With or without Rear Diff Lock

[Campfire]

Has anyone looked into retro-fitting a 98/99 rear diff locker into a 98/99 that did not come with one?

I need to know if the main harness has the plugs for the switch, control unit, and axle harness in place if it did NOT originally come with the locker.

I crashed my 98 and bent the frame. It has a rear locker and I just found a killer deal on 99, but it has no locker. I can swap all the parts over if that main harness has the plugs for all the componets.

 

[hks3sgte]

I crashed my 98 and bent the frame.

The silver truck????

 

[Campfire]

Yes, my baby had a little discussion with some boulders that were hiding in the side of the trail.
I've decided to just let it go, and start over again. The frame is bent just behind the suspension and both lower cross members are out of alignment. The engine is over 1.5 inches to the right, and the front wheel is 3 inches farther back than the engineers had in mind. The sad part is, after some driveway alignment and putting my other set of rims on it, I've been driving back and forth to work.

So, if you have a 98 or 99 without the diff lock, could you look and see if the plugs are there?

 

[1loudLX]

The engine is over 1.5 inches to the right

Well im sure the JBA headers would fit on your truck then, haha.

 

[100 TD]

I am sure they would as it was still an option in 2000, a quick look at the wiring diagram shows you could probably easily wire it in, you have the Diff lock ECU, switches etc already. Should be plug and play, the speed sense from the combi meter could possibly be overridden if necessary.

 

[Liam]

I am sure they would as it was still an option in 2000, a quick look at the wiring diagram shows you could probably easily wire it in, you have the Diff lock ECU, switches etc already. Should be plug and play, the speed sense from the combi meter could possibly be overridden if necessary.

x2...i dont think they would change the wiring harness. you could ask Cdan if the harness is the same.

 

[uzj100]

So it may be possible that we have the wiring in 2000 LCs for the rear diff lock? Can someone check this out. I know on the 99 without the diff lock supposedly the wiring was not there.

Thanks,

uzj100

 

[Trunk Monkey]

I am sure they would as it was still an option in 2000

Not in the US. With the addition of A-TRAC and VSC, the harness is probably significantly different.

 

[Liam]

So it may be possible that we have the wiring in 2000 LCs for the rear diff lock? Can someone check this out. I know on the 99 without the diff lock supposedly the wiring was not there.

Thanks,

uzj100

i think it is farily easy to figure out. Call Cdan and ask if there are two different wiring harnesses for that year. If so then you can prolly bet it might not be there...

or call Slee

 

[3rd Cruiser]

Campfire,

Really sorry to hear of the demise of your truck. From your "featured truck" thread, I remember you had a very nice rig with losts of mods.

A review of the FSM did not shed too much light on answering your question. The Rear diff section shows three different diagrams, one with locking diff, one w/o locking diff and one with limited slip. But the electrical diagrams for the multimeter etc. only show one version which includes the rear dif actuater swithch and wiring.

It would appear from the wiring diagram that the wiring you need should be there, but I would contact C dan or Christo for a difinitive answer, as others have suggested.

As an aside, did you have rock sliders? In your opinion, relative to the type of "conversation" your truck had with the rocks, would the addition of sliders have helped reduce the damage to body and frame or did they magnify it.?

 

[Campfire]

Thanks 3rd, I've been in the parts biz a long time ago and know that the part numbers should be different, but production line can be a different story. I'll check with a dealer to see about it anyway.

Sliders = == Yes, they would have helped and probably saved 95% of the body damage. If I had sliders on it like I wanted to build, I would be fixing it and have a trail rig with no worries. And now I'm finding a couple more 100's with the diff lock, so I think I'm just going to go the easy route and buy one already equipped. Still have to swap my four pinion diff over though.

 

[100 TD]

I am sure they would as it was still an option in 2000..............

Not in the US. With the addition of A-TRAC and VSC, the harness is probably significantly different.

The reason I say they should be plug and play is because the wiring diagrams I am referring to come from the USA techinfo site. It is possible however that there may be some conflict.
However, IIRC, in 2003 in Australia, the rear diff lock was an option on our Sahara version (higher spec than mine, similar to your standard cruiser) and VSC etc was also there.
So I expect the wiring is still there. (and the 2003 model changed electrically to different size connectors on the wiring harness etc.)
Of course you still need to have the Diff lock ECU, switches, wiring loom from main harness to difflock motor etc.
However, if existing wiring is there (and I think it is) then even if you did not have the connection loom from diff to vehicle, it would only need to be made up with a piece of 7 core trailer wire or similar I expect.
My 2003 Australian 100 has the spot in the dash for the Diff lock switch to plug directly into, including the wiring connector floating behind the blank plug for the switch to plug into.
Why don't you guys without the diff lock pop the blank plug out and stick your hand up under the dash and see what spare connectors there are floating around ready for something to be plugged into?

There is one thing however, with the introduction to VSC they changed the dash locker illumination decals, so the lamps for diff lock may or may not be correct. Mine has the diff lock decals for the lamps, but on the printed circuit board it says VSC OFF and ATRAC etc IIRC. You will need to use a small powerfull torch to see if you have the available decal on your dash for the diff lock light.

EDIT: Trunk Monkey maybe correct, however I still expect to see wiring in place in the main harness. I may however be wrong.
From Slee's website http://www.sleeoffroad.com/newbie/newbieUZJ100.htm (good job Christo), in 2000 the diff lock was no longer an option in the US (although wiring from techinfo shows availability), so there may be some possible crossover of wiring connectability.
It would be interesting to find out, especially since it was still an option in 2003 in Australia. I am sure they don't make different MAIN harnesses for different countries, but I would expect the plug in end looms/connections may be different for many of the different models.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

I'd place a call to CDan and ask. Check if the axle housing codes are different, they are on the 80 series. EDIT - They're different (I forgot about the toyodiy.com resource). They also show non-locked, LSD, and locked 3rd members. Wonder who got the LSD?

It's possible to retrofit the rear locker on an unlocked 80 with some clearancing and all the correct parts. No idea on the 100. You'd need the locker, actuator, diff ECU, and harness from the actuator to the main harness.

The harness on an unlocked 80 has both the locker dial and CDL switch receptacles, so it stands to reason that an unlocked 98 or 99 probably does also.

 

[Elijah]

I thought the LX470 got the LSD in the rear?

 

[1loudLX]

correct.

 

[spressomon]

Hmmm...I know you're trying to shore up the cost column Jeff but if I were you I'd think about springing for the rear ARB too. It is soooo much faster at locking up. My OEM electro rear seems to take an inordinate amount of time lately to lock up.

But cheap it ain't.