New at trying to figure this truck out. It's a 1987 Toyota Pickup ExtraCab Long-Bed.

How difficult is it to change the manual to an auto? The shops around here are telling me it's going to cost thousands of dollars and I'm going to have to replace the driveline and rear-end. They've also said they'll have to drill new holes in the engine bell acceptor and change out the computer plus extras.

 

they are WRONG!!!!! the trans and maybe drive shaft need replacing. possibly ecu. im not too familiar with the ecu trucks. the other members will help more.

 

Welcome

Besides a transmission, I can think of...

Electrical control? IDK how much is envolved here. But I do know they tie to the coolant system.

Driveshaft. Might get lucky and it be the same length, but I highly doubt it.

Flexplate/flexplate bolts/torque converter. Possibly a different block plate.

Tranny oil lines for a cooler.

Floor shift console/shifter/and cable.

Kickdown cable and brackets.

Thats all I could possibly think of now. I bet theres more.

Why the swap?

 

Well I did the swap the other way and it wasn't hard at all. It will be a little more work going to an auto though. Driveshaft worked. Not sure if it's supposed to the same but they have a slip yoke which makes it fit different applications IMO. Anyways I've been driving with this driveshaft for over a year and no problems.

I did swap the ECU's and don't know if it's necessary but I had a complete donor truck which made things easy.

Other than that, ya you will need a rad that has the trans cooler and lines. I swapped out a 4wd and the tranny mounts were different also, not sure about 2wd.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the help. It's nice to talk to people who know what they're talking about.

One reason I'm going to auto is I don't like driving a stick. The other reason is reverse is gone. But it does sound like a rebuild would be easier, and I'll learn to like it cause this is a great old truck.

 

i was debating doing this to my silver 87, it ended up being cheaper to buy a automatic truck


i dont mind driving stick though, id be cheaper to get a good used w55 or w58 5speed trans though

 

It is alot easier to rebuild the manual than to do a swap. Reverse gear going out on these trucks was quite common for a few years. I had one that the reverse gear went and I drove it for awhile before I got it fixed. On another one I had once the reverse gear went it took the rest of the tranny with it a short time later. These were all 4wd trucks that were beat on. anytine I would go wheelin after that, I would hold the shifter in place when I was reversing. A tech at a well respected Toyota dealership told me that.

Anyway, I had a buddy put a new reverse gear in the one truck for me. He knows his way around trannys pretty well. If you know someone like that it's a pretty easy fix.

 

Bump I'm in the same process.. I have everything for swap I just need to know is the cross members the same