46&2's 85 4Runner Build-Up

[thegoofster21]

nice runner  you were drivin today is it yours?

[46&2]

nice runner  you were drivin today is it yours?

Haha I wish. That is my old man's 2000 he's letting me borrow until I get my Supra or get the 4runner rolling again. Went to look at a tranny today but it turned out to be a G series.

[thegoofster21]

lame. i dont think it was yours but it defiantly nice

[46&2]

lame. i dont think it was yours but it defiantly nice

Yeah its a nice 4runner, its got the 3.4 but its an auto 

[thegoofster21]

i would love an auto on the rocks

[46&2]

Alright, so I started pulling everything apart. The clutch, while showing its age (4 years) is still in pretty damn good shape, epsecially considering the bad rap Centerforce has gotten around here and other places. Still could get another couple years out of it at least. Probably still going to replace with a Marlin HD just because, but I will save it for future use, maybe in another beater project truck. Bearings look good.

I pulled the adapter out and checked everything in there, looks okay.... The splines on the input shaft for the rear case look a little mangled in a couple places. But the coupler inside the adapter SEEMS fine. I might need to replace the input, but I will send some pictures to Marlin before I decide on that. Might just need to be ground down. Everything inside the front case looks good. Tried shifting through everything in the rear case and it all seems to spin and work fine. So next I am going to pull the tranny off and have a look there. As far as I can tell though everything to do with the tcases is fine. I just want to go through and eliminate ALL possibilities before I swap trannies.

Anyway, here is the quick symptom recap:

Loud bang, truck revs out, wont go anywhere.
2 or 4wd, driveshafts arent spinning
can put it in gear, let off the clutch and the truck acts like it is driving, but grinding/clattering noise that increases with gear choice (1st through 5th) comes from tranny/tcase area and truck does not move

Anyway I am still leaning towards the tranny being shot but wanted to get some more input.

[Jordan7118]

I have no expert opinion, but that does sound like your tranny.

Have you done ANY looking at the tranny, yet?

And how do you know your crawl box is okay? It looks like it is still attached to the tranny. "Everything inside the front case looks good." Just visual, I guess?

Have you spun the tranny input to see if the crawl box rotates? I guess I'm just thinking out loud... 

[46&2]

I have no expert opinion, but that does sound like your tranny.

Have you done ANY looking at the tranny, yet?

And how do you know your crawl box is okay? It looks like it is still attached to the tranny. "Everything inside the front case looks good." Just visual, I guess?

Have you spun the tranny input to see if the crawl box rotates? I guess I'm just thinking out loud... 

The adapater was already pulled off and put back on, just not bolted on in that pic. i just snapped a pic before it got dark because i know how picture hungry everyone is

I should have mentioned this. I spun the tranny input, and the tcases spun. Then I pulled the crawl box/adapater off and spun the rear case input and went through the gears and everything spun there.

The reason I pulled the tcases apart first was because my friend has a coworker who claimed the exact same conditions and it was his Inchworm adapater coupler that had stripped apart. I know Marlin is better than Inchworm but the guy described to me the exact same thing, so I decided to check that before i tried taking apart my tranny. I had already spun the tranny input so I knew that was all working okay but though I would check the adapter anyway. checking that it appears fine though I may want to replace the input shaft because of a few spots on the splines that are F-ed up a little.

So I am just kind of at a loss. Tranny input seemed to spin the cases fine. cases seem to spin fine, and the adapter is fine. I am going to pull the crawl box off the tranny tomorrow but from a visual with the adapter off everything seemed perfect inside the crawl box.

[Duffil]

possible blown output shaft on rear case. could spin by hand but slip under load.

[yota_krawler]

whats up nick? any news?

[46&2]

whats up nick? any news?

No news, been busy working and getting the garden ready for this season so I havn't messed with the 4runner at all. Getting a tranny soon. Picking up my Supra tomorrow so once I have a DD then I can take the time to work on the 4runner.

[46&2]

I get a lot of questions about my driveshaft measurements so I figured I would throw them up for future reference. I still recommend measuring your own rig when its lifted and ready for driveshafts though just to be sure.

So for my 85 4runner with duals, a front drop spring hanger moved 1.5" forward, wagoneers/6" shackle and 63s/6"/double shackle rear, here are my driveshaft measurements:

Rear shaft fully compressed: 39"
Rear shaft fully extended: 45"

Front shaft fully compressed: 31.5"
Front shaft fully extended: 44"

[46&2]

Finally brought the Supra home last night for those who care.....


http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=57115.0

[SolidAxle]

So i just read through the whole build thread. The trucks lookin nice. I don't know what you don't like about the red with a white top I actually like it. you don't see it to often. the brown interior on the other hand i'm with you all the way. Atleast they are the sr5 seats.

I would try applying resistance the tranny/ t-case, because somthing may be broken but when theres no load on it can still grab/spin the outputs. When the load is on it it will slip/ grind. basically repeating what duffil said.

[46&2]

So i just read through the whole build thread. The trucks lookin nice. I don't know what you don't like about the red with a white top I actually like it. you don't see it to often. the brown interior on the other hand i'm with you all the way. Atleast they are the sr5 seats.

I would try applying resistance the tranny/ t-case, because somthing may be broken but when theres no load on it can still grab/spin the outputs. When the load is on it it will slip/ grind. basically repeating what duffil said.

Thanks!! It has grown on me over the years, I don't mind it so much now. It is pretty uncommon color combo for sure. Yeah I am going to go back and do that for sure whenever I get around to it. 4runner has become a last priority on my list of to dos.

[46&2]

Alright, I can't take it any longer. The novelty of the Supra has worn off (I love that car though  ) and I am dying to drive the 4runner again. Miss it so much 

Tonight I ordered up the 1600 lb HD Marlin clutch, a new slave cylinder and the HD pressure plate bolt kit.

[86turboyota]

nice!

[Yota-Freak]

just curious where did you get that shift boot for your rear case?

You can get that rear t-case shift boot for 8 bucks at autozone

[46&2]

Alright, before going and getting a tranny I decided to re-inspect everything carefully. the rear case was still off of the adapter so I really inspected the coupler and input shaft again. Feeling around inside the coupler, I realized the outer splines all look fine, but the inner ones are actually pretty F-ed up. At the time I pulled it all apart I was kind of pissed off with the whole situation and shunned the whole thing for a while. Going back I realized I missed a lot of clues. I also thought the input splines werent that mangled, but they actually are. I tried to take pictures but they turned out all blury.

With it all together, I was still not able to get enough pressure on it to get it to slip, but I am almost 100% possitive the coupler went out and took the 4.7 input shaft with it. They are definitely more chewed up then I realized. So I took it all by my mechanic's shop and he confirmed that the coupler is toast as is the input shaft. So its a bummer that my coupler only lasted about 2 years (installed december of 07) and now my 4.7 input is toast too. I called Marlin (forgot who I talked too) and they told me to send the parts in on Monday.

So I am just going to install my new Marlin HD clutch and put my tranny back in for now until I hear back from Marlin on the whole situation. Unfortunately the 1 year warranty expired before I even put the adapter in, so I am SOL on that.

Anyway, here is all the clutch stuff, gonna put it all in this weekend

[46&2]

Well I am an idiot 

I can't believe I didn't notice how bad the coupler really was and I thought the input would be fixable but now that I have it all out and look at it, the input is way F-ed up. This is why its not good to take things apart in the cold and dark, with it raining outside and your motivation levels low. I should have noticed this right off the bat, and the chewed up input definitely should have raised some flags. 

I finally got my camera adjusted and got these pics, they are both toast 






The input shaft for the 4.7 gears looks like that the whole way around. Inside the coupler there are a few places on the inside where there are still splines but most of it looks like that.

[skipnrocks]

those spline almost look like a weld bead..

[46&2]

those spline almost look like a weld bead..

Yeah they are pretty chewed up. Now that I think about it though it all makes sense. With the tranny and front case apart from the adapater and the rear case all together, the individual parts all still spin. I was totally overlooking the fact that I had the broken part right in front of me.

Anyway I talked to Jon today and he's going to take a look at everything. Mailed it all off today.

[yota_krawler]

those spline almost look like a weld bead..

thats what I was thinkin


So you got a handle on it? When do you think you will be done?

[46&2]

thats what I was thinkin


So you got a handle on it? When do you think you will be done?

I don't know why it would have been welded on. You also have to remember this is a very old 4.7 gear set my truck has, IIRC the # written on it was #537. Jon wasnt even sure if he would have that old of a input for me... I might have to buy a whole new 4.7 kit

[yota_krawler]

wow, thats pretty gay if you do.

[46&2]

wow, thats pretty gay if you do.

Yeah, if that is the case I might just have to find the stock 2.28 crap and just have 2.28/2.28 i can't afford to buy another gear kit this is killing my broke college student ass already

[Jordan7118]

I would bet Marlin would stand behind that and offer a new gearset 

[Dingman.]

Yeah, if that is the case I might just have to find the stock 2.28 crap and just have 2.28/2.28 i can't afford to buy another gear kit this is killing my broke college student ass already

I understand the broke college students situations, i guess we should just trade runners!   

[46&2]

Marlin Crawler kicks ass!!!   

Talked to Jon today and got the scoop. The 4.7 gear set I had was so old (#537 IIRC) "It was actually marked and numbered by BigMike" 

What the guys decided is that my old 4.7 input started to get a little mangled and in return that ended up destroying the coupler. Since the gear set I had was so old, they did not have a replacement in the shop, so I had to buy the new 4.7 gear set or opt to just go 2.28/2.28. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to afford to do it, but Jon and Dave are hooking me up a 23 spline coupler no charge and then a discount on a new 4.7 set. If they hadn't done this I probably would not have been able to afford to get my 4runner going for quite a while. You guys are awesome. Thanks a ton!!!! 

This is why I spend all my money with Marlin, I really doubt any other company would have stood behind their product and their customer like Marlin has in this instance. I owe you all some beer the next time I see ya on the trail!!! 

[THK Matt]

that is truely awesome!!!!

I beer to that for sure.



now if you could only get some of my wimminz on all over your truck...... hmm....