here and figure out how to make it better. JB weld?
- Pay attention. The internal guts on these works differently, this means the plastic sleeves cannot be swapped. There is a channel for the lock out pin to travel, that pin pin you pushed out, and you will make a new one in the black plastic sleeve of your 80 guts. Insert the black sleeve into the 80 rod and mark where the new channel should go. I put 2 pilot holes at each end and 2 in the center and used a drill to make the new channel. With the drill, make a nice groove and file it smooth. Patience goes a long way here.
- Once you're happy with with the new channel for the pin, reinsert it into your cut black sleeve and cut the part off the black plastic sleeve that sticks out below the assembly. You can see the black plastic sleeve in the pic i attached, my cut was about half way through the old pin channel and the new channel is there.
- Put your metal rod in the sleeve and put them both into the cut down 80 shift rod. You'll see your threaded metal rod that is is too long. You will need to cut it and then use a die to thread it. Start longer than you think it should be, you can cut more. Make small cuts. You will revisit this step. If you cut too much, you're going to need a stiff drink
- Look at both of your springs that go under the orange caps and decide which one works best for the 4runner orange cap. I believe i used the one from the 80. Assemble the internal guts, test fit the spring and pay attention to how it fits. Remember how it was clocked and how many times you spun it off? Do it here. My spring was too compressed so I cut some off, it should not be too compressed. Again. Start small.
- assemble your...assembly, put the guts in. Threaded rod into sleeve, push the punch pin in (dont hammer, just enough to keep together), spring and the orange cap from the 4runner. Remember how it was clocked and how many times you spun it off? Do it here.
- put the 4runner shifter knob on, snaking the OD wires down the sleeve.
- Test the function, you want that pin to have basically the full range up and down. If you cut on that threaded metal rod was too short, like mine, you'll have to cut more. Play around and look at the spring and the rod. Decide which should be cut. The spring should not be fully compressed if you arent pushing the orange cap down with the 4runner's top mounted lock-out button, it will cause issues. If its coiled too tight, def cut some off the spring. I ended up cutting the rod down 2 more times and the spring 3 times till i was happy. My rod travels down and the pin goes through that channel to about 1/4-3/8" of contacting the end of the channel and works fine.. Be very patient here, the cuts seem to scale. What this means is that a small cut at the top, seems to impact the pin’s travel more than 1:1. I cannot figure out why, maybe its in my head. Probably in my head.
- Apply some lubricant on the pin/channel.
- Pu the new shifter assembly in your 80 and test the lockout function. Go from P to every gear a few times, ensuring it locks you out appropriately. Dont be shy and don't wire the OD wires till you confirm.
- OD wires, by now you know the go down that black sleeve. It doesnt seem to matter what orientation they connect back, the button just connects the lines to complete a circuit. But you check your orientation to be sure.
Enjoy!
