What do I need?
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Alot of people on here will tell you to trade it in saying it's easier and cheaper. It may be easier to trade it in, but I don't think it's cheaper, unless your truck is mod-free, ultra-clean, extremely low miles, in very excellent condition, and you get an older 4wd with more miles than the Prerunner. I know cuz I looked into it myself.
I know of three guys who've converted their Prerunners to 4WD using stock components. Snutty in Nor Cal, Chad (aka Reaper) in TX and a guy that frequents the 4x4wire.com Tacoma forum. Everything bolts in. With the help of some buddies, you should be able to do it in a weekend. You'll need the front diff, CV axles and hubs, transfer case, front driveshaft, and a tranny from a 4WD (the Prerunner tranny won't work - although there's a theory it might work if you go with a divorced t-case - but then you have to get custom driveshafts). There may be a few other things I'm missing, so hopefully Snutty and Chad will chime in. Snutty and the guy at 4x4wire.com say that they got all the parts for $1000 - $1500 (which, in my view, makes it much cheaper to do the conversion than to trade it in). I don't know how much Chad paid for all the necessary parts, though.
There's another guy in Florida who went another route and did a solid axle swap on his Prerunner. I don't know how much it cost him, but I wouldn't be surprised if it cost the same as it would have if he had traded it in on a stock 4WD Tacoma (I have a 99 Prerunner, and I would have taken at least a $3K hit just to trade it in for a 95-96 older Tacoma!).
Another option is do what I did - instead of saving the money for a conversion, keep the Prerunner and save up for a beater 4WD - for less than $2K I was able to score a 47 Jeep Willys with a spring over axle that runs perfectly and a gutted 86 Bronco that needs some work. The Willys cost $1400 and the Bronco only $500. For $2K more, I scored another 93 Bronco in almost perfect running condition - just needs a new t-case. I still use the Prerunner to haul parts and other heavy stuff for the Bronco projects, and now that I have three 4x4 vehicles, I may just end up "prerunnerizing" the Prerunner and using one of the 4WD Broncos to tow the Willys to the trails.
Hope this helps and have fun with the conversion!
I know of three guys who've converted their Prerunners to 4WD using stock components. Snutty in Nor Cal, Chad (aka Reaper) in TX and a guy that frequents the 4x4wire.com Tacoma forum. Everything bolts in. With the help of some buddies, you should be able to do it in a weekend. You'll need the front diff, CV axles and hubs, transfer case, front driveshaft, and a tranny from a 4WD (the Prerunner tranny won't work - although there's a theory it might work if you go with a divorced t-case - but then you have to get custom driveshafts). There may be a few other things I'm missing, so hopefully Snutty and Chad will chime in. Snutty and the guy at 4x4wire.com say that they got all the parts for $1000 - $1500 (which, in my view, makes it much cheaper to do the conversion than to trade it in). I don't know how much Chad paid for all the necessary parts, though.
There's another guy in Florida who went another route and did a solid axle swap on his Prerunner. I don't know how much it cost him, but I wouldn't be surprised if it cost the same as it would have if he had traded it in on a stock 4WD Tacoma (I have a 99 Prerunner, and I would have taken at least a $3K hit just to trade it in for a 95-96 older Tacoma!).
Another option is do what I did - instead of saving the money for a conversion, keep the Prerunner and save up for a beater 4WD - for less than $2K I was able to score a 47 Jeep Willys with a spring over axle that runs perfectly and a gutted 86 Bronco that needs some work. The Willys cost $1400 and the Bronco only $500. For $2K more, I scored another 93 Bronco in almost perfect running condition - just needs a new t-case. I still use the Prerunner to haul parts and other heavy stuff for the Bronco projects, and now that I have three 4x4 vehicles, I may just end up "prerunnerizing" the Prerunner and using one of the 4WD Broncos to tow the Willys to the trails.
Hope this helps and have fun with the conversion!
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From this guy about a year ago:GOT COPE? said:
http://feedback.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=rc_steve&item=2460100416&iid=2460100416&frm=1883&ssPageName=STRK:MERFB:UID
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Ed pretty much said it all. Here is a rough idea of what I got and how much I spent:Maddog096 said:
4WD Tranny - $600 used at a junk yard
T-Case - $250 from a fellow TTORA member, Ralph
Front Diff and CV axles (also got a few other various parts) Came with 4.88 gears and a Lockrite locker
- $650 from Shannon when he did his SASSpindles/Hubs (and a spare set of CVs) - $200 from A fellow TTORA member, Bear
Center Console piece - Free, from Ralph
Front Drive Shaft - $90 from a fellow TTORA member on the board, can't remember who. Ralph switched it out for a brand new one
Rear Drive Shaft cut down - $125 at a place in San Antonio TX
Oil Dipstick and upper Tube - $50 (??) something like that, got from a dealer
Other thing you will need, is the tranny mount for the 4WD tranny. It is different from the Pre-Runner...
Think that is about it. It was all bolt up. Had to cut a hole for the shifter and that was about it. I have a write up. E-mail me and I will send it to you:
reaper @ txttora.com
Was it worth it ?? Hell yea
Best money I have spent on the Taco so far. Now I just want to SAS it !! Some may say, why not do that the first time ?? Well this was faster and cheaper, ie: get's me where I want sooner, and half the stuff I had to do/buy I would need to do for an SAS anyways. So now all I need is an axle (think I found one, a Ford 9) and steering setup along with coils/springs. Will cost a lot less to do this time since I have some of the parts I needed (ie: Tranny, T-case, etc). Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions...Later,
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Would it be possible to get a copy of your writeup on your conversion?? im planning on doing the same thing to my 04 double cab. thanks.
Here's a brief write-up from the FAQ section:rigwelderstaco said:
http://www.ttora.com/wiki/index.php/Prerunner_to_4_wheel_drive_conversion
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what's nuts is i blue booked my 2004 prerunner, and the exact same setup in 4x4 was only $500 more! would have costed 3k if picked it at the dealer. so technically, you'd save money by doing a conversion, but lose money if you tried to sell it
regardless, i'm also interested in a more detailed write-up/experiences with the conversion. i think i might start collecting parts...
regardless, i'm also interested in a more detailed write-up/experiences with the conversion. i think i might start collecting parts...
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I'll probably finish up the write-up by the end of this week. I didn't take all the pics that I wanted to when we did the swap so I'm going to try to take a few of the truck right now and mark on them what needs to be done. In the mean time you can check out pics of the conversion in the Gallery and Conversion links in my sig. Feel free to PM me if you've got any questions.
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