Tranny swap??

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Mr Snappy

Mr Snappy

Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Threads
18
Messages
213
Location
Arizona
So, just as a feeler, and thought experiment-
I have a 2001 with the original 4spd trans.
What would need to be done to swap in a later year model with the 5spd trans? Having a donor tranny, obviously, and different shifter gate assembly, but other than that, what else? Would the ECM need to be reflashed? Can the ECM be reflashed to recognize the the 5spd trans? Is there any BCM data that runs through the TCM?
What about torque converters, shifter cable linkage, bolt patterns, etc??
If anybody know if this is even an option, or there's a build thread of this being done, let me know please.
 
Following because I am interested as well. My original idea was to just get a complete 2UZ with attached 5spd, along with the complete harness and ECM/TCM. It would be really intensive, but I believe it would result in the least amount of issues and problems upon completion. Unfortunately after doing previous research on wiring diagrams I believe the gauge cluster might need to be swapped as well.

Torque converter will probably have a different stall pressure than the 4spd, hence my idea to just buy the complete assembly. The blocks are the same though, so I imagine as long as you get the tranny with the correct bellhousing, it should bolt up.
 
It's probably just me, but with so many '03+ Land Cruisers available at what I consider to be "vehicle bargain of the year" prices, why in the world would it be worth the time/money/reliability/headache costs to R&R the transmission with one extra gear? :confused:
 
Because if it's not really that hard to do, it'd be cheaper than buying another rig. That's why I'm looking and asking, what's really involved?
 
Sandroad said:
It's probably just me, but with so many '03+ Land Cruisers available at what I consider to be "vehicle bargain of the year" prices, why in the world would it be worth the time/money/reliability/headache costs to R&R the transmission with one extra gear? :confused:
Click to expand...
Because if I have a fully built rig modified to my taste, that has been owned/maintained by myself, and that I know practically ever nut and bolt on, I'd rather keep that then get a completely new vehicle. But besides that there's several reasons that come to mind:
-I would have 5spd and a non-nav dash
-Why sell my hundy and spend $5k+ more to buy a '03+, when I can get all the above mentioned parts for the same price out of a wrecked 100? Doesn't seem like much more work than buying/selling :D
-I would have the only 2000 LX470 that has a 5spd


But for me the biggest factor is switching vehicles. By the time I would consider doing this swap, I would already have hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars invested. All on mods specifically chosen by myself.
 
I would give Gear Vendors a call and see if they have an application that would work. I don't see one listed on their site but, they could easily make one work for you. At the price of converting to just a 5 speed you might save a bunch of work with a bolt on two speed that would give you 8 speeds. It would bolt on to the tail of the transfer case and would not require a bunch of ecu trouble shooting. At least worth a shot and if it works it could be utilized in low range crawling too.

Gear Vendors under/overdrive transmissions the most awarded auxiliary transmissions.
 
No doubt that it can be done, but if you look at the thread I linked above, it seems:

1) that the transmission is controlled by the ECU (not a separate control box)
2) the connectors at the ECU changed between the 2002 to 2003 model years.​

If this information is correct, it probably means that it is still doable, but not without substantial pain and cost.
 
jLB said:
No doubt that it can be done, but if you look at the thread I linked above, it seems:

1) that the transmission is controlled by the ECU (not a separate control box)
2) the connectors at the ECU changed between the 2002 to 2003 model years.​

If this information is correct, it probably means that it is still doable, but not without substantial pain and cost.
Click to expand...
This is correct, all issues I have found researching hence my suggested solution mentioned at the beginning. But didn't know if it could just be a simple connector change or if they are completely different harnesses.

I think to fully pull off the swap you would be needing the engine, tranny, wiring harness, cluster, and any other associated bits (most likely out of a wrecker). Hopefully we can eventually figure out if that's necessary or not.

JayM said:
I would give Gear Vendors a call and see if they have an application that would work. I don't see one listed on their site but, they could easily make one work for you. At the price of converting to just a 5 speed you might save a bunch of work with a bolt on two speed that would give you 8 speeds. It would bolt on to the tail of the transfer case and would not require a bunch of ecu trouble shooting. At least worth a shot and if it works it could be utilized in low range crawling too.

Gear Vendors under/overdrive transmissions the most awarded auxiliary transmissions.
Click to expand...
While a cool idea, this won't work on our vehicles. In order to have equal ratios the extra gearbox would need to be placed in between the tranny/transfer case or one will need to be placed on both the front and rear outputs of the transfer case. Neither of those situations would work as they would both shorten the driveshaft and introduce harsher angles to the already compressed driveline.

This is more of a product meant for full size American trucks, not medium AWD SUVs. Honestly I doubt those guys would even touch a Toyota.
 
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jLB said:
Probably the easier solution would be to:

1) find an OEM manual transmission ECU for your model year

2) use an aftermarket standalone controller

Click to expand...
Don't know where/how I could source #1. My OCD probably then wouldn't like the install of #2 as I can guarantee you there would still be flaws. If I ever committed this, final install would be completely OEM as possible. I guess if you strictly want the 5spd this would be a good option.

Also shift indicator is differnet on each cluster so those would need to be swapped.
 
Hmm, 5spd manual would be cool, but yeah, where to find one...
 
Mr Snappy said:
Hmm, 5spd manual would be cool, but yeah, where to find one...
Click to expand...
Just to clarify he's not suggesting using a 5spd manual tranny but rather just a manual tranny ecu. That way the truck will run fine and you can just use a slandalone ecu for the 5spd. The only problem I see with that is the lack of integration with the rest of the truck. No more tranny codes, no more diagnosis through techstream or other software, no OEM application, etc.
 
re_guderian said:
Der, I thought you were talking about a TCU... Must be Monday. I'm all good now...
Click to expand...

Since it seems that there is not a standalone (OEM) TCU, and the TCU function is included in the ECU, I was suggesting swapping to an ECU w/o the TCU function and using an aftermarket standalone TCU would possibly be the easiest way to swap the A750 5spd auto into a pre-2003 LC/LX.

This assumes that there was a pre-2003 UZJ100 offered somewhere in the world with a manual transmission, and you could get one of these ECUs from either one of the JDM engine importers, or an overseas salvage yard.
 
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Was there a manual trans offered anywhere in the 100 series? Like an actual 5spd stick shift?
 
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