Need help with front end head-scratcher (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

No locking hub at dana , just locking ring 😆

To be fair, DANA-SPICER proper absolutely still offers upgraded heavy-duty axles with locking hubs.

1702924618406.png
 
CDan mentioned to these same prototype units. I've never seen one and only heard the same anecdotal stories about them. As they were prototypes and not production units, there would be no EPC evidence of them. Have any photos by chance? I did a quick search here on Mud and couldn't find anything more than discussion. @orangefj45, have you ever seen a factory full-time 4WD 4x Series t-case?

I guess if we delve into the prototype variants that did or could exist the history of Cruisers is very different. I've seen some random stuff around the globe that was purportedly a Toyota prototype, some obviously are not, others could be? Toyota doesn't offer a ton of info about their prototypes to this day.

Have some other pictures on a hard drive back from 2007 when I bought it.
IMG_0367.jpg
0007.JPG
IMG_2611 (1).JPG
The carrot 044.jpg
IMG_0020.jpg
 

Do you have any pictures of the actual full-time t-case and linkage setup on that side of the t-case? What does that cable do? What case is it? Some BW or NP case stolen from a full-time Jeep? A 1pc Cruiser case with the front drive engaged and a cap bolted over the side where the FD mechanical or vacuum rod would normally be? I'm curious how you know it was a Toyota built prototype and not something a company or individual did in the 30+ years prior to your ownership? What was the mechanism to balance/lock/slip between the front and rear outputs of the t-case? Clutch? Differential? Viscous?

All I see is a factory shift knob that says H-N-L but that could be slipped on any shift lever as it was available as a new factory part for many years on 4x/5x models.

1702929153788.png
1702929251901.png


A Cruiser with the 'Magnet' style FD engagement could easily be setup to engage the FD when it's shifted into L4 as those cases had a switch on the top that recognized when they were in high or low, unique on that era case, they are still very much part-time cases however. They just use a switched solenoid to engage FD via the vacuum diaphram versus direct linkage or a cable opening a vacuum valve and engaging the FD via vacuum diaphram.

1702930004167.png
 
Do you have any pictures of the actual full-time t-case and linkage setup on that side of the t-case? What does that cable do? What case is it? I'm curious how you know it was a Toyota built prototype and not something a company or individual did in the 30+ years prior to your ownership? What was the mechanism to balance/lock/slip between the front and rear outputs of the t-case? Clutch? Differential? Viscous?

All I see is a factory shift knob that says H-N-L but that could be slipped on any shift lever as it was available as a new factory part for many years on 4x/5x models.

View attachment 3510216View attachment 3510219

A Cruiser with the 'Magnet' style FD engagement could easily be setup to engage the FD when it's shifted into L4 as those cases had a switch on the top that recognized when they were in high or low, unique on that era case, they are still very much part-time cases however. They just use a switched solenoid to engage FD versus direct linkage or a cable opening a vacuum valve and engaging the FD via vacuum diaphram.

View attachment 3510230


A number of threads about these full time 4WD prototype cruisers. JohnnyC when he was around did some research. He found out Borg Warner had a facility in Japan at the time and working with Toyota. l I have pictures of the underside. The torque tube behind the transfer case is custom. Uses the stock hole on the left side. Right side one is further back. The original hole for the torque tube is there unused. The transfer case has a adapter to use the standard hand brake.

I knew about this one for over ten years before I bought.
 
A number of threads about these full time 4WD prototype cruisers. JohnnyC when he was around did some research. He found out Borg Warner had a facility in Japan at the time and working with Toyota.

Yes, I've seen those but zero actual information that they were actual Toyota prototype beyond the same anecdotal discussion, JohnnyC dug deep and found zero official link. Neat setup for sure, but so are Fairey conversions, Hickey parts, etc.

The only thing that gives any real evidence it could have been fitted by Toyota (not to be confused with a factory built option) is the glove box shift plate which is both intriguing and damn cool.

DWS_0069.JPG


l I have pictures of the underside. The torque tube behind the transfer case is custom. Uses the stock hole on the left side. Right side one is further back. The original hole for the torque tube is there unused. The transfer case has a adapter to use the standard hand brake.

I knew about this one for over ten years before I bought.

Can you share those pics? Certainly pics of the actual prototype case, linkage and adapters in question would solve more queries than pics of the Cruiser, gorgeous as it may be.

So two in the US are known to exist and perhaps @Malleus has #3 but given his insistence that all FJ40's are full-time I'm not sure what the chances are there. If they were built as Toyota sanctioned prototypes, it's damn cool and damn odd.
 
Not sure where you buy a floor mat without transfer case opening cut out. same with the transmission cover. The two for the transfer case the nuts are welded to the underside like the transmission. Cruiser has 4,500 miles. I've never driven it in all the years I've owned it. Floor mat doesn't look like it has over 100K miles. VIN plaque lists the transmission as a M42.

0026.JPG
0040.JPG
0043.JPG
0049.JPG
0017.JPG
 
Believe the dash plaque that you posted a picture of is from JTO's 76. That one is two months never and the knob to lock the transfer case was moved to the dash on that one. It's the right color for his. I do not know of any other ones. The picture of the hand brake in my previous you can see the stock hole for the torque tube. likes like a virgin hole never used. If it didn't leave Toyota this way someone went to a lot of work to make it look stock. To my knowledge Never sold this floor without the transmission and transfer hole being cut at the factory. only the PTO hole was marked but not cut.
0002.JPG
0038.JPG
0039.JPG
0041.JPG
0044.JPG
 
Not sure where you buy a floor mat without transfer case opening cut out. same with the transmission cover. The two for the transfer case the nuts are welded to the underside like the transmission. Cruiser has 4,500 miles. I've never driven it in all the years I've owned it. Floor mat doesn't look like it has over 100K miles.


Thanks for the additional pics! :cool:

The floor mat could come from a early 70's FJ40 with column shift and the 'Vacuum Type' Hi-Low knob under the dash near the park brake. Then when the Borg-Warner 'prototype' modification was done, they just cut holes.

1702935729382.png


1702935895797.png


I mean if Toyota's vendor produced a floor mat specific to this prototype, would they not have cleaned up the holes and made the external pattern match too?

1702936076632.png




Pic of the VIN/data tag? I'd love to see that too!

The glovebox door, data tag, welded nuts, and even the park brake setup are more than I would expect from a one-off or low volume conversion being done at the time so perhaps two Toyota (or sub-contractor) built full-time 4WD's do exist. But they are not factory and they are not common, JohnnyC said it best... "conjecture... NOBODY knows most upper guys who knew what was what are retired or past on ... literature and paperwork are in boxes inside boxes in back room basements of toyota administration buildings ... good luck finding anything" :D

I did find more anecdotal discussion about "The more time I spent under the truck the more I realized it wasn't a conversion. There were too many dedicated parts with Toyota stamps. That's when we did the research and found the history" - Where is this history? The same story line but nothing pointing to where that story came from.
 
Last edited:
Well that has to be a Toyota tranny and t-case cuz they‘re leaking oil 😝.
 
This floor mat is made for four speed with bucket seats. It's the same as other four speeds up to 1\79. Prior to 9/72 the tunnel cover is shorter and would be short side to side on 9/73 to 1/79. Not sure what was used in markets like Australia in 73 that had a different four speed during the 73 model. Some would have gone to a lot of work to make that unused torque hole like it have never been welded. Johnny and I had a bunch of emails about the full time 4WD. He never had anyone denied it just no one he contacted remembered back to the mid seventies. Toyota is not known for sharing to begin with. I know @lcwizard seen it back when the previous owner bought it and was convinced it was a prototype.
 
This floor mat is made for four speed with bucket seats. It's the same as other four speeds up to 1\79. Prior to 9/72 the tunnel cover is shorter and would be short side to side on 9/73 to 1/79. Not sure what was used in markets like Australia in 73 that had a different four speed during the 73 model. Some would have gone to a lot of work to make that unused torque hole like it have never been welded. Johnny and I had a bunch of emails about the full time 4WD. He never had anyone denied it just no one he contacted remembered back to the mid seventies. Toyota is not known for sharing to begin with. I know @lcwizard seen it back when the previous owner bought it and was convinced it was a prototype.

Ah, good intel on the trans/tunnel seat configuration. I'm pretty sure that the 1975+ GEN 40's with the factory 3spd had the traditional 4spd trans length tunnel. However I can't say I've ever seen one with a magnet type t-case (FD and H-L lever on dash), 3F (or column) shifter AND bucket seats so it's a long shot that the prototype floor mat came from one of those. Amazing stuff, I'm still looking for something less storied but it's fun to dig into regardless. Either way, it ain't factory built. :D

Edit: threads on the full-time 4WD prototype FJ40 subject for any that want to dig into it:
 
Two more hours I now won’t get back 😂
 
Ah, good intel on the trans/tunnel seat configuration. I'm pretty sure that the 1975+ GEN 40's with the factory 3spd had the traditional 4spd trans length tunnel. However I can't say I've ever seen one with a magnet type t-case (FD and H-L lever on dash), 3F (or column) shifter AND bucket seats so it's a long shot that the prototype floor mat came from one of those. Amazing stuff, I'm still looking for something less storied but it's fun to dig into regardless. Either way, it ain't factory built. :D

Edit: threads on the full-time 4WD prototype FJ40 subject for any that want to dig into it:
During the first "gas shortage" in the late 70s, Toyota got together with Borg Warner and built a Full time T-case for the 40 based on the Jeep
Quadratrac T-case. It had shifters on both side of the tranny shifter. They never got into full production and DOT approval so they were sold off
to public entities like schools. A customer acquired one back in the 90s that was used at a high school to push football sleds around the football field.
It only had a few thousand miles on it. I thought it was custom at first but everything was Toyota, down to the glovebox shift pattern plate .
That floor mat looks about right
 
During the first "gas shortage" in the late 70s, Toyota got together with Borg Warner and built a Full time T-case for the 40 based on the Jeep
Quadratrac T-case. It had shifters on both side of the tranny shifter. They never got into full production and DOT approval so they were sold off to public entities like schools. A customer acquired one back in the 90s that was used at a high school to push football sleds around the football field.
It only had a few thousand miles on it. I thought it was custom at first but everything was Toyota, down to the glovebox shift pattern plate .
That floor mat looks about right

That's even more interesting details. Any references to this information or at least a source of where said information came from? All the information seems to come from the guy that sourced it from a High School yeah?

Why would they do a full-time 4wd during the gas shortage? What DOT approval does Toyota or anyone need for a different t-case variant?
 
Ah, good intel on the trans/tunnel seat configuration. I'm pretty sure that the 1975+ GEN 40's with the factory 3spd had the traditional 4spd trans length tunnel. However I can't say I've ever seen one with a magnet type t-case (FD and H-L lever on dash), 3F (or column) shifter AND bucket seats so it's a long shot that the prototype floor mat came from one of those. Amazing stuff, I'm still looking for something less storied but it's fun to dig into regardless. Either way, it ain't factory built. :D

The mat is 1/75-1/79. Opening matches the four speed. Can see the rib in the mat around the transmission opening. 9/73+ the three speed and four speed shared the same boot for the shifter. Transmissions didn't. 9/73 the boot changed for the three speed. It was larger than previous years
But the three speed and four speed shift towers were in different locations on the floor. This one is for a four speed. The size and shape of the transmission covers changed 9/72 and didn't change until 1/79. 9/72 transfer boot changed. 9/73 both boots changed on the three speed. Transfer was the same as the four speed transfer. Three speed transmission boot is rare here because it was only used 9/73-1/74. Quick search a dash mounted high low ended 2/75. What makes this mat 1/75+ is the opening for cowl drains. 74 the drain from the cowl ran threw the firewall.

To me the frame says Toyota built unless you could order a frame with a special mod. Can't see any other way that torque tube could be installed other than at assembly. Someone was committed to not just modify a stock frame. Watching the video on the first GX550 off the line could see making a prototype coming off the product line. Back in 1975 was that possible or was it on and off the line. Everything but the frame something else other than factory is possible. The only two know are both early 76s made in late 1975. Newer has the cable to lock the transfer case moved to the dash which would be more a convenient location. Have a few pictures for the other one in an old email. One shows that knob. This isn't my cruiser and not going to post pictures of someone else's cruiser. I know JTO mentioned it on their website at one time. Maybe someone has seen it in person.
 
I worked on the truck and ran the ID plate. It was definitely a Toyota built combination. The t-case was factory mated to the Quadratrac.
I can't recall the part number. I believe the Jeep version was a 1339 and the Toyota version was one number off. Maybe a 1340. I never looked into why Toyota dropped the project. Probably because the Quadratrac T-case wasn't all that great of a case. The project was probably started before the gas shortage. I knew of two, both were 1976 models I believe. maybe 75 but pretty sure they were 76's. Absolutely sure that they were factory built. Too many "Toyota" details in the build to be somebodie's crazy project.

Whatever the reason, only a handful ended up in the USA . The one that I worked on had been donated by Fann Toyota to the Deer Valley school district
who sold it to a customer of mine
 
About the original question have this to say with lockout hubs even a Birfield was the issue and was locking up the transfer case and rear wheels would be the problem if the front driveshaft was engaged. Test I would do is with the wheel locked up. Try backing up. Brake problem should see no change. Bearing issue would expect a change reversing direction.
 
The mat is 1/75-1/79. Opening matches the four speed. Can see the rib in the mat around the transmission opening. 9/73+ the three speed and four speed shared the same boot for the shifter. Transmissions didn't. 9/73 the boot changed for the three speed. It was larger than previous years
But the three speed and four speed shift towers were in different locations on the floor. This one is for a four speed. The size and shape of the transmission covers changed 9/72 and didn't change until 1/79. 9/72 transfer boot changed. 9/73 both boots changed on the three speed. Transfer was the same as the four speed transfer. Three speed transmission boot is rare here because it was only used 9/73-1/74. Quick search a dash mounted high low ended 2/75. What makes this mat 1/75+ is the opening for cowl drains. 74 the drain from the cowl ran threw the firewall.
To me the frame says Toyota built unless you could order a frame with a special mod. Can't see any other way that torque tube could be installed other than at assembly. Someone was committed to not just modify a stock frame. Watching the video on the first GX550 off the line could see making a prototype coming off the product line. Back in 1975 was that possible or was it on and off the line. Everything but the frame something else other than factory is possible. The only two know are both early 76s made in late 1975. Newer has the cable to lock the transfer case moved to the dash which would be more a convenient location. Have a few pictures for the other one in an old email. One shows that knob. This isn't my cruiser and not going to post pictures of someone else's cruiser. I know JTO mentioned it on their website at one time. Maybe someone has seen it in person.

Great intel on the mat. I've never seen a 1/75+ 3spd mat in person, vehicles only.

Sorry, I was under the impression you owned it. Is the current owner here on Mud? Willing to share his/her name?

I worked on the truck and ran the ID plate. It was definitely a Toyota built combination. The t-case was factory mated to the Quadratrac. I can't recall the part number. I believe the Jeep version was a 1339 and the Toyota version was one number off. Maybe a 1340. I never looked into why Toyota dropped the project. Probably because the Quadratrac T-case wasn't all that great of a case. The project was probably started before the gas shortage. I knew of two, both were 1976 models I believe. maybe 75 but pretty sure they were 76's. Absolutely sure that they were factory built. Too many "Toyota" details in the build to be somebodie's crazy project.

Whatever the reason, only a handful ended up in the USA . The one that I worked on had been donated by Fann Toyota to the Deer Valley school district
who sold it to a customer of mine

You were able to run the ID plate and get the EPC or some Toyota document to show the Quadratrac transmission? How and where? This is information levels I've never seen on an early Cruiser and certainly would be a massive benefit to the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum and Cruiser community if there were a way.



At a minimum we may have different definitions of factory production built. Arakawa Auto Body definitely did custom projects on behalf of Toyota and/or end users, an example would be this Kyushu Electric Power patrol car.

1702956941358.png


Another would be this 4-dr BJ74 built by Arakawa Auto Body for Nagoya Diesel

1702957222628.png


I personally don't consider those production builds rather custom spec builds.
 
Last edited:
Great intel on the mat. I've never seen a 1/75+ 3spd mat in person, vehicles only.

Sorry, I was under the impression you owned it. Is the current owner here on Mud? Willing to share his/her name?



You were able to run the ID plate and get the EPC or some Toyota document to show the Quadratrac transmission? How and where? This is information levels I've never seen on an early Cruiser and certainly would be a massive benefit to the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum and Cruiser community if there were a way.



At a minimum we may have different definitions of factory production built. Arakawa Auto Body definitely did custom projects on behalf of Toyota and/or end users, an example would be this Kyushu Electric Power patrol car.

View attachment 3511035

Another would be this 4-dr BJ74 built by Arakawa Auto Body for Nagoya Diesel

View attachment 3511046

I personally don't consider those production builds rather custom spec builds.


I own the beige one. The green one belongs to JTO on the east coast. Picture I have of that one back east came in a personal email do not feel right posting here. When the Miller Group purchased Proffitt's shop in Colorado and moved to it to Utah I was in contact with the person running that shop. Mentioned my 76 to keep and was told the museum was not currently expanding. Wasn't trying to sell it. I had four FJ25s at that time and mentioned those as well. May have thought I was trying sell those which I wasn't. That was obviously years ago. But just seem the least bid interested in the 76 with full time 4WD. The picture with sheet over it is how it sits now. Actually in a good climate to preserve it.

What would you expect to see on a VIN plaque for a custom build? Only thing not normal for an FJ40 is the M42 transmission. Has A pillar plaque and serial number puts the production in the month on the A pillar plaque.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom