‘94 JDM Land Cruiser has bad transmission, just purchased, I do not know what to do. Please help (1 Viewer)

[nickolai]

Wrong.

Dude I’m trying to keep it simple for this guy. The diagnostic method I described works.

 

[MPolley]

@Angeltech where in Ohio are you? If you are near Cincinnati, check out Cincinnati Transmission Specialists in Sharonville. 513-530-8726 or cincinnatitrans.com is their website. I used to work for them years ago, and had them rebuild my A343F in my 80 a couple years ago, and it has been phenomenal.

I am in Dayton and can drive it for you/take a quick look and see what I think if you want some in person help

 

[veiloctane]

if you're brave you could attempt to rebuild your own... I was able to first time I also did the extreme valve body from wholesale automatics and there modified the clutch pack to make my transmission "extreme.


anything is possible if you have the correct FSM time and tools!

mine is hydro unit

94 and up JDM uses electronic versions I've uploaded FSM for these transmissions there floating around here on mud

 

[rc51kid]

I havent read the whe thread yet. But propper diagnosis will be key. It could very likely be just a few hundred dollars worth of parts. The key is diagnoses and i would not trust a dealership to figure it out. If you have 25,000 incested in it i would spend another 800 and have it shipped somewhere like Slee or whoever is at the top now. You wont save any money trying to uae someone local. Just send it to one of the "real" cruiser shops. I know in Atlanta i like ACC but there are few others sprinkled around like Slee and i think Torfab? I think Powderpig had a shop north of Denver but i might have that wrong. Just bite the bullet and get it to the right people unless you are capable to do it yourself. Replacing a transmission is will be so expensive. People that know they are doing might be able to aviod that.

 

[rc51kid]

Thanks for the help. That isn’t comforting that you couldn’t find someone to rebuild the transmission, in the rare event that my issue is the transmission(not that I think it is now).

It is comforting. I would not want somone to rebuild the transmission. I would not trust them to do it as well as the factory did and no need to do it. Find a used one with even 200,000 on it for cheap. Mine has 358,000 and is going strong. I would rather have a lowish milage used one than a rebuilt.

 

[Broski]

Dude I’m trying to keep it simple for this guy. The diagnostic method I described works.

There's a difference between keeping it simple and miss stating facts

 

[mjosoba]

I havent read the whe thread yet. But propper diagnosis will be key. It could very likely be just a few hundred dollars worth of parts. The key is diagnoses and i would not trust a dealership to figure it out. If you have 25,000 incested in it i would spend another 800 and have it shipped somewhere like Slee or whoever is at the top now. You wont save any money trying to uae someone local. Just send it to one of the "real" cruiser shops. I know in Atlanta i like ACC but there are few others sprinkled around like Slee and i think Torfab? I think Powderpig had a shop north of Denver but i might have that wrong. Just bite the bullet and get it to the right people unless you are capable to do it yourself. Replacing a transmission is will be so expensive. People that know they are doing might be able to aviod that.

Hopefully he has zero incested.

 

[nickolai]

There's a difference between keeping it simple and miss stating facts

It's not miss stating anything. If the centre diff is locked, either by the CDL button (JDM) or putting it in 4lo for trucks without a CDL button, and either a drive flange, CV or something in the front diff is broken then power will be sent to the rear wheels and you can drive the truck for diagnostic purposes.

Source: I drove 300km to get home like this with a broken cv. HDJ81.

 

[Angeltech]

You can test it on pavement. Straight forward and straight back. It’s if you’re turning tightly and gunning it on pavement that stuff will break. It should behave pretty much normally, once it’s in 4L.

Another thing you can do is leave it in 4H, and get under it and have some one you trust put in drive, and slowly let off the brake. Watch what happens to the driveshafts. If it’s the drive flange, it will spin the front driveshaft, and there won’t be any forward movement. It will likely make some rowdy noises.

Thank you. I am getting ready to check it now.

 

[Angeltech]

If you dont have a diff lock button, I believe you can unplug your hazard switch and use it for a center diff switch. Find the CDL female end of the wire harness behind the the dash and plug it in. It should then act as a cdl switch but you won't have hazard lights anymore. I don't know if that messes any other electrical circuits up but I don't think so.

I do have a central diff lock button.

 

[Angeltech]

Yes, that was a little surprising, but the retired 35 year Toyota Master tech that did the installation reiterated how few ever go bad and we couldn’t find anyone in the area that felt comfortable rebuilding and few people share some lack of success stories with self rebuilds, seems even a full rebuild kit wasn’t available at the time. I even attempted to send it Valley Hybrids from TN to California to be rebuilt but couldn’t get that arranged.

The silver lining was there seemed to be good availability of used ones at a few hundred bucks the time. I think I paid $500-$700 back in 2019 with a year warranty and needed it, because the first one shifted great, but had a major seal leak (I think it was a flood victim) and they replaced it free of charge.

Sadly, I had just missed ordering one of the last new ones available, but somehow managed to find an NOS a year or so later I bought and put in my parts horde in case anything ever happens to another one that I plan to own till the end!

These trucks are reasonably straightforward and with the guidance of the forum and a good shop, you should be back to enjoying the rig soon!

What was the mileage on the transmissions you found that were used? I saw a few on Ebay(not that I would buy a transmission there) and they were Over 200K. I just wouldn’t want a transmission with 100k+ more than my vehicle has, but finding one with low miles might be close to impossible.

 

[BILT4ME]

What was the mileage on the transmissions you found that were used? I saw a few on Ebay(not that I would buy a transmission there) and they were Over 200K. I just wouldn’t want a transmission with 100k+ more than my vehicle has, but finding one with low miles might be close to impossible.

Check with @slow95z and @arcteryx .

 

[Angeltech]

Do you have the center diff lock button?

Yep

 

[slow95z]

I don't have any jdm stuff. Pretty sure those transmissions are different

 

[Angeltech]

If it's JDM then you should have this button
View attachment 3366496
Press that button in and you should get this light.
View attachment 3366497
Once you have that light try to drive it. Don't worry about driving it on a hard surface your not going to hurt it, it will be hard to turn.
If it drives fine then it is most likely a drive flange.

The A442F is a very stout transmission and rarely fails. if it did fail you can pick up a used one from one of the Guys parting out rigs

6M1 is the best color

Thank you, trying now.

 

[arcteryx]

I have some JDM stuff but the trannies are all US spec.

 

[Angeltech]

@Angeltech where in Ohio are you? If you are near Cincinnati, check out Cincinnati Transmission Specialists in Sharonville. 513-530-8726 or cincinnatitrans.com is their website. I used to work for them years ago, and had them rebuild my A343F in my 80 a couple years ago, and it has been phenomenal.

I am in Dayton and can drive it for you/take a quick look and see what I think if you want some in person help

I live in Columbus but I definitely know Sharonville. I worked for a national company that had their Ohio headquarters in Sharonville. Thank you for the info. Columbus isn’t to far from Dayton, maybe I could meet you part way. That is very nice that you offered to help, regardless.

 

[Angeltech]

It is comforting. I would not want somone to rebuild the transmission. I would not trust them to do it as well as the factory did and no need to do it. Find a used one with even 200,000 on it for cheap. Mine has 358,000 and is going strong. I would rather have a lowish milage used one than a rebuilt.

I completely agree.

 

[Angeltech]

Is it gas or diesel? If it’s diesel it may be the hydraulic A442. Does your shifter have L,2,3,D or L,2,D? Easy way to tell if it’s electric or hydraulic.

Someone on FB had this exact same thing come up. Was that you? I said the same thing several others have said. 4 low and see what happens. Sounded like a stripped flange.

Sorry I missed this post. It is gas-L2D on shift.

 

[Angeltech]

Sorry to ask an obvious question, but how did you check the fluid?

The procedure for checking is with the engine running, transmission fluid warm and having cycled through all the gea

Sorry to ask an obvious question, but how did you check the fluid?

The procedure for checking is with the engine running, transmission fluid warm and having cycled through all the gears.

I just drove it and then parked and checked while running. I never ran thru all of the gears. Thank you for helping