Jwbenninger

Right, the tranny came with the mount still on the crossmember. and the fwd driveshaft is still in the truck so I will grab that too. I have the haynes manual for the truck, It has some wiring diagrams in the back. Do you have a specific diagram for the 4x4 system? Is there any chance that you could e-mail it to me if you do? I am going around to a few other yards in the denver area looking for the rest of my parts, so i will ask around about a tranny mount.

Jim

Jwbenninger

Everything is here! I drove back to denver and picked up everything... and then some. The guys at the junkyard had everything pulled including the rack and pinion and the entire wiring harness from the truck. So if you still need any lead ends I have about a million here. Plus every box and plug and relay from behind the dash of our trucks. And a spare rack if anyone is interested. I couldnt wait to start so I went ahead and plugged in the 4x4 computer. SWEET LIGHTS!!! Still waiting on my rear gears. Do you know any way of checking the gear ratio in the front diff. The sticker on the truck said it had 4.10 gears but I just want to be sure. Did you get your rear driveshaft yet?

caligula455

yeah i do still need four big connectors, i'll take a picture and some measurements and maybe you can find some in your harness. that would actually be a big help.

if you have axles to throw in the differential you can count it manually, the ADD has to be engaged though so thats probably out. you could probably look it up if you had the VIN of the truck it came out of.

isnt it fun to see the lights blinking? once you have the dash part sapped you can even press the buttons.

Jwbenninger

Yeah we were driving back from Grand Junction yesterday and got into some snow while my wife was driving. She looked at me then reached down and pressed the 4hi button. Then just laughed.

bigtrucknwheels

did you start a build-up thread of your own?

Jwbenninger

Yeah I started one of my own. Just have to get the before pics posted as soon as I get them off of this camera.

Jwbenninger

Hey I got pics up of all my stuff on the thread I started. Check them out!

sailorJoe

so how did it work out for you im trying to do a 2wd to 4wd to my 04 sr5. any tips?

caligula455

i'm still working on it, havent gotten much done all winter but i'm hoping to start up again soon now that i have some more time and the weather is better.

check out Jwbenninger's thread. he is already done with his and is driving it.

sailorJoe

i need a list of all the stuff i need, my friend found a place in South Carolina that said he sells everything for it fo $850. I just want to make sure i get everything.

Jwbenninger

L/H and R/H cv shafts
L/H and R/H front control arms
Front diff
front drive shaft
tranny w/ transfercase
rear driveshaft
rear diff gears ONLY IF FRONT DIFF DIFFERENT FROM YOUR STOCK REAR mine was the same so it saved me some work!!
Tranny mount and cross member
4x4 ecu
4x4 buttons (comes in climate control bezel)
Engine side wiring harness so you can get the leads you need to put into your plug.
Make sure the junkyard dosent cut the attaching hardware that stuff gets expensive fast.

I think thats it

sailorJoe

Sweet man, thanks a whole lot!!!!

caligula455

the weather has warmed up and the snow is gone from my drive way, so it is time to get back to the tundra project.

i received a wiring harness plug from Jwbenninger so with the last of the connector pins that i needed the wiring in the dash is done. the front diff iss already wired so i connected the transfer case connectors with it on the ground next to the truck and was able to shift it with the dash buttons.

a new transmission mount is on order and i'm ready to swap the transmission. will probably do the re-gear first though once my vise is back together from cleaning and greasing.

caligula455

so after lots of excuses and a lot of wasted time, i finally started the regear tonight. the differential is out of the truck and on the workbench so the real work will start first thing tomorrow.

I had been waiting on starting the regear till i finished rebuilding my new 60's Wilton vise. its a 4" machinist vice and its in great shape for being 50 years old. the thread was a little stuck from the gunked up grease, but it spins free now and clamps perfectly straight.

here are some before:







everything got soaked in soapy water and scrubbed. parts masked off and primed and painted. the machined surfaces oiled threads greased. cleaned up real nice.




pictures of removing the differential to follow soon.

caligula455

now for the pictures of the real work.

on jackstands, the right side is a little lower to help the oil drain since the plug is on that side. cardboard gives you something to pull the diff out on once you drop it.


drive shaft off, put matching marks on. i just marked the down spot on the dif flange since the shaft isnt moving.


remove the wheels then the drums. mine were stuck with rust (damn new england salt) 8mm 1.25 bolts help to pull it off.


clamped the brake hose with vice grips and removed the parking brake cable, abs sensor plug and brake line from each backing plate, then removed the axles. here you can see the axle seal that is going to be replaced.


opening pluged up and axle next to the truck





and FINALLY the diff on the bench






now back down to the basement to get some work done.

caligula455

The gears are in and i went for a test drive. everything felt smooth and quiet. i think i need to bleed the brakes again cause it still feels a little spongey, but not too bad.

i had a hell of a time getting the pinion nut off until i borrowed an impact wrench from work. the tooth pattern turned out pretty good, definately not perfect, but i'll live with it. lots of pictures to post tomorrow.

now just the transmission and transfer case and its all done.

bigtrucknwheels

8 month update? Its winter now haha

caligula455

Its been a really busy summer, fall and most of winter and i have made zero progress on the truck. (got married, 'nuf said)

The project is still on and next up are the 33" tires to even out the gearing. i can say that the swapped gears still feel smooth and quiet, but the low gearing is getting old.

I also have a remote start / alarm to install (already did the wife's car) which i'll post on here too just for the wiring info

then finally on to the big stuff and swapping the tranny. anyone near Boston have a garage and want to help? its cold out in my driveway!

caligula455

there is a flat spot by the tail end that lets the vise get a good grip on it without touching the dust shield:


make sure to keep track of the shims, caps and bolts:


now you can remove the ring gear and put on the new one:



now take out the pinion:


once the nut is off you can pull of the flange:


and then the dust shield, an open end wrench works well:


here is the old pinion and the new one with a fresh crush sleeve:


The pattern isn't entirely centered, but its all on the tooth and it is in the middle vertically and i'm not able to change the pinion shimming so i called it good enough. backlash measured right on all the way around:


then I reinstalled with a fresh gasket the way i took it out and refilled with gear oil.

joraff

Awesome resource! I got a hell of a deal on an '05 2wd recently and am considering doing this to it. Yours and Jim's posts will surely be priceless.

The price of this conversion plus my purchase price is still thousands under what 4wds are going for around me in Texas. I've found most of the parts locally, which was surprising as the 05/06's use a lot of different parts from the 99-04s. Off the top of my head...

Different:
- Spindles
- Tranny (A750F)
- T-case
- Prop shafts
- Outer CV joint
- Bezel
- 4wd Computer?

Same:
- Hubs
- Front diff
- Inner CV & shaft

Wiring... no idea yet. From the looks of it, it should be mostly similar.

One notable difference I've found with the 05/06 generation is that the 2wd has 3.92 final gearing and the 4wd has 3.91. Do you think a 3.91 up front and the 2wd stock 3.92 in the back will cause problems in the T-case? I may already know the answer (yes on pavement, no in slop), but I wanted to check with the experts.