ok...one of my friends sais to me a while ago..."i saw this landcruiser w/ ifs. i said..your high. they all have solid axles. he sais...no it was a newer one with ifs. i said..your high.

--- then my other friend sais he saw it too...and it was a 2wd! wtf! the friend that surveyed it over and noticed the 2wd i respect highly..and trust he saw what he saw...but come awn?! this is news to me...:rasta:

1998 to present 100 series Cruisers have IFS. In most of the rest of the world, you can choose to buy a 105 series that still has a solid front axle. As far as the 2WD, not as far as I know. Remember that the 100, like the 80 series before it, is full time 4WD in the US. Thus there is no 2WD/4WD shifter. The shifter just allows you to choose High or Low range. Maybe your friends were confused.

On the subject of the 100 series, I read that the 100 rear third member is not interchangeable with any other Cruiser dif. Apparently, the engineers in Japan deceided to enlarge the rear axle shafts diameter in the redesign. Anybody know if this is true?

Ross

Toyota has offered Land Cruisers in 2WD throughout production, including 2WD versions of the 25 series (FJ21), 40 series and 45 series. All were made in very small numbers and probably used only on the domestic market (Japan), although the FJ21 was listed as an option available in other markets as well.

Henry or Rick D or others
Do you have any specs or pictures of these 2WD cruisers, maybe from 60s era brocheres? What did they do for a front end? No transfer i guess, so did the d-shaft run from the tranny to the rear. Centered on the 40 era trucks? Any info?

This is news to me! I've never heard of or seen a 2wd landcruiser. And I thought I've seen it all! I've also never heard of a FJ21, as far as i new the FJ25 was the first real production Landcruiser. I can hardly see why they would build cruisers in 2wd, I mean thats the whole selling point behind the cruiser. I've got a whole closet full of Landcruiser books, bibles, magazines, etc... from all different countries, and not one of them shows or talks about a 2wd landcruiser. And just for the record, we are not including those banderiates right? They really are not Toyota.

Jeff

The FJ21 was parallel, not earlier than the FJ25. It is listed on very early Toyota Land Cruiser literature, FJ25-era stuff printed in Japan. I have two brochures that list the 2WD version, one is a 1957 world market brochure (in English, but printed in Japan), the other one is a 1959 Japanese brochure (in Japanese). Unfortunately, neither shows the mechanicals of the 2WD setup.

I don't think that a 2WD version is out of line with the Land Cruiser, at least not in the early days when the success of the vehicle was still in question and sales were small. Remember, in the late 1950's Toyota wasn't exactly selling them like hot cakes, and the company pushed for different utility configurations (ambulance, police car, post digger, welder), most of which were probably made in small numbers and for the domestic market only. Heck, at the time both Jeep and Land Rover, which were perceived by Toyota as their biggest competitors, made 2WD versions of their vehicles (DJ Dispatch, Surrey, Series I van).

Ultimately, sales were probably very small, and once the Land Cruiser began to sell in large numbers, production was probably dropped. I *seriously* doubt that any 2WD versions were ever sold in the US.

Originally posted by rustycruiser
Henry or Rick D or others
Do you have any specs or pictures of these 2WD cruisers, maybe from 60s era brocheres? What did they do for a front end? No transfer i guess, so did the d-shaft run from the tranny to the rear. Centered on the 40 era trucks? Any info?

Here's an FJ21KB, but it appears to be 4wd. (Has a front diff.)

http://www.birfield.com/~morgan/images/print/1958_japanese_owners_manual-5-md.jpg
http://www.birfield.com/~morgan/images/print/1958_japanese_owners_manual-6-md.jpg
http://www.birfield.com/~morgan/images/print/1958_japanese_owners_manual-11-md.jpg

More pics and specs for early cruisers here (http://www.birfield.com/~morgan/images/print/japanese.html) and here (http://www.birfield.com/~morgan/images/print/).

Morgan

independant does happne

i thought i saw a FJ40 on here while back with ALL independant suspension, it has front guards on the rear, and is pretty big, looks like it had A-arms or something not conventional diff setup

also 100 series, and 90 series
2WD yeah but only made ones, saw 2 so far, bth were the result of a V8 conversion with auto from 2WD and had yet to shell out the $$$ for the transfer case adapter ;) one i saw just yesterday

when i lived in japan in the late 80's i saw a few 2wd landcruisers doing delivery duty, the ones i saw were for a produce co.

Is it just me or does that drawing in the pic show a centered rear diff???
I dont know if im seeing things correctly!

Yep, some of the early 1960's 40's and 45's had centered rear diffs.....

Our 1963 FJ40 has one.

http://www.birfield.com/~morgan/6340/centered_diff.jpg

1963 is when they switched to an offset rear diff, lost the pop-top vent in the root, adding a brace for the front frame horns, lost the embossed "LAND CRUISER" bezel.

Morgan

Hey Morgan
Does your transfer case on the 63 have a centered output, or is the drive shaft canted back to the dif. Over the years, I have seen info stating either a centered or offset transfer on these old cruisers.

Ross

Originally posted by rustycruiser
Does your transfer case on the 63 have a centered output, or is the drive shaft canted back to the dif. Over the years, I have seen info stating either a centered or offset transfer on these old cruisers.

No! Offset output, centered rear diff. I haven't driven it much since I got it, but it didn't have any waggle in the drivetrain when I did. I'm pretty sure they came this way from the factory until the offset diff showed up.

This is the tcase:

http://www.birfield.com/~morgan/20020124/img_1928-md.jpg

It's got a really weird side-shift 3spd transmission, too:

http://www.birfield.com/~morgan/20020124/img_1930-md.jpg

Morgan