LJ80 tranmission and engine into sj410

[Rascool]

Hi all

Kind of stuck with this so came here... I have a suzuki sj 410 truck and am replacing the engine and trans with lj80 ones. The engine hasn't been a problem but the transmission is causing some headaches.

So far I have taken both the lj80 and sj410 gearboxes and tried to combine the two by putting the lj gears onto the sj main shaft, and the sj gear change forks and pins and linkage onto the back of the lj80 box. Unfortunately for me the lj and sj main shafts are different and so this was not possible. The lj box will not bolt strainght into an sj410 as the main shaft is too short and the gear linkage seems to be in the wrong place for the gear lever.

So it looks like I'm stuck with doing a re-con on the SJ box, which is a shame because the lj has got nice, low ratios on it.

Has anyone got any ideas?

Cheers

[Chops4wd]

Slightly off topic, but you don't happen to have any original lj80 seats do you?

[BlakeJ]

by a second hand box cheap, or get a 4age and t50 box, the later sounds better

[PuddleJumper]

Pics of the LJ please

[zukmeista]

Just use the SJ410 gearbox, if you want lower gearing you can fit the diff centres out of an LJ50, they are 4.8 ratio compared to the stock 4.1 . I am wondering why your are putting a smaller motor in though?

[Rascool]

Thanks. Liking the idea of putting in the LJ50 diffs: the 4.8 ratio would be ideal for the smaller motor, kind of what I wanted from the LJ80 box except easier . The only question I'd have there is how do they hold up under heavyish work? The jeep will be spending most of its time slogging it out in the mud towing a lambing trailer so the diffs would need to be able to take some load.

Checked out the 4age and t50 box idea too and what do you know there is a set on trade me. Probably won't go that way this time though but might pull the idea out again in a year or two when I finally decide that more power instead of less is a good thing . Cheers for that!

Yeah the smaller engine is probably not the normal thing to do but in this case I just happened to have a few Suzuki bits and pieces lying around so set myself the goal of throwing together what I had and making it work somehow. Almost made it but for the LJ and SJ gearbox shafts being slightly (same thing as completely, really) different. Am going to need to get some more stuff then by the look of it but it was fun trying.

I guess the easiest answer at the moment then is looking like throwing some new bearings in the Sj410 box (it's got a bit of rumble happening when you turn the shaft). So currently looking for a cheap 2nd hand one/new set of bearings. From pulling the box apart in the weekend it looks like I might get away with putting in a new set of bearings so that's.....four altogether I think.

Will get back about the seats. They're LJ81 (the ute version).

[Rascool]

Pics: trust me, some things just look better in the dark

[zukmeista]

I can't see the strength of the lower geared diffs being an issue. What size tyres have you got on this thing? A 'rock lobster' transfer case could also be an option depending on budget, that will give 84% reduction in low range.

[Rascool]

The tyres are the standard factory ones. Don't know the specs of those off the top of my head though

84% reduction sounds good!

[zukmeista]

There are two options for lower geared transfer cases. The first one is to buy a set of low ratio gears from the U.S., link:http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/index.php/suzuki/samurai/transfer-case.htmlThere are various ratios as you can see. The second option is to mix and match gears from the 410 and 413 t-cases, this will give you the same ratios as the 4.16 gears from lowrangeoffroad. This option will require machining and welding. Here is a how-to:http://www.suzukiclubuk.co.uk/diy/16-transmission/95-rocklobster Both of these options require the use of a transfer case with the 4wd light switch, this is located just foward of the base of the transfer case gearstick, easy way to check is if you have a 4wd light on the dash. The reason for this is that the earlier models without the 4wd light had a different bolt pattern on the driveshaft flanges, the output shafts are also different so it isn't possible to swap flanges. If yours is the earlier model and you want to fit low ratio gears/ a rocklobster, it is possible to overcome the different driveshaft flange problem by fitting the flanges off a later model driveshaft to the transfer case end of your shafts.

[Rascool]

Thanks for this post, this is a big help. I think for the kind of work that the SJ will be doing that something along the lines of a transfer case mod would be pretty dependable. I think in the immediate term I'll do a fix on the 410 trans (or get a 2nd hand one), but I'll definitely do some more research in the transfer case mod direction. It's great to get onto the US and UK Suzuki sites too: I'd found lj10.com which isn't too bad but there is a lot more on these sites so thanks again.

What type of Suzuki (or Suzukis ) do you have, just out of curiosity?

[zukmeista]

None at the moment. I got a Daihatsu Rugger instead. But I did use to have a Samurai. I would have got another zook but they are way too expensive these days, got the Daihatsu for $2500

[Rascool]

That's a nice SJ!! I can see now why you were asking me about the tyre size . I must admit I like the rock lobster box idea a lot. For the applications I'm looking at for my one it would turn the vehicle into a jeep/tractor hybrid. Perfect!!

We had a Rugger too at one point: they're also good machines.