Complete drivetrain swap? Or....

[beatdown83fj60]

Well I was droning over craigslist this morning and I ran into a good deal. The guy has 3 trucks he's stripping for parts and he said I could have a frame/complete cab for free. As some of you may or may not have read my Runner got bashed up in a tow truck incident and the body is toast. My plans were to just cut the back off of it and build a flatbed, but I'm leaning towards having a little cleaner vehicle (for cop and comfort purposes). Would it be easier to swap a 79-83 cab onto my 4Runner frame, or to take all the guts from the runner and put them in the new frame/cab? Are there any wiring differences between an 84 carb truck and a 79-83 carb truck? Also I know that to put a 5 speed into a 79-80 you need to relocate the crossmember but didn't they start putting 5 speeds in minis in 1981? I'm just looking for the easiest way to do this with as little fabwork as possible.

 

[GRM]

Disclaimer: This is all out of my memory, so make sure to double check before you go for it.

Easiest way would be to use a 84-88 body.

Either way, the body should bolt up, but the 2 rear most cab mounts are 2" taller. Put 2" body lift pucks on the front 4 mounts, and it should be good to go.

You may also want to snag the gas tank mounts from this guy, as the pickups mount the gas tank 2" taller than in in 4runners. This way you gain some ground clearence.

Good luck with your project!

 

[tntoyota]

You may also want to snag the gas tank mounts from this guy, as the pickups mount the gas tank 2" taller than in in 4runners. This way you gain some ground clearence.

hijack!

Thats very interesting I'd also like to know how this turns out I think 2Gen was talking about doing a B.L ( ) to get the same result, I think....





On a tech note, I'd swap the cabs. Or suck it up and find a 4runner bod

Dude trust us we all have (sniffle) experienced a loss in or....(sniffle) lives, when we loose someone special in our lives we've....(sniffle) all been there before but the...challenge is to pick back up the pieces and....move on.... and salvage what we can... Get back up on that horse!....and I think the easiest way is to just replace the body.

 

[iortechnology]

You're going to run into wiring issues from the 1st generation body behind the dash. For sure you'll notice that the speedometer wiring uses a different type plug than the 2nd generation vehicles did. AND even in the 1st generation there were some differences in plug shapes, which caused me a lot of frustration a few years ago.

As with most projects like this, the time investment comes in with working out the details....

- Brandon

 

[beatdown83fj60]

Alright, thanks for the tips. I guess I do have all winter to figure something out .

 

[Curse]

You're going to run into wiring issues from the 1st generation body behind the dash. For sure you'll notice that the speedometer wiring uses a different type plug than the 2nd generation vehicles did. AND even in the 1st generation there were some differences in plug shapes, which caused me a lot of frustration a few years ago.

As with most projects like this, the time investment comes in with working out the details....

- Brandon

Insert 2nd Gen cluster?

 

[beatdown83fj60]

I think if I try to install the newer cluster I may as well install the whole wiring harness but it would be hardly worth it considering that it's not an efi vehicle. Too many choices but now this is going to be put on the backburner yet even further.....damn dog needs $700 bucks worth of surgery in 2 weeks.