Current options for getting an h55 into 60 series (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Jul 13, 2019
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Location
La Habra, CA
Just wondering if anyone's got suggestions for where I can pick up an h55. Not seeing anything on Craigslist in my area (SoCal). The kit from cool cruisers of Texas looks nice, but it's also $3400 plus shipping. My 60 was built 12/1983, and by looking at the CCOT website it's not exactly 100% bolt in. Anyone have experience with their kit? Anyone know of someone trying to get rid of one? I'd really like to plan a trip to Australia, buy every h55 I can find, and ship them back to the US. Don't think the wife's gonna let that happen any time soon though.
 
Toyota still makes & sells the H55F new. No need to take a trip Australia. Toyota dealers here in the USA can get a new one for you very easily- and it doesn't cost $3400.
Youre not going to find a used H55F for sale in good condition.
 
There are many threads on this subject. I strongly suggest you do a lot of reading before taking the plunge. As OSS says, used H55s are often a pig-in-a-poke as they usually have a lot of miles on them and a rebuild costs almost as much as new. Somebody already did that Oz run and it took them a long time to sell those transmissions. Plus, the ones out of a 2H Truck won't work on a 2F engine... H55f can be installed in early cruisers, but a bit more work requiring some modifications.

Check price at Norwalk Toyota. Also, there are quite a few MUD vendors that supply that trans as well as rebuild kit for Transfer case (it's dumb not to rebuild t'case cuz it's gotta come apart anyway). Also, some early T'case do not have the 5th gear oiling provision cast into the case so you may have to find a T'case also.

whttp://www.cruiseroutfitters.com

 
Contact Valley Cruisers...I purchased the H55 from them and a transfer case core...they rebuilt the transfer case and bolted it to a new H55 and shipped it to me ready to be installed. I have an 83 as well and you do have to trade out some linkage parts. They guys at Valley may be able to help you there....I had done a ton of research and had already sourced those before I contacted Valley. Getting it done this way assured me it was done right as they do a ton of these (youtube them) and it also allowed me to drive my truck up until I did the swap. He will suggest a few other things that you should do while you have it pulled (ream main seal, new oil pan gasket, etc...) and can set you up with those parts as well. An you also get a sweeet tshirt and bumper sticker. Of course, if you are inclined to do it yourself it will be cheaper, I just dont have the ability. I sold my existing tranny and transfer case after the swap. I know local guys who did the install themselves but still ordered it via Valley so they knew it was done right.

My 5 speed below....your truck will never see 3K rpm again except maybe between 1st and second if you dont shift fast enough, lol. So nice driving a couple hours on the freeway at 70 and not feeling like my engine is about to take off like a rocket ship. Best upgrade I have done...but also the most expensive.
FJ60Tint.JPG
 
By the way....this was the best thread I found to really understand what is involved in the upgrade for an early model 60. Read it to the end as he started out making mods to the linkage parts and then ended up getting exactly what he needed from a later model.

 
I called toyota dealer in denver that is most helpful with parts for these old trucks, stevinson toyota west and they were able to source one for me. So toyota dealers can find it. Just reference the part number 33030-60450 i think is the right one, they won't be able to pull it up using your year make and model.
 
I bought mine from toyota dealer many years ago and its still sitting on the floor in a a box, haven't gotten around to putting it in yet. My 60 is early also, if i remember correctly you will need 85+ driveshafts and crossmember and a few other small nic nacs.
 
Believe they are listed on toyotapartsdeal website for about $2500
 
Contact Valley Cruisers...I purchased the H55 from them and a transfer case core...they rebuilt the transfer case and bolted it to a new H55 and shipped it to me ready to be installed. I have an 83 as well and you do have to trade out some linkage parts. They guys at Valley may be able to help you there....I had done a ton of research and had already sourced those before I contacted Valley. Getting it done this way assured me it was done right as they do a ton of these (youtube them) and it also allowed me to drive my truck up until I did the swap. He will suggest a few other things that you should do while you have it pulled (ream main seal, new oil pan gasket, etc...) and can set you up with those parts as well. An you also get a sweeet tshirt and bumper sticker. Of course, if you are inclined to do it yourself it will be cheaper, I just dont have the ability. I sold my existing tranny and transfer case after the swap. I know local guys who did the install themselves but still ordered it via Valley so they knew it was done right.

My 5 speed below....your truck will never see 3K rpm again except maybe between 1st and second if you dont shift fast enough, lol. So nice driving a couple hours on the freeway at 70 and not feeling like my engine is about to take off like a rocket ship. Best upgrade I have done...but also the most expensive.
View attachment 2033253
Just contacted Georg and he said he's got everything in stock except for the late model transfer case linkage. Very nice and helpful guy. He said his price on the trans is $2500. Probably going to get my parts from him as no one else keeps everything in stock and he's within a 5 hour drive of my house. Thanks for the info. Anyone got the linkage I'm looking for???
 
Anyone got the linkage I'm looking for???

just clarifying - you already have a t-case hanging off the back of your 4 speed so you have linkage yeah?

am I correct in that if you have an early 4 speed without the 5th gear spacer...overall length of your kit is going to increase a few inches. so you need to lengthen the existing - or get one off an FJ62 since it's quite a bit longer than what you need and shorten it to what you need.

i swapped out my automatic for the H55 and I had to shorten the t-case linkage...i did this.

 
just clarifying - you already have a t-case hanging off the back of your 4 speed so you have linkage yeah?

am I correct in that if you have an early 4 speed without the 5th gear spacer...overall length of your kit is going to increase a few inches. so you need to lengthen the existing - or get one off an FJ62 since it's quite a bit longer than what you need and shorten it to what you need.

i swapped out my automatic for the H55 and I had to shorten the t-case linkage...i did this.

I would imagine either of those options would work, Georg just suggested trying to find a linkage from 85-87 as it's a bolt on solution. Unfortunately he doesn't have any at the moment.
 
I would imagine either of those options would work, Georg just suggested trying to find a linkage from 85-87 as it's a bolt on solution. Unfortunately he doesn't have any at the moment.

try sending a message to @3_puppies he was a good resource for several of us that did auto to 5 speed swaps recently.
 
try sending a message to @3_puppies he was a good resource for several of us that did auto to 5 speed swaps recently.
Spoke with Georg again and he says the 62 linkage will not work. He said I could modify my existing linkage but that it's more work than it's worth unless you don't have the money to buy one from a parts truck/trans. I'm already gonna be $4k into it if I have Georg rebuild and install the transfer case. I found a guy with an 87 f2 on Craigslist, he said he's got other parts as well. Hoping that includes the transfer case.
 
yeah, just keep looking. Took me a number of offers to folks parting out, but I eventually found what I needed. You might spend another 100-300 but you will find what you need. Post on classifieds that you are looking.
 
Spoke with Georg again and he says the 62 linkage will not work. He said I could modify my existing linkage but that it's more work than it's worth unless you don't have the money to buy one from a parts truck/trans. I'm already gonna be $4k into it if I have Georg rebuild and install the transfer case. I found a guy with an 87 f2 on Craigslist, he said he's got other parts as well. Hoping that includes the transfer case.

Georg knows far better than I - but i'm not sure what about a 62 linkage wont work. true - its more work but it does work. I reused my 62 t-case linkage in my 5 speed swap by shortening it.

anyway good luck with the parts search. when i was gathering parts to do my 5 speed swap...collecting parts was one thing that scared me more than any other part of the project...what does one do if they simply can't find a part they need?

keep searching - something will come up.
 
The 62 linkage won't work because of the 4WD solenoid in the FJ62. The 85-87 linkage is what you will need. It's also helpful to have the 85-87 floor sheet metal.

You'll need a pedal bucket and pedals too. Hopefully Georg can get you that.

You could also do a FJ62 transfer case, but then you'd need to modify that for manual shift, and all of that gets to be a lot of work.

I did my first H55f conversion in about 2005. I got the transmission brand new from Cruiserdan (now retired) for $1500. What a bargain they were then! And Cruiserdan brought the transmission to me at Cruise Moab. And I got the transfer case (an '87) from @shmukster who is still active on the board. And fortunately, he sent the linkage, bolts and the critical stuff needed to make this work.

That H55f lives on today in my FJ62. The FJ60 it was in, went back to H41 in 2008.

Anyway, this is not a hard conversion and earlier(84 down) almost doesn't matter as long as you get the later linkage and lengthen/shorten your driveshafts.

One other thing-if you ditch the Toyota linkage all together, Georg at Valley hybrids can make you a 2 stick shifter for the transfer that is even better than the stock linkage.
 
I vote Georg. I bought my H55F and a rebuilt split case from him.

It worked out perfectly and I’ve put 15k on the combo since last year. He’s great to deal with.

B47738D5-1894-42A0-A0CE-4B01B18A06E3.jpeg
 
The 62 linkage won't work because of the 4WD solenoid in the FJ62. The 85-87 linkage is what you will need. It's also helpful to have the 85-87 floor sheet metal.

You'll need a pedal bucket and pedals too. Hopefully Georg can get you that.

You could also do a FJ62 transfer case, but then you'd need to modify that for manual shift, and all of that gets to be a lot of work.

I did my first H55f conversion in about 2005. I got the transmission brand new from Cruiserdan (now retired) for $1500. What a bargain they were then! And Cruiserdan brought the transmission to me at Cruise Moab. And I got the transfer case (an '87) from @shmukster who is still active on the board. And fortunately, he sent the linkage, bolts and the critical stuff needed to make this work.

That H55f lives on today in my FJ62. The FJ60 it was in, went back to H41 in 2008.

Anyway, this is not a hard conversion and earlier(84 down) almost doesn't matter as long as you get the later linkage and lengthen/shorten your driveshafts.

One other thing-if you ditch the Toyota linkage all together, Georg at Valley hybrids can make you a 2 stick shifter for the transfer that is even better than the stock linkage.
That's interesting, he didn't even mention that was an option.... How it work? Not sure how 2 sticks to the trans would solve a transfer case linkage problem, but if theres one thing I've proved during my short time posting here it's that I don't know everything. Haha.
 
That's interesting, he didn't even mention that was an option.... How it work? Not sure how 2 sticks to the trans would solve a transfer case linkage problem, but if theres one thing I've proved during my short time posting here it's that I don't know everything. Haha.

Check this thread for lots of pics and details.
 

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