Bought some yota axles

[bottomwatcher]

Well driving the old datty up here in Maine gets a lot of attention. They salt the roads up here and they are long gone. Anyways stopping at a yard sale with a bunch of automotive crap as soon as I got out of the truck the owners said " I have axles for you!". I gave up looking for Toyota axles on the east coast years ago. Typical rusty crap but I got front and rear axles plus the front frame of the truck including steering box for $300. Fuck it they will need a full rebuild plus backing plates ect . This will be a multiyear project because I did a full suspension rebuild a couple months ago. Anyways I got the axles. Sooo is this r&p shot? Do they sell a rebuild kit full everything? I never messed with toyota. The hunt for parts on the last front end rebuild led me to believe a straight axle swap was inevitable. Hopefully my pic works.

[datzenmike]

That reminds me I have a front axle assy with wheels still on it in the back yard. Over 15 years and the trees have grown up around it. 4:10 I think.

[bottomwatcher]

Well the big problem is getting a direct r@p that matches the datsun 4.37. If I could get the same r&p for the front I would  trash the rear. But the gotta match!

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Did you buy both axles? Swap them both in and have matching diffs.

 

Toyota had an optional 4.30 R&P. That is within the allowable range for front to rear diff gearing. You can get them many places, like Marlin Crawler, Randy's Ring and Pinion, West Coast Differentials, Low Range Off Road, and of course, Trail Gear.

 

Many more companies exist that support the Toyota axle and related components. Front Range Off Road, Diamond Axle, Ruff Stuff and Parts Mike are among the best out there.

 

You don't actually need backing plates to run the brakes. A couple companies offer backing plate eliminator kits. You may need them for your state safety inspection, but I don't think you have those in Florida. 

[datzenmike]

Used off road, which by definition has poorer traction, a slight mismatch will be absorbed by wheel slippage or spin. 4.375/4.3 ratios is less than 2% difference. On a 720 4x4 that's just under 1.4" distance traveled between the front and rear tires per revolution. 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Even if used on-road, it would hardly be noticeable. After all, when are you likely to engage 4 wheel drive on the road? Snow.

 

Also, with a slightly higher ratio in front, you would be pulling from the front. If the lower ratio were in the front, you may notice a difference in the snow, but not with the higher ratio in the front.

[bottomwatcher]

Thanks for chiming in Stoffy I know this is right up your ally. I took that pic to show the rust on the ring gear. Does it look salvageable? I towed the truck up to Maine which will be the trucks permanent home.  Unfortunately it is going into storage tomorrow for 6 months while I return to Florida so I have lots of time to shop for parts. I did get front and rear so I plan on putting the set in. They will get stripped and rebuilt and while I am at it I think I will add rear disks and upgraded front brakes. These have the thin invented front discs. The guy said they are 1980.

[]2eDeYe]

You could probably clean the rust off there and run it, but it will wear faster like that. 

 

New gears aren't really that expensive in the overall price of an axle rebuild. 

If you are going through the axles, you will probably want to re-gear anyways. Especially if you are going to run larger than stock tires.

Might as well get a couple lockers too. 😄  

 

There are methods to run newer vented brakes and larger calipers on the solid axles, but it's been a while since I researched the subject.
When I did one it was V6 4runner stuff, later on the Tacoma stuff was all the rage. No idea what the best setup is nowadays lol.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

IFS mini truck calipers and FJ60/FJ62 rotors are how you get vented rotors. Use V6 IFS mini truck calipers for larger pistons.

 

Tacoma rotors and calipers can be use with adapter plates from Front Range Off Road, but you also need to use IFS hubs, which widen the front axle by three inches. You also need to swap the knuckles side to side. Honestly, the Tacoma brake upgrade is only as good as the master/booster combo. I use FJ80 or Tacoma boosters and a non-ABS FJ80 1" bore master cylinders.

 

If you plan to run anything larger than stock size tires, I would definitely swap out the stock 4.10 gears. If you plan on running 33s or larger, definitely consider 5.29s. They cost about $200 a set, and bearing kits are about $100 per axle. Trail Gear is the least expensive option there, but I really don't like to use TG unless I have no other option (Sorry Matt!). I wouldn't waste my time with rusty gears.

 

The rear disc brake kit - don't waste your money. Only the most expensive disc conversions are worth the effort, and they cost about $1700 for the entire kit. Most rear dics kits do not have a parking brake provision, and all of them that use "floating" calipers and stock flanged axles have bad pad wear characteristics. Besides all the problems with cheap rear disc kits, the stock rear drum brakes work better anyway (unless you spring for the $1700 Front Range kit). Note that their rear kit also requires a complete full float axle conversion, hence the high price. They do work awesome though. If you combine this rear disc kit with the Tacoma front kit, your axle widths are now the same three inches wider, front and rear. I recently did a full front and rear conversion on a 4Runner I built a while back, and the brakes work so good, that they can lock up the 37" tires at 30 mph. Try that with a cheap rear disc kit.

 

Here is their product page. I use lots of stuff from them. Doesn't hurt that Brian an d I are good friends - https://frontrangeoffroadfab.com/brakes/

 

I'll upload a few pics later today.

[bottomwatcher]

Thanks for the info fellows! New ring gear it is. Calipers could get interesting on the front because it has the aluminum 4 piston ones that swap onto the 80-82 datsun suspension. Maybe datsun ones fit the other way around. Well they are waiting for my return and will be a good indoor shop project in the spring.

[datzenmike]

 

The early '80s 4 piston cast iron caliper / non vented rotors I had on my SAS 620. These calipers fit the early 280z.

 

I think '86, Toyota went to vented rotors and the 4 pot caliper was widened but otherwise looks the same but massively heavy and I don't think aluminum but cast iron. I have a very rusty set and was looking at changing mine. I don't know if they will fit the '79-'83 280zx that also had vented rotors. They may have gone to aluminum later but the set I have are steel... did I mention they are HEAVY!!!

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Yes, in 1986. That's when they went to IFS.

 

I once heard of an aluminum four piston Toyota caliper, but have never seen one in person.

 

The difference between the IFS 4cyl and IFS V6 calipers are - V6 caliper has four of the same size pistons while the 4cyl caliper has two large and two small pistons. The V6 caliper also has a cooling fin arrangement cast into the outside, while the 4cyl caliper does not. Some wheels require grinding a bit of the V6 caliper's cooling fins off a bit to fit the wheel.