Gearbox swap options ? (1 Viewer)

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Hello everyone,

I have an LJ79 which is badged as Land Cruiser II and Prado in some markets.

This vehicle originally had the non turbo 3L engine and manual gearbox. See attached photo of the gearbox.

Some years ago, I built a more powerful engine for it. A 5L with a custom made variable geometry turbo and liquid to air intercooler system.

The vehicle has run with this engine mated to the standard gearbox and diffs for a number of years and 55,000 km.

In that time, it has broken the 3rd gear 3 times.

I now want to look at a stronger gearbox that I can swap into it.

From photos I see that the HZJ79 gearbox looks very much like my one from the outside. Does that have much stronger gears inside ?
Are there any other gearbox options available to me ?
I can make brackets / adapters etc and adapt things as I have extensive workshop facilities available to me.

Your input will be highly appreciated.

Thank you !
IMG_8937.JPG
 
Looks like an R150 box. HZJ trucks did get the same one. There are definitely variations within the R150 series, but I'm no expert on which is strongest. Output shafts etc vary too so an R150 that came with a different transfer case may not be easily swappable into a Landcruiser.

The obvious upgrade for that is the H55 5 speed gearbox as it is used in several different flavours of BJ & FJ Landcruiser that use the same 'split-case' transfer case as your LJ79. Not sure on adaptability to a 5L motor though, you may have to make something at that end.

Interesting that you're blowing 3rd. You must be getting some solid torque out of that boosted 5L - I've been pushing an R150 with a 4.0 1UZ V8 for many miles & the only thing I've broken was reverse by being an idiot doing donuts. Blew 3 diffs before changing to bigger ones though :D

Cheers
Clint
 
It's my understanding that the 3L-powered LJ's came with the G52 transmission, so an R150f would definitely be an upgrade. The G-series looks very similar to an R-series on the outside, but the transfer adapter looks a bit different. Also, from what I can tell the two common R-series transmissions in Cruisers (R150 and R151) are basically the same with the exception of gear ratios. Later models had a larger 5th gear bearing, but I'm not sure how that affects strength.
 
I think Airheadnut may be correct, I was not aware that the G52 & R150 looked so alike. I do remember reading that early LJ series came with the G52.

Cheers
Clint
 

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