Chainsaw_Willie

The VIN tag on my '84 truck says I have a G52 trans. However, I bought this truck with 200K on it when it was 22 years old, so who knows what's in it now. Previous owners had changed some things.

I'm going through this truck and refreshing just about everything. Putting a rebuilt 22R with 260 cam & header in. Have a ported 20R head with oversized valves waiting in the wings. The trans worked when I stopped driving it, but I don't trust a trans that old with (now) 250K miles on it and want to start scouring Craigslist and the J-yards for a replacement.

I've been searching and reading all afternoon and have found answers to quite a few questions and have also found info that leads me to other questions, so here goes:

(1) Is there any easy way to tell the difference between a G52 and a G54? They look identical in pictures.

(2) According to the chart on Marlin Crawler's website, the G58 and W56-C, -D, and -E were used during the same years. Why the two different transmissions? Did they have different applications?

(3) Will all of these transmissions bolt right in or are there issues with crossmembers, driveshaft/u-bolts, etc. with some of them?

(4) Which ones are the strongest? I'd like to start looking for the strongest replacement that will bolt in.

(5) What is the difference between a top-shift and forward-shift transfer case?

(6) According to this website:
http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/faq/parts/
A VF1A transfer case has a 2.57 gear reduction compared to the 2.28 of the RF1A found behind the G52, G54, and W56 trannies. Will the VF1A bolt up to those transmissions?

From reading all of this, it looks like a G58 which came with the VF1A t-case would be a good setup (unless the chain drive is bad) but wondering whether it'll bolt in and what these trannies were used in.

Yeah, I know this is long and it's a lot of questions, but maybe this info can be added to the Wiki or made into a sticky or something once it's all compiled.

Chainsaw_Willie

Found the answer to question (5) here:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=775780

Forward-shift means that both shifters are on the transmission.



Top-shift means that the t-case shift lever is on the t-case itself.



Still very curious about strength and swapping issues.

Chainsaw_Willie

So no one's willing to chime in with any info? I'm still searching for answers to these questions, but it's like pulling hen's teeth.

For example, lots of anecdotal evidence saying the W56 is stronger than the G52/54 but very little in the way of a technical discussion backing up that statement. I'm not saying it isn't true, I do believe it, but why? And how does the G58 compare? Seems the R150 from the turbo motors is a strong tranny too, how does it compare to the others?

Still haven't found much interchange info either. From reading lots of posts, it seems these are all basically a bolt-in but it would be nice to know if there are any little issues (crossmember, driveshaft compatibility, shifter location, etc.)

No info on t-cases found yet either. Do they all interchange or were there different bolt patterns? I've seen reference to bolt patterns but no clear explanations. Also, are the chain driven cases significantly weaker or problem prone?

Any little bits of info people can contribute would be helpful. I'd think it would be nice to have all of the information on transmission interchangeability in one place, no?