I'm going to ask y'all first because you guys own Cruisers.

I have an 89 Toy pickup. It's my DD, about 37K miles a year. I need it to be streetable and wheelable, and I live in New England. My idea is this:

Do a SBC conversion, LT1. Tranny would be NV4500. SAS w/ Toy mini truck front. Air lockers on the axles. Ditch the manual hubs and go to locking plates so the axles are always live.

The transfer case I would like to be an FJ80 unit with the e-locker.

I figure I can have the fulltime 4WD for it's convenience, yet still be able to lock all 4 wheels together in Low and have a good 'wheeler. I don't need to build a rockcrawler.

I've searched quite a bit for info on this t-case and found very little. I've looked at the TIS for the e-locker's wiring and it's easy.

Thanks guys. Dave

Now I'd like to hear from you why it won't work, or work well. Or if it's just plain stupid. I'm open to other ideas.

If you can make all the adapters to mate it, go for it. The unit is tough as nails as far as I can tell.

The thing I don't understand is why go full time 4x4 on a truck that sees 37K a year?

I say go with a transfer that is factory mounted to the NV4500 like an NP unit of choice.

Finally, are you planning on running an offset rear axle? Both front and rear Cruiser axles are offset passenger side.

I didn't know the axles needed to be offset. That could present a problem.

I may be wrong, but when I began looking into it I saw that advanced adapters makes an adapter to plug the t-case into the NV4500. There's a bellhousing for the LT1-NV4500.

I'd like the fulltime 4WD because my truck sees quite a bit of NE snow in winter, lots of mud, etc. on job sites (I'm in construction), and some offroading. I currently have the ADD front axle - no hopping out to switch the hubs - and I use the 4WD often, not just for 'wheeling. I'd rather not have to manually lock/unlock them.

If it were a trail rig, I'd go manual hubs for their strength and simplicity.

Thanks for that quick response.
:)

Dave

Up here in AK, a lot of people that buy a newer rig and actually use it in the winter (instead of waiting 3 days for the roads to get plowed) convert their automatic hubs to locking. Almost nobody bothers disengauging their locking hubs between october and april...It won't hurt 'em to run locked all the time...At least, not that I've seen on more than a few rigs with 100,000+ miles on them.

There are better options for you than the FJ-80 Transfer if you are looking for an NV4500 and full time 4wd.

Again, the New Process stuff would fit the bill better.

The NP203 looks good, although it's pretty big and weighs in at 165 lbs. The Borg-Warner 4472 would be an easier fit, but it's chain driven and has an aluminum case. I think the NP203 would be a better solution.

Your thoughts?

Dave

The 203 is full time and it is truly a beast and is very long.

You are going to have plenty of room under that Mini, so a 203 will work fine.

Of course, if it were me I would mate the Toyota 5 speed and the Toyota case to the 350 and keep the hubs locked in.

Originally posted by wngrog
The 203 is full time and it is truly a beast and is very long.

You are going to have plenty of room under that Mini, so a 203 will work fine.

Of course, if it were me I would mate the Toyota 5 speed and the Toyota case to the 350 and keep the hubs locked in.

I've got an SR5 truck, which has the G58 and 26-spline chain-driven t-case. All the 350 conversion stuff I've seen has been for W-series transmissions and/or gear-driven t-cases.

I'm not to fond of blowing up my little 5 speed either. I've heard it's rated at around 180ft/lbs max torque.

That would be a hell of a lot easier and cheaper though.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

Dave