[Electric Land Cruiser]

Hello all,
I have been lurking for awhile but now am starting my EV conversion project for reals. I have a 1996 FZJ80 Land Cruiser that I will be converting into an EVJ80 all electric Land Cruiser. My plan is to remove the engine and transmission and drive the transfer case with the electric motor directly.

I have acquired a wrecked '13 Nissan Leaf SV for a donor vehicle. Not sure what controller I will use for the motor yet.

Right now I am trying to find a gear reduction unit between 2:1 to 3:1 to install between the motor and transfer case to get the RPMs correct. I found a GSN160 from Framo-Morat tat fits the bill perfectly but they will not sell it to a private person like me so the search continues!

The plan is to initially convert the Cruiser so that it is BEV with no other goals besides driving fully electric. After that is accomplished then add offroad wheels and tires, a suspension lift, and go offroading on the trails. I have an ICE tow vehicle so I can tow it to the trailheads. I think 20-30 miles range should be doable.

Longer term plans are to keep adding more and more batteries until it can drive 100 miles. There should be ample space for batteries from the engine bay, transmission tunnel, exhaust and gas tank locations. Also spare tire location, roof rack, etc. Lots of options!

Looking forward to getting started wrenching!

 

[brian_]

Probably the best-known reduction unit intended for this sort of application is the Torque Trends ev-TorqueBox, but it just below the ratio range in your requirements, at 1.90:1. I've seen others, but they typically do not look like they are intended for individual retail customers.

You could contact IEdrives - they appear to have fixed-ratio gearboxes that might be suitable, but I have no idea of cost or availability.

 

[Electric Land Cruiser]

Thanks for the link to IEdrives I will contact them. I have seen the Torque Trends box but the price tag scared me off. Yes, I'm sure there are industrial reduction units that would work perfectly for me I just need to obtain one! Boat reduction gearboxes are available with the needed ratios but I have no idea how long one would last in a high torque, high traction environment like a car vs. in a boat pushing against water only.

I have a welder and plenty of spare time so I'll get it to work one way or another.

 

[brian_]

In addition to torque handling and speed capability, one thing to keep in mind is the physical configuration: if the motor is in the usual transmission location the gearbox will likely need to be straight-through (like a typical planetary reduction box) rather than offset, for the output to line up with the transfer case input.

 

[Electric Land Cruiser]

Yes it has occurred to me. One reason I chose a large SUV is so I would have plenty of space to work with! With the 80 series Land Cruiser I can use my current transfer case which like you say needs an input shaft straight into it, or I can change to an earlier model divorced transfer case that has a standard driveshaft yoke input which can come in angled.

 

[reiderM]

You can reuse the Nissan leaf inverter/controller, dc/dc converter and charger! The resolve VCU might work, you'll have to reach out to the guy developing it to see if it'll work for a 2013 model year.

There's also the thunderstruck VCU but that only reuses the Leaf motor and inverter, not the charger or dcdc.

 

[Electric Land Cruiser]

Wow yes, I just learned about the Resolve-EV system today and I believe I will buy one as soon as it's back in stock. That's exactly what I'm looking for and since I got the Leaf SV I can reuse both the 6.6kw and Chademo chargers! How cool! Yes I hope it works with a 2013 I have emailed to see if I can check my VIN or something else.

I actually tested both chargers and they work just fine despite the crash damage on the front end. Brought the battery up to 48% or so just so that it's not sitting empty or completely full either.