You tell me.

 

Sweet, you get it all wired???
Are you swapping the front diff too??

 

Who was cool enough to trade you an elocer axle for a non locked axle?

 

Got any more pics. That's sweet that your locked now.

 

Bought a 97 limited for the axles. I'll be swapping the front out as well since I'll be going from 4.10s to 4.30s. I'll also be locking the front while I have it out. Having two trucks is nice since I'm never without a rig.

I haven't got it wired yet. The rear axle swap is complete. The front will come out this weekend and I'll work on the wiring while the diff is at the shop.

Once I'm finished I'll resell the donor 4runner. The e-locker doesn't do anything for resale value since most people never use it or even know what it does. The 97 is in great shape. It's really clean, no rust, never been off-road. Should sell pretty easily.

 

Hey Brad, all this sounds VERY familiar!

Nice work. Not too bad is it?

 

I'm sure it does. You definately provided some inspiration.

The rears weren't too bad at all. I was able to complete the swap on Saturday and still have time to make it to one of my daughters friends B-Day parties. I'm dreading the front a little bit, though.

 

The hardest part is this weird top nut/bolt (?). There will be a lot of wiggling and knuckle scraping, but it can be done. I did the entire swap, front and rear on my own in 110 degree heat. You should have no problem.

Let me know if you have any questions...

 

Yeah, the front is a little bit of a bitch.

You REALLY need to buy a 12mm (I think its 12mm?) allen wrench to get the rear mount loose. I stripped mine trying to stick a standard in there and I started running around crazy ripping my hair out and eventually jumping off a cliff.

You do NOT want to strip that bolt.

Thats all my advice. OTherwise it aint too bad. I cant remember though. I just took a sawzall to the front end.

 

I pulled the front diff on the doner Runner this weekend. What a pain! Theres not much room to get that diff out with that stupid cushion bolt that sticks down into the crossmember. Hopefully the ARB will get here this week and I'll be able to get it installed before the weekend.

I also looked at trying to get the wiring out for the e-locker. There appears to be wiring differences since the doner has push-button 4WD and I don't. Does anyone know if I can reuse the wiring harness from the doner? The main difference is my rig doesn't have a 4WD ecu. I'm not sure if this is exclusively for the push-button 4WD or also necessary for the locker. Does anyone know if I need one for the e-locker?

 

You are going to have to get an ECU like I did - or make one. If you take the donor rig ECU the ABS light will come on, which is obviously a poor selling point and possibly a safety hazard. I didn't want to hassle with making my own, so I bought an OEM one from Jim here on YT for $50. It makes wiring the switch etc much more straight forward. If you need a pic of what I did let me know. It is actually under my drivers seat so I can get it fairly easily. It just might be a couple days.

In summary, I ran 16 guage wire from the locker back to the "new" ECU under my seat. I then ran the OEM locker switch to the counsel by my e-brake and hooked the switch up. I have no safety features in place, so I can run the locker in 2WD. One feature that I might suggest if you take this route is to have some type of swiveling cover over the OEM switch so you don't accidentally engage it while driving. I have actually lightly touched it while going 70MPH before, causing my custom "locker engaged" LED lights to blip. That was freaky because I can imagine the type of damage it would do to have the locker try to engage at that type of speed. I still need to get that cover on the button...

 

Christian,

Thanks for the info, it helps alot. I would certainly be interested in a picture of what you did. I've found a few wiring diagrams of the ECU itself, so that should help. Did you need to buy a connector to plug into the ECU, or did it come with it?

The wires and connector for the switch is already there in my dash so I'm hoping I can use it with the switch in the stock location. I just need to trace the wires to find the other end.

Also, which Jim did you buy the ecu from?

Thanks.

 

OK, it sounds like you already have the harness and plug for the ECU, you just need the ECU. I bought it off Albuquerque Jim, but it just so happened that he had an extra. You might want to check with Strap22 here on YT for a good deal...or a wrecking yard or something. The key is to get a hold of the wiring diagram and pin out locations so you know how to build your harness from the locker. I got really mixed up and ended up with wires the same color and in the wrong order, forcing me to redo everything. That was stupid on my part. Just take your time and it will be pretty easy. It ends up being something like 5 wires from the locker, which is definitely managable. But yeah, get the OEM locker ECU and harness/ECU/pinout location diagram(s). If you don't have the FSM, you could always download it off the TIS website in PDF form for a $10 day use fee. Good deal if you ask me.

I will try to get you a picture ASAP, but it might be a couple days. I will see what I can do. It probably wont show you much except a bundle of wires and the ECU itself - with the diff lock wiring going to the button/switch. But I would be happy to post it if you need it.

 

Or the easy fix for a sell is to just unplug the light. Its not nice because I would hate to be the person that bought it and find out the light was missing down the road but none the less if you are in a pinch it is an option.

 

I found the elocker ECU in my donor vehicle.

Just for reference, all the 3rd Gen 4Runners and simillar model Tacomas have the same elocker ECU. I have looked at several wiring diagrams for 4 different model years and though the wire colors going into the ecu may differ, the ECU itself as well as it's pin locations and meanings are identical.

The body wiring harnesses are different though. In my 2000 all the dash wiring is there for the elocker and the ecu. All I need are to run the wires connecting the harness that comes out of the locker itself to the harness that goes into the ECU. Basically the same thing that is done in this write-up: http://www.sonoransteel.com/phong/re...ic_locker.html

 

Just picked up the front diff after having an ARB RD-90 installed.

I will be swapping it in this weekend.

 

Awesome! Keep us posted.