[Dieck]

Gadget,

You are known as the supercharged 4runner/taco god. I'm assuming most people with chargers installed do not have any tranny mods. On your web page you seem like a strong proponent of level 10.

Do a lot of your customers experience tranny failure?

I have a stacked plate hayden cooler installed and I'm wondering if this will be enough to run supercharged reliably. Or do I need to have the tranny modified by level 10...

-Heath

 

[DCabTaco]

Well even though I am not "the supercharger god" I will say that most superchargered members should have the valve body upgrade. Well at least it is recommended so people are advised of the possible problem. In my opinion, better safe than sorry. Taking Gadget's site as the bible of supercharged tacos I think you may have answered your own question, but since this question was addressed to him so lets just wait and see if he chimes in.

 

[Dieck]

Thanks for the response. The question is open to all. I'm curious if there were revisions to the trannys as the tacoma/4runner matured that took care of this. If I recall correctly the tranny that failed for gadget was on a late 90s truck.

I'm curious how many trannys are failing becuase most guys seem too cheap to do fuel mods for a boost in engine life/horsepower so I am doubtful that they will pony up for tranny protection...

I live across the country from level 10 so it wouldn't be a small investment in time or money to get this done.

 

[DCabTaco]

Actually, I supercharged a few weeks ago, but haven't done the valve body upgrade yet. Like you I live on the other side of the country as well (Cali). I have heard of IPT which is a little closer and cheaper, but none the less you still have to remove the assembly and ship it to them so they can do the upgrade. I just feel it is a necessity since I do feel the tranny shift slower when I step on it. This is on a 2004 so it appears as though the transmission design is still geared towards comfort (slower smother shifting) and not performance. If I do recall that is where the problem lies with the transmission design. For this reason I will be doing my upgrade as soon as I get chance.

 

[Dieck]

Did you do fuel mods at the same time? Any idea what level 10 or IPT is charging for the valve body work?

 

[DCabTaco]

Yeah I did the URD fuel mod at the same time as well as the smaller pulley. I have the water injector system too, but I haven't put it on since the throttle body of the 04s is slightly different than the previous ones. The throttle body spacer(needed for the water injector install) needs 2 longer screws because of this and I am waiting on that to install it. That is another reason I don't like to go into boost. Since I have the smaller pulley it is more likely to ping.
As for the valve body upgrade, I haven't looked into the price that closely yet, but I think I remember IPT is around 500 and Level ten is around 800 or so. Oh and I was wrong now that I look at the IPT website again I notice they are in NJ as well.

 

[BLOWNYOTA]

i did the level 10 on my 2001 taco which is blown. My good friend / nieghbor has a 1999 S/C taco but his is a prerunner and seems to shift quite a bit sharper than mine. I have came to two conclusions for this. First i am running deavers with 275/65/16s where as he is still on stock springs with 235/75/15's. second i could be wrong but i got the LEVEL 10 done at 85,000 where as my nieghbor got his done at 5,000. what im trying to say is that my truck was run for 80'000 with no mods and his hasn't. i have a feeling my tranny is smoked, but not because of the level 10. only beacuse i didn't get it done soon enough. i highly recommend the level 10 it cost me a grand out the door, but it is sure a hell of alot cheaper than a new tranny. I also noticed a huge drop in tranny temps while driving it hard... aka beach...dez. Mostly because it wasn't switcing gears all the time. I Talked to Sam at level 10 and was really pleased. im sure you will be too.

 

[DesertTRD]

i did the level 10 on my 2001 taco which is blown. My good friend / nieghbor has a 1999 S/C taco but his is a prerunner and seems to shift quite a bit sharper than mine. I have came to two conclusions for this. First i am running deavers with 275/65/16s where as he is still on stock springs with 235/75/15's. second i could be wrong but i got the LEVEL 10 done at 85,000 where as my nieghbor got his done at 5,000. what im trying to say is that my truck was run for 80'000 with no mods and his hasn't. i have a feeling my tranny is smoked, but not because of the level 10. only beacuse i didn't get it done soon enough. i highly recommend the level 10 it cost me a grand out the door, but it is sure a hell of alot cheaper than a new tranny. I also noticed a huge drop in tranny temps while driving it hard... aka beach...dez. Mostly because it wasn't switcing gears all the time. I Talked to Sam at level 10 and was really pleased. im sure you will be too.

I noticed in your sig you put Canaleaver setup in progress got any pics? you rarely see a cantalever on a tacoma. Last time I saw one was on a Trophy Truck LOL

 

[beat taco]

my .02, not the best answer but here you go.

the ipt upgrade is more like $300. john can have your valvebody back to you in under 2 days. the point of the upgrade is to take some of the slush out of the slushbox, using less clutch and making firmer shifts, thus increasing your trannies life (especially with the added hp) and,as a bonus, your truck will get up to speed quicker, and after all you would have added the s/c'er if you didnt want it to go faster.

 

[BLOWNYOTA]

I noticed in your sig you put Canaleaver setup in progress got any pics? you rarely see a cantalever on a tacoma. Last time I saw one was on a Trophy Truck LOL

i don't have any pics yet.....ive only been on here a day....lol. Umm I know that the cantalever setup is rarely used except on trophy stuff (aka baldwin and collins trophy trucks. For my specific application Deavers and shackles, the rear end should cycle a safe 15", but with my 10" shocks it will only cycle the 10" of shaft (not to mention that the shocks are WAY to long for the stock offset mounts). In order to not bend my shock mounts or shock shafts i had to run the large polymer Daystar bump stops. I could build a bed cage ect. but Im a motocrosser and i like to be able to put 2 bikes, gear and cooler in the bed of my truck. so im gonna fab the cantilever setup with a 2:3 ratio, and then revalve the shocks accordingly and eventually air bumps. sounds stupid, because its gonna be a pain in the ass, but no one else will have it. some guys get hard ons for 16" of lift on 20" with 44's. but for me the better it works, and the stocker it looks, makes me smile....

 

[Super Doody]

i don't have any pics yet.....ive only been on here a day....lol. Umm I know that the cantalever setup is rarely used except on trophy stuff (aka baldwin and collins trophy trucks. For my specific application Deavers and shackles, the rear end should cycle a safe 15", but with my 10" shocks it will only cycle the 10" of shaft (not to mention that the shocks are WAY to long for the stock offset mounts). In order to not bend my shock mounts or shock shafts i had to run the large polymer Daystar bump stops. I could build a bed cage ect. but Im a motocrosser and i like to be able to put 2 bikes, gear and cooler in the bed of my truck. so im gonna fab the cantilever setup with a 2:3 ratio, and then revalve the shocks accordingly and eventually air bumps. sounds stupid, because its gonna be a pain in the ass, but no one else will have it. some guys get hard ons for 16" of lift on 20" with 44's. but for me the better it works, and the stocker it looks, makes me smile....

What color is your truck? I live in shell beach right now. I have 03 black, trd, sc, urd, mtrs and black steelies, donahoes....blah blah blah....with nor cal ttora stickers on the side windows.

 

[BLOWNYOTA]

I work in grover, so im sure weve seen eachother around. Its silver with MT classi 2 beadlock sims with a black ring. another one of my buddies YOTracer158 grew up with me, but lives in San Diego because he in the service but comes up regularly

 

[DCabTaco]

my .02, not the best answer but here you go.

the ipt upgrade is more like $300. john can have your valvebody back to you in under 2 days.

I noticed in the website it stated 500. Is there someone we contact for the 300 dollar price?

 

[beat taco]

ouch, i got mine over two years ago. level 10 must really get $1000 now too

 

[YoTRacer158]

What color is your truck? I live in shell beach right now. I have 03 black, trd, sc, urd, mtrs and black steelies, donahoes....blah blah blah....with nor cal ttora stickers on the side windows.

i didnt know you lived in shell beach...you going to the norcal pismo meet next weekend?

 

[Super Doody]

i didnt know you lived in shell beach...you going to the norcal pismo meet next weekend?

yeap shell beach. I told you before when I offer to help you install your urd kit. see you at pismo.

 

[YoTRacer158]

ah that's right...sorry my memory isnt too good, gets me in trouble a lot with the wife

 

[drabnor]

Gadget,

You are known as the supercharged 4runner/taco god. I'm assuming most people with chargers installed do not have any tranny mods. On your web page you seem like a strong proponent of level 10.

Do a lot of your customers experience tranny failure?

I have a stacked plate hayden cooler installed and I'm wondering if this will be enough to run supercharged reliably. Or do I need to have the tranny modified by level 10...

-Heath

on my prerunner, i put the charger on at about 40-50k mi. at around 75-80k the shift between 1st gear and 2nd gear kept getting worse and worse. it took a longer and longer time to shift the gears. at ~85k i swaped my transmission for a 4wd one that just so happened to have a level 10 vb upgrade in it allready :xrocker:

the difference is night and day, no more lagging shifts. every shift is nice and quick.

 

[YoTRacer158]

i've seen quite a few S/C'd auto trannies finally let loose around 90k