T56 Write UP
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turbomach1
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Apr sent me a email the other day saying they have a complete swap (trans included) for 5500. If anyone is still looking for one.
GrumpyOldMan
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WOW - they've raised the price by $500 since I corresponded with them via e-mail!!
I was told $5000, tried to offer less, then all further emails have gone unanswered...I guess they didn't want to deal
Dave
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Did they say who's truck it came out of?
If not I would certainly ask that question before anyone bought it.
G
turbomach1
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Didn't say if it was used or new in the email. If used that's high. That's what I paid for all new stuff. Including a built transmission.
GrumpyOldMan
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I was told it was used - used to prototype the kit.
I wasn't about to pay almost $3K for a used transmission with zero warranty, hence my offer of $4000.
I was kinda surprised that they didn't counter at all - no bargaining at all... :hmmmm2:
I even emailed back an offer of $4500 and it went ignored....I Guess I will be patient and wait for a better deal, after all it took me 3 yrs to do the URD S/C after doin' the BBK and traction bar...
Dave
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I have a link to a company that makes custom bell housings. Could have it made out of aluminum or steel, and it has its own TOB attached. Would just need to send a bell housing in so that they could duplicate it.
That would terrifically eliminate the dependency on APR for a part/kit, which only they have the info of. Then it could also mean that other people could still make a T56 swap/kit.
That would terrifically eliminate the dependency on APR for a part/kit, which only they have the info of. Then it could also mean that other people could still make a T56 swap/kit.
Coupe
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I would bet a custom one off bell housing would be pricey.
To make this affordable you would need several people to commit to the project. It is often difficult to get people to commit money to a project that has not been engineered. By the same token, it is difficult to get a vendor to commit a lot of money to do R&D for a project for a handful of people. The vendor will not recoup his R&D time for a few bell housings.
Let's look at what APR has offered. I called today, just out of curiosity.
You have a clutch assembly, bell housing, a transmission ( this was out of APR's personal X-Runner), cross member, 4:30 gears and Toyota LSD. There are some odds & ends, I am missing, but APR said everything short of fluids.
If I wanted to undertake this swap at this time, I would buy the kit for the bell housing and the cross member. I would sell the parts I did want. The cross member would not be hard to fabricate, but you could save some fit up time by having one.
To start the swap from scratch is going to cost more than $5500. Remember the cost is not just parts, it's also labor.
On the other hand, waiting for one to pop up for sale could be a long while. Not that many were made. If one had been installed, you may not want to go to the trouble to remove the kit to sale. The logistics of doing a swap would be akin to having two trucks in the same driveway over a week end. Anyone remember the last Texfest in DFW?
Just my 2 cents.
To make this affordable you would need several people to commit to the project. It is often difficult to get people to commit money to a project that has not been engineered. By the same token, it is difficult to get a vendor to commit a lot of money to do R&D for a project for a handful of people. The vendor will not recoup his R&D time for a few bell housings.
Let's look at what APR has offered. I called today, just out of curiosity.
You have a clutch assembly, bell housing, a transmission ( this was out of APR's personal X-Runner), cross member, 4:30 gears and Toyota LSD. There are some odds & ends, I am missing, but APR said everything short of fluids.
If I wanted to undertake this swap at this time, I would buy the kit for the bell housing and the cross member. I would sell the parts I did want. The cross member would not be hard to fabricate, but you could save some fit up time by having one.
To start the swap from scratch is going to cost more than $5500. Remember the cost is not just parts, it's also labor.
On the other hand, waiting for one to pop up for sale could be a long while. Not that many were made. If one had been installed, you may not want to go to the trouble to remove the kit to sale. The logistics of doing a swap would be akin to having two trucks in the same driveway over a week end. Anyone remember the last Texfest in DFW?
Just my 2 cents.
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bobber bill
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fancy stuff
Coupe
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I made drawings to basically improve the stock T56 magnum shifter to be a more like a B&M.
In the process of doing this, I tried a few different brands of shifters with no success. They would shift fine, but they would leak.
For any of those you are unaware, we are talking about a shifter for a T56 Magnum. The Magnum has a top shifter bolt pattern of 6 bolts instead of 4. That is an easy way to tell if you have a Magnum. The Magnum also has a 31 spline out put shaft which is larger than the standard T56. It shares an output shaft /yoke with a Ford C6 trans. The Magnum has a gear that slings oil on the shifter. The standard T56 does not have this. This oil slinger will cause the shifter to leak, if the internals are not sealed well.
Before, I machined a new style shifter, I noticed that Core shifters makes a universal shifter for a T56 Magnum. While I think the shifter is made cheaply, the basic internals work pretty well. The way the shifter is constructed, it will keep the shifter from leaking. You would have to study the shifter, but the guts of the shifter are housed in an extrusion. This extrusion acts like an oil pan and retains the oil. When you shut the truck off, the oil will drain out of the extrusion and back into the trans.
I do not have any pics at home, but I may have some at work. I will check tomorrow.
In the end, it was a cheap fix and works pretty well. I had to supply my own shifter arm, which I used an unmodified Hurst arm.
This is a current listing on ebay for one.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Core-Hurst-...ash=item54265cd51f:g:9WwAAOxyXDhSm93Y&vxp=mtr
You would need a Hurst shifter arm. I probably have the part number at work.
brs
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Another T56 kit installed - 1
Thanks for everyone who has been posting stuff about the T56. And Thanks especially to those who figured it all out and produced the parts/kits etc. Typing out "THANKS" is easy but perhaps it would be more helpful if I tell you (in words and pictures) about my installation.
I like tinkering with flying machines but cars I take the easy way out and let someone else do the work. So I purchased a kit from URD. By kit I mean a Magnum T56 and related stuff, TruTrak 3rd member, new clutch, traction bar. The shifter is the only thing I purchased separately. Basically went hog wild and decided to do it all at once rather than make this a slow part by part upgrade.
The install shop I used is "Rods and Customs" in Battle Ground WA. Nice guys there and very knowledgeable (but tacomas are not what they know best). Everything worked right the first time around. Most of these pictures are ones that they took.
Since I can only post 6 pictures at a time this will be a multi post, post.
Thanks for everyone who has been posting stuff about the T56. And Thanks especially to those who figured it all out and produced the parts/kits etc. Typing out "THANKS" is easy but perhaps it would be more helpful if I tell you (in words and pictures) about my installation.
I like tinkering with flying machines but cars I take the easy way out and let someone else do the work. So I purchased a kit from URD. By kit I mean a Magnum T56 and related stuff, TruTrak 3rd member, new clutch, traction bar. The shifter is the only thing I purchased separately. Basically went hog wild and decided to do it all at once rather than make this a slow part by part upgrade.
The install shop I used is "Rods and Customs" in Battle Ground WA. Nice guys there and very knowledgeable (but tacomas are not what they know best). Everything worked right the first time around. Most of these pictures are ones that they took.
Since I can only post 6 pictures at a time this will be a multi post, post.
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brs
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Another T56 kit installed - 2
The install left me without my truck for 3 days. The first day they really just organized things, and the last day stretched out until evening as they had to get the drive shaft back from being shortened. So really this only took them a solid day a half.
About the drive line. Turns out that mine (the rear half) was bent. They said there were no impact marks or anything else explaining why. Nice to know know it is all straight and balanced now.
I don't race my truck or even do burn outs. In fact I basically drive like an old man 85% of the time trying to get the best gas mileage that I can. It's a game for me. The other 15% of the time I'm accelerating moderately hard but no as to attract too much attention or as to be rude. So considering how I drive there were several things about the stock system that bugged me.
-1st gear only got me halfway over the white hold-short line before I was needing to shift.
-3rd would often grind a bit if I was not careful.
-Didn't like waiting for the engine RPM to slow before shifting.
-Rear end would often clunk especially when driving really easy and letting off of the gas the reverse.
-When starting off but not accelerating hard the truck would rock forward and back as the rear axle rotated absorbing and giving off energy. Makes a good drive seem jerky.
-On the highway at about 60 mph I would, everyday, try to shift out of 6th gear to look for another 7th? gear.
-Probably there were other things I didn't like but these are the main ones.
The LSD 3rd member was swapped out with the new TruTrak. No more clunking and it was needed for the lower (10:1?) gearing. The traction bar takes care of 98% of the rear axle rock.
The install left me without my truck for 3 days. The first day they really just organized things, and the last day stretched out until evening as they had to get the drive shaft back from being shortened. So really this only took them a solid day a half.
About the drive line. Turns out that mine (the rear half) was bent. They said there were no impact marks or anything else explaining why. Nice to know know it is all straight and balanced now.
I don't race my truck or even do burn outs. In fact I basically drive like an old man 85% of the time trying to get the best gas mileage that I can. It's a game for me. The other 15% of the time I'm accelerating moderately hard but no as to attract too much attention or as to be rude. So considering how I drive there were several things about the stock system that bugged me.
-1st gear only got me halfway over the white hold-short line before I was needing to shift.
-3rd would often grind a bit if I was not careful.
-Didn't like waiting for the engine RPM to slow before shifting.
-Rear end would often clunk especially when driving really easy and letting off of the gas the reverse.
-When starting off but not accelerating hard the truck would rock forward and back as the rear axle rotated absorbing and giving off energy. Makes a good drive seem jerky.
-On the highway at about 60 mph I would, everyday, try to shift out of 6th gear to look for another 7th? gear.
-Probably there were other things I didn't like but these are the main ones.
The LSD 3rd member was swapped out with the new TruTrak. No more clunking and it was needed for the lower (10:1?) gearing. The traction bar takes care of 98% of the rear axle rock.
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brs
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Another T56 kit installed - 3
After the installation was done by Rod & Customs I had to do some work. The new shifter is further back from the stock shifter. So I made a new linkage arm to extend the one that I had purchased. This was a fun challange as I had never tried to make a square hole with radius'd corners before on my mill. Manged to get it to work the first time which was nice. Next the shifter stick was too short even though I had ordered a longer (by 1") version that was available. I recommend trying to order without the shift stick. What I ended up using was a short length of 1/2" bar stock and bending it 60˚ with a propane torch. This was easier and turned out better than I expected. Now my hand rests on the gear knob right next to my leg while my elbo still rests on the arm rest. Very comfortable.
Since I was doing all this work there was one more thing that has always bugged me about the truck and that is that the rear of the cab resonates. So I pulled the upholstery from just the rear and sure enough it was just bare metal. To make matters worse, right in the center a bit above the middle was a plastic vent that pointed down between the cab and bed directly down towards the exhaust pipe. Didnt' expect to find that. No-wonder this thing was so noisy.
I found on the web where someone had said that flashing seal was the same as dyna-mat. So I picked up a couple of rolls at $16 each and went to work sticking it all over the rear cab, eliminating the vent in the process. Wow, what a difference this made.
After the installation was done by Rod & Customs I had to do some work. The new shifter is further back from the stock shifter. So I made a new linkage arm to extend the one that I had purchased. This was a fun challange as I had never tried to make a square hole with radius'd corners before on my mill. Manged to get it to work the first time which was nice. Next the shifter stick was too short even though I had ordered a longer (by 1") version that was available. I recommend trying to order without the shift stick. What I ended up using was a short length of 1/2" bar stock and bending it 60˚ with a propane torch. This was easier and turned out better than I expected. Now my hand rests on the gear knob right next to my leg while my elbo still rests on the arm rest. Very comfortable.
Since I was doing all this work there was one more thing that has always bugged me about the truck and that is that the rear of the cab resonates. So I pulled the upholstery from just the rear and sure enough it was just bare metal. To make matters worse, right in the center a bit above the middle was a plastic vent that pointed down between the cab and bed directly down towards the exhaust pipe. Didnt' expect to find that. No-wonder this thing was so noisy.
I found on the web where someone had said that flashing seal was the same as dyna-mat. So I picked up a couple of rolls at $16 each and went to work sticking it all over the rear cab, eliminating the vent in the process. Wow, what a difference this made.
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brs
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Another T56 kit installed - 4 final
At this point all I can give you is first impressions as I've not yet run my first tank of fuel through this tranny. Bottom line - I like it, I like it a lot.
I believe MPG in town is going to be worse as it's now more fun to drive but that highway milage will increase as long as I can keep it up to at least 60 mph. Part of the MPG formula is that I used to know my old tranny quite well and knew what speeds gave me the best MPG. But everything has changed. It now seems that where I did best accelerating to 2200 rpms then cruising at 1800 rpms after shifting, I'll now do better shifting at 2500 rpms and cruising at 1600 rpms. Time will tell.
The shifts are much smoother. Downshifting works much better. Seems engine noise was less even before the generic DynaMat on the back of the cab. Probably due to lower rpms.
Starting off in 1st gear is different and perhaps this is a matter of the clutch wearing in. It's hard to start without the clutch grabbing and jerking or skipping while getting going. Some of this is a new clutch feel and adjusting my technique but some of it I think is that this I'll have to live with. It's only there in 1st gear. I've not yet popped the clutch to try a quick start.
So what's next? I've ordered from Tundra Racing some rear disk brakes to get rid of the hideous drums.
That's all folks.
Happy ThanksGiving and God bless you all.
-brs
PS. I now have a stock transmission and clutch to sell as well as a short shifter. Lot's of meat left on the clutch even after 70k miles. I do after-all drive like an old man.
At this point all I can give you is first impressions as I've not yet run my first tank of fuel through this tranny. Bottom line - I like it, I like it a lot.
I believe MPG in town is going to be worse as it's now more fun to drive but that highway milage will increase as long as I can keep it up to at least 60 mph. Part of the MPG formula is that I used to know my old tranny quite well and knew what speeds gave me the best MPG. But everything has changed. It now seems that where I did best accelerating to 2200 rpms then cruising at 1800 rpms after shifting, I'll now do better shifting at 2500 rpms and cruising at 1600 rpms. Time will tell.
The shifts are much smoother. Downshifting works much better. Seems engine noise was less even before the generic DynaMat on the back of the cab. Probably due to lower rpms.
Starting off in 1st gear is different and perhaps this is a matter of the clutch wearing in. It's hard to start without the clutch grabbing and jerking or skipping while getting going. Some of this is a new clutch feel and adjusting my technique but some of it I think is that this I'll have to live with. It's only there in 1st gear. I've not yet popped the clutch to try a quick start.
So what's next? I've ordered from Tundra Racing some rear disk brakes to get rid of the hideous drums.
That's all folks.
Happy ThanksGiving and God bless you all.
-brs
PS. I now have a stock transmission and clutch to sell as well as a short shifter. Lot's of meat left on the clutch even after 70k miles. I do after-all drive like an old man.
