hilux body swap

[Baja Burley]

im up for the job of replacing the cab on my rolled 87 extra cab this weekend and have never changed a lux body before.

How many body mounts are there? where arw they and are there any tricky ones? what else do i have to disconnect to pull the cab off?

Is there any other tips, tricks or things to look out for?

cheers
Luke

[DUDELUX]

Its a fun job, let me tell you. Ive just finished a cab swap to my 86 dual cab.
There are 2 body mounts at the front, and theres 3 up each side on my dual cab, so Id say there would be 2 up each side on your xcab.

Disconnect everything connected to the body, all wiring, all hoses, all fuel lines, brake lines to the chassis, the fuel filler hoses to the tank, dont forget the 2 plugs that go to the gearbox and transfer case. Everything that goes from the body to the chassis needs to be disconnected or unbolted.

My best advice is to not rush through it, and take lots of photos of where everything goes before you unbolt anything, label everything that comes off, label wires that are disconnected, and where they go.
I took about 10 pics of the engine bay, and where things were bolted to, so when I was putting stuff back, I could refer to the pics to help me get everything in the right spots.
I used about 3/4 of a roll of masking tape, labelling wires, I would unplug something, and put a bit of tape on each plug, saying where it goes to, and where it came from.

Unless your some kind of machine, I doubt you will have it done in a day, mine took me almost 2months to do, but that was by myself, and it rained for about half the time.

How are you lifting the cab??
You could use a few mates to help lift the cab on and off, or a block and tackle hanging from the roof/tree, or if you know someone with a hiab or a tractor/forklift you could use that. I did mine with an engine crane only.

Im not a mechanic, and Ive never taken on a job as big as a cab swap before, and it is a big job, and there is lots of little things that can be a real PITA.

Just take your time and do it right, just like painting, if you do good prep work, the rest comes together ok.

Theres lots of pics in my build thread if you want some inspiration.

[Baja Burley]

That makes me feel a whole lot better about it!

I was planning on the labelling idea of EVERYTHING, only thing is, my car has a 308 with t700 and the donor is just a stocker so im not sure what will be different or if anything has been added in on the wiring side of things.. i know fo sure its gonna be a pita but its gotta be done.

The car is at work where we ahve a forklift so lifting is no issue. where should i put straps through so not to damage the new cab?

can you link me to your thread?

Thanks foe the reply. great help!

[DUDELUX]

Near the top of page 1 in members section, look for the dudelux.

Cant remember what page the cab swap started on, maybe somewhere around page 20ish??

I took all the doors off, and put straps around...
The front door hinges, and
The latch things for the rear doors.
But mine is a dual cab though.

I just had the arm of the engine crane inside the cab, and lifted it up, easy peasy.

If youve got a fork to do the lifting, you could do it the same way that I did, or you could run straps through the inside and lift from above the cab, Id say the xcab would have a different COG that the dual cab, so it should be pretty easy to get the cab to balance so it can be lifted squarely.

You should also take out both gearsticks too, I did and it made my job easier.