I'm slowly building an '88 FJ62 and have reached a point where several major decisions have to be made before work can continue. The truck is nearly stock, rust free, a little tattered, and has 300,000 miles on it. It needs a new drivetrain and I want to plan it as a system from the beginning rather than get locked into a path because I purchased gears or a transmission early and have to adapt to what's existing.
The intended use is for camping roadtrips into fairly remote areas; very typical for how we use our Cruisers. It needs to be a jack of all trades vehicle rather than a rock crawler with 37's or a daily driver with 31's. Dependability, range, and future parts availability are what we are all looking for. The auto transmission is coming out. While I'm not a complete Toyota purist (at least on this truck) I'm pleased with the robustness of most of Mr. T's Land Cruiser components.
I've got a couple of removed 2F engines with around 170,000 miles on them that would make good short blocks for a potential 2FE. I've read several of Mud's flame wars about 2F's vs 3FE's vs 2FE's and, though (almost) content with the 3FE's power, I doubt whether a 2FE is any real improvement. Losing 500 rpm means losing 12% horsepower and it would take a significant gain in torque to offset that.
I have rebuilt the stock axles with new 3:73 gears and ARB's but I'm thinking they should have been 4:11's. I'll probably move those into Frankie. The 2F/H55/3:73/32" combo in Frankie ('87 FJ60) is just a little tall in gearing for the power available. It's perfect for a highway cremepuff like her but probably not the best for this application. I'd like to run an H55 with the stock split case but am open to suggestions. I'd also like to have a 3rd gear set like a Toybox or a Ranger to allow both highway speeds and trail gearing. If possible, is there a set up that is just enough longer (5 3/4" longer) that would not require moving the crosssmember when switching from auto to manual transmissions?
I'd love to stuff a 12HT in it but I'm doubtfull parts will be available 10 years from now. Would the higher RPM of a V8 mean 4:56 gearing would be better? If you run the low gearing of an underdrive with the high gearing of 3:73 and large tires will you destroy the ring and pinion? Is it better to run an overdrive with low diff gearing? Do the planetary overdrives make a lot of noise on the highway? An underdrive planetary whine wouldn't matter at slow speeds.
Perhaps it would be better to ask about specific options:
2FE/H55/Toybox/Split Case/4:11/33"
Pros: known options and mostly Toyota
Cons: low power, no Toyboxes available, and dwindling future parts availability
V8/AA Bell/Ranger/H55/Split Case/4:11/33"
V8/GM Bell/NV4500/AA/Split Case/4:11/33"
Pros: good parts availability, known procedure
Cons: no low range gears
V8/GM Bell/NV4500/?Dual Case?/Split Case/3:73/33"
V8/GM Bell/NV4500/Black Box/Split Case/3:73/33"
What trains are you running and what options do you all recommend?
Thanks a lot!
The intended use is for camping roadtrips into fairly remote areas; very typical for how we use our Cruisers. It needs to be a jack of all trades vehicle rather than a rock crawler with 37's or a daily driver with 31's. Dependability, range, and future parts availability are what we are all looking for. The auto transmission is coming out. While I'm not a complete Toyota purist (at least on this truck) I'm pleased with the robustness of most of Mr. T's Land Cruiser components.
I've got a couple of removed 2F engines with around 170,000 miles on them that would make good short blocks for a potential 2FE. I've read several of Mud's flame wars about 2F's vs 3FE's vs 2FE's and, though (almost) content with the 3FE's power, I doubt whether a 2FE is any real improvement. Losing 500 rpm means losing 12% horsepower and it would take a significant gain in torque to offset that.
I have rebuilt the stock axles with new 3:73 gears and ARB's but I'm thinking they should have been 4:11's. I'll probably move those into Frankie. The 2F/H55/3:73/32" combo in Frankie ('87 FJ60) is just a little tall in gearing for the power available. It's perfect for a highway cremepuff like her but probably not the best for this application. I'd like to run an H55 with the stock split case but am open to suggestions. I'd also like to have a 3rd gear set like a Toybox or a Ranger to allow both highway speeds and trail gearing. If possible, is there a set up that is just enough longer (5 3/4" longer) that would not require moving the crosssmember when switching from auto to manual transmissions?
I'd love to stuff a 12HT in it but I'm doubtfull parts will be available 10 years from now. Would the higher RPM of a V8 mean 4:56 gearing would be better? If you run the low gearing of an underdrive with the high gearing of 3:73 and large tires will you destroy the ring and pinion? Is it better to run an overdrive with low diff gearing? Do the planetary overdrives make a lot of noise on the highway? An underdrive planetary whine wouldn't matter at slow speeds.
Perhaps it would be better to ask about specific options:
2FE/H55/Toybox/Split Case/4:11/33"
Pros: known options and mostly Toyota
Cons: low power, no Toyboxes available, and dwindling future parts availability
V8/AA Bell/Ranger/H55/Split Case/4:11/33"
V8/GM Bell/NV4500/AA/Split Case/4:11/33"
Pros: good parts availability, known procedure
Cons: no low range gears
V8/GM Bell/NV4500/?Dual Case?/Split Case/3:73/33"
V8/GM Bell/NV4500/Black Box/Split Case/3:73/33"
What trains are you running and what options do you all recommend?
Thanks a lot!
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