my friend who has the Toyota truck had her transmission go out about 2 years ago and I swapped it in 3 hours. I swapped a W45 4 speed to a W55 5 speed. Made her day, because the replacement transmissions were the same price. She paid 300 for the transmission from a dismantler with a 6mo warranty. I'm sure a W58 will fetch more money because it came in newer cars. I've heard they are stronger then the W55.

I've seen these transmissions go behind chevy small blocks so I don't think there would be an issue with the 617 snapping anything.

As for life with the transmission after installation. with that 4x4 labs kit you would be using the clutch, and clutch kit. When I changed the my friends transmission I changed the clutch and pressure plate with a kit from NAPA... $100 out the door. When I installed the 4 speed in the SD I spent $300 on the same parts. and had to wait for shipping from the internet.

The only thing plugging into the Toyota trans is the reverse light wire. thats easy to mod. The speedo cable will be an issue as I'm not sure if the from the Toyota cable would screw on to a MB gauge, and I don't know who makes a custom cable. but I'm sure there is someone out there.

The Toyota trans uses a hydraulic clutch, I'm not sure of the piston size on the slave cyl but if similar size to the MB slave you would only have to adapt the line.

The main issue is.... will the damn thing fit in the car?

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ditto. looks like its not too big around, but it doesn't taper all that fast, and of course theres the whole mating it to the driveshaft. how did it work on your friends truck, did she have a pretty standard slip yoke? I can't tell from the cup in the pics

I suppose it would not be too hard to rig up a drive shaft with a slip yoke on one end, and a flex disc on the other for the benz diff.

What about the pedal setup? Is the hydraulic master inside or outside?

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