FJ80 Axles

[Doc McCoy]

Not sure what section I should post this in ... mostly I want Gherra to respond though.

What are the dimensions on a FJ80 axle vs. a Tacoma axle? Is it wider? When running a FJ80 axle ... do you need to do anything different with the transfer case? Custom drive shafts?

Just thinking out loud here.

[freeze]

Both are passenger side diffs as in Front and Rear
Much larger steering bearings
Much Larger Birfs
They accept E-Locker 3rds
Front Diff is a H/P
94-97 are full float before that is semi float. You can tell by the rear diff being drums if it's semi float
They are 9.5"
I believe they are 63" in width I think yours are 60"(don't quote me)

If you're thinking SAS, You're gonna have to go with a different trans/transfer as the output is wrong with the current Tacoma which is at the moment Driver's Side diffs and you will need custom shafts.

Paging... Gherrrrra!

[Doc McCoy]

So I might as well get an inchworm transfer case? :D

[freeze]

hehe... well if you plan on keeping the IFS yes but I'd go with Marlin's as it's their shop that's building them.

Plus it's in Marlin Red... which is just plain sexy! Versus smurf blue
http://www.marlincrawler.com/sites/all/marlin/files/u1/iw_leftymcitop640.jpg

http://www.inchwormgear.com/store/images/lefty_front.jpg

If you're going SAS then no.. you'll need to go with an R series or G series transmission with a gear drive transfer case so you don't get a stretched chain and easier to work on.

The reason for the lefty is the clamshell front diff is on the driver's side as to where the SA run a passenger side diff.

Stuff the case with 4.7 gears or go duals!

[Doc McCoy]

Inchworm makes a passenger drop. It's the one not called 'Lefty'.

http://www.inchwormgear.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=21_103_105&products_id=30

http://www.inchwormgear.com/store/images/stock_case.jpg

[Doc McCoy]

... or better yet ...

http://www.inchwormgear.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=21_89_92&products_id=1025

http://www.inchwormgear.com/store/images/doublecase.jpg

[874runnersr5]

dualtcaseftw.

[freeze]

nahhh...go triples like Marlin

1,372:1 Crawl Ratio!!

His famous walking the crawler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZFLaX4J8fg

Little scary but he's been at this for eons!

[874runnersr5]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LoQTme51tA

can we get some embedded youtube vids yet???

[canadian bum]

The FJ80 axle is a little wider than the tacoma axle. However Gary just runs wheel spacers on the rear to make up for the difference.

[Winch]

Hey Doc, yes, the FJ80 front is 63" while the Taco is 60.5. To compensate I have two 1" spacers in the back. I would rather just buy the adapters and built your own dual case set-up. It will be much cheaper as the old gear driven cases are the cheap and plenty out there vs buying a unit. You can also keep your R150F tranny.

[Doc McCoy]

Thanks for the heads up. So I could grab any old toyota gear driven transfer case? (passenger drop of course)

[freeze]

yes... you may need to change the flanges as the holes for your driveline may be different.

[S/C '03 taco]

danm it doc, let me finish the repairs then make me tear everything apart again.....

question: "so chris , hows life?"

answer: " my life is doc's truck! so life's good :)"

[Wellsy]

Yep Gary is dead on.. Cases are easy to put together if you just buy the adapters (I'm running Inchworm - never had an issue). Cases are easy to find (Think I even have 2 sitting in my shed). FJ80 is a great Axle. Put some Chromo goodies inside and your as stong as a dana 60.

If you don't wanna go spacers on the rear - just put in an FJ80 rear too. Limited for locker choices though - but the thing is a monster, full floater - disc brakes - and like a 9.5" ring gear. I'm running FJ80 front and rear with a 1" spacer on each end :)

Biggest issue for allot of folks with the FJ80 front is the steering, but I think if you keep the axle linked it's not too bad - You can keep with more of the stock format (I think thats what Gherra did), my axle is on leaf springs so I ended up having custom steering arms made from OTT (I dont think they make them anymore).

[freeze]

Hey Wellsy... do you have pictures or a build of your truck that you'd be able to post in the build section? I'm sure lot of the people here would love to see how you created your awesome Toyota... I included ;) No pressure though cause it is a pretty big task to do.

[Doc McCoy]

Yep Gary is dead on.. Cases are easy to put together if you just buy the adapters (I'm running Inchworm - never had an issue). Cases are easy to find (Think I even have 2 sitting in my shed). FJ80 is a great Axle. Put some Chromo goodies inside and your as stong as a dana 60.

If you don't wanna go spacers on the rear - just put in an FJ80 rear too. Limited for locker choices though - but the thing is a monster, full floater - disc brakes - and like a 9.5" ring gear. I'm running FJ80 front and rear with a 1" spacer on each end :)

Biggest issue for allot of folks with the FJ80 front is the steering, but I think if you keep the axle linked it's not too bad - You can keep with more of the stock format (I think thats what Gherra did), my axle is on leaf springs so I ended up having custom steering arms made from OTT (I dont think they make them anymore).


Hey Wellsy... do you have pictures or a build of your truck that you'd be able to post in the build section? I'm sure lot of the people here would love to see how you created your awesome Toyota... I included ;) No pressure though cause it is a pretty big task to do.

Yeah ... a build write up would be awesome. I think this is the way I'm going (eventually) and I need as much info as I can soak up. Thanks for the input Wellsy

[Wellsy]

Hey Wellsy... do you have pictures or a build of your truck that you'd be able to post in the build section? I'm sure lot of the people here would love to see how you created your awesome Toyota... I included ;) No pressure though cause it is a pretty big task to do.

Let me see what I can do. I have all the pics still from the SAS/FJ80 swap to the Exo/flatdeck and the engine swap as well as the rear Fj80 axle.

I had a good post up on pirate a zillion yrs ago on the FJ80 swap but the spot the pics were hosted at is long dead.

I'll try to put something together one night - at least a high level, and go from there. I did one for another board last yr - so let me see what I can come up with.

PS> Toy is almost all back together and rdy for a Run. Been about a yr andf I got the itch bad...