88 4wheel drive triton

Sounds like its got a stuffed 4 speed in it, you wanna put in a 5 speed, rebuild the 4 speed then put it back in??

Probably best to ring a wreckers and ask them.

I guess what you're asking is, can you remove the current gearbox and transfer case and just install a normal 5 speed box with no transfer case, and just hook it up to the rear axle for straight 2WD?

The answer is .. possibly .. provided you don't mind a lot of extra work.

You'd have to check that the 2 wheel drive used the same rear axle - the wheelbase is the same between 2WD and 4WD models - and you'd have to source and fit a 2WD tailshaft, if all the previously-mentioned points line up.

I think you probably need to look pretty hard at the total cost of your "shortcut", versus just getting your current gearbox repaired. Gearboxes are pretty straightforward, they don't usually cost a vast amount to repair - unless you have a lot of major damage to the gearbox.

Possibly the biggest bugbear is, with a 25 yr old Jap ute, you may start to run into parts supply problems. In which case, sourcing a complete used gearbox and transfer case from another ute might be the best solution.

At the end of the day, you're talking about a ute with minimal value, so you have to be careful how much you outlay, otherwise you'd be better advised to scrap or part out your ute, and put the gearbox money towards another ute of newer age and less kms.

Some times you need to be brutal!

I have thrown away to the scrap yard younger cars than that, because by the time you repair the damage, register, insure, new battery, and new tyres, to pass inspection! not to mention your time the car would owe 2.5 K plus time! and only be worth $750.00 at the most so I sell to the scrap yard to pick up for 300.00, and you have just saved $1850.00 by doing so.

Cheers.