[Black798]

Ive been slowly piecing together the parts I will need for this rear axle build. So far I have everything on hand except for brake lines, brake calipers, wheel bearings and wheel seals. The only unknown I havent figured out yet is how I will be coming up with a axle shaft seal to keep oil out of the hubs but I think I have a solution for it.

Last week I got a big shipment of parts all at once which is always fun and decided to lay it all out.


What's all in this picture is the nitro 5.29 gear set and setup kit for the 9.5" 3rd, trail gear chromoly hubs and spindles, RuffStuff Full float weld on flanges, and the nitro chromoly shafts.

I opted to go with a set of cut to length chromoly shafts for the rear of an 80 series for the shafts for a couple reasons. First being cost, rcv wanted over 1300$ to make one set of shafts which for me is just unreasonable, second was serviceability in the future. Should I ever snap one of these shafts they are easy to source being an off the shelf item that takes all of 5 minutes with a grinder or chop saw to be ready to go into the truck. Im trying really hard to make this axle as strong as possible without a bunch of custom wear items that will make working on it a pain later.

With the shafts and gears sorted the next weak link with a toyota full float setup is the hub studs, these are what transmit all the rotational torque to the wheels and the stock studs are tiny at only 8mm. If those studs go you now have no drive at the wheel. ARP makes an upgrade kit but it isnt super cheap and Ive personally seen quite a few sets of arp studs fail especially in rear axle applications. The ARP studs also still retain the stock cone washers which are super annoying. Once the studs are torqued down the cone washer compress into the axle flange and to get them back out you have to beat o the hubs or the studs themselves which is both annoying and almost always causes more damage.

If Im going to have to replace a broken shaft or something I want it to be easy. My solution was to bore out the 8mm holes in the hubs and retap them for 3/8 24 grade 9 bolts.



And these are the bolts I will be using


This setup based off the material specs provided by the bolt manufacturer and ARP will be roughly 33% stronger than the ARP stud upgrade. Being a bolt rather than a stud will also eliminate the issue of the cone washers not releasing when you want it to. It also costs about 1/3 of the ARP upgrade. All said and done Im very confident that the weak link will either be the axle shafts themselves or the rear ujoint at the pinion. Both easy trail repair is the unlikely event it happens.

This weekend my plan is to get the axle jig itself built and ready for when the tube shows up in the next few weeks. Slowly but surely....

[Rockdawg84]

nice! you're gonna love having rear full float. I could feel a difference in the stability as opposed to the semifloat stock axles.

[Black798]

Originally Posted by Rockdawg84

nice! you're gonna love having rear full float. I could feel a difference in the stability as opposed to the semifloat stock axles.

That will be super nice. I can't keep a set of bearings in this stock axle to save my life. 10k miles and a few wheeling trips tops before it blows out the wheel seals and flushes the grease out of the bearings. Super annoying.

Hopefully I can get this housing done before I have to replace the bearings again but it's going to be awhile since it's sent me down there rabbit hole of "if I'm starting fresh I might as well..."

[Black798]

Benn awhile but Ive been plugging away on the rear axle housing. Last weekend I got it all setup in the jig and almost fully welded. I still need to finish welding the backbone truss and the inside of the housing. After that Ill verify its still 100% straight, flame straighten if needed, then trim the tubes down and weld on the end flanges. Ive settled on a WMS width of 61.5" since it will still allow me to tuck a 37 inside the fender flares but maximize my width and give as much room between the frame and tire for packaging the currie swaybar I have planned.

Also started giving the SAS a good amount of thought to start gathering parts for that and I think I have finally decided on the diff Ill be using. I went back and forth a bunch between another landcruiser 9.5 up front but I think what I will be doing is buying trail gears front axle builder kit since it comes with new knuckle balls and running it with the 8.4" diff out of a tacoma rear. Its still an 8 inch ring and low pinion but the bearing caps are bridged so there is very little deflection and I have yet to actually find one thats broken. I was originally planning on the high pinion 8 inch from an 80 series but these seem to break way too easy so for the amount of money the 8.4 or lc 9.5 makes more sense.

And now some axle porn....












with any luck I should have the axle to a point where I can dry assembly the hubs and have it be a roller by the end of the weekend.

[Fishwerks]

Yesssssss. Stoked to watch this happen.

You going to ship those diffs down to me when you cut the IFS off?

[Black798]

Originally Posted by Fishwerks

Yesssssss. Stoked to watch this happen.

You going to ship those diffs down to me when you cut the IFS off?

They are yours if you want em lol. Ill even throw in like 4 spare cvs haha

[VernySanders]

Originally Posted by Black798

I also noticed the ring gear looks a little funky with the small streaks in the pattern. Not sure if this is normal for freshly broken in ring gear or not.

These lines are called mill marks. They're a useful visual indicator of gear ware. Its almost like how freshly casted brand new gears have visual surface pitting sometimes but after a ton of wear they slowly become nice and shiny untill they basically blow up like your old front diff. I know this is an old post, but if you ever tear apart a diff again, now you know.

[Fishwerks]

Originally Posted by Black798

They are yours if you want em lol. Ill even throw in like 4 spare cvs haha

Oh hell yes!

[Black798]

Got the axle housing finished up today and did a quick dry assembly with the hubs diff and axle shafts to make sure everything is still lined up and it looks like were in business. Super stoked with how this turned out and i cant wait to start the next phase which will be cutting off all the rear suspension from the links back to redo it. That wont be happeing for awhile since that also means I need another car to drive while the 4runner is cut up but I think the 4runner becoming just a toy was inevitable and the timing really couldn't be better. Pictures really dont do this thing justice, its absolutely massive and makes the axle in the 4runner currently look like it belongs in a RC car haha.

[Black798]

Suppose its time for an update. Ive been super busy with school and work lately which only got worse due to all this COVID bs. But luckily still managed to get my annual moab trip in. The dates we had worked out perfect and we ended up leaving town the day before they shut down everything to visitors. This year we ended up getting an AirBnb which was hands down one of the best things we could have done. So nice having a shower and not getting caught out in the rain with our pants down like last year and it was much closer to town so getting moving early was way easier. Not going to do a full writeup but heres some of the highlights and the link to the full flickr album.
Moab 2020 | Flickr

















And in more recent news I finally got a daily. 2008 Audi A4 S line with the 2.0 turbo and a 6 speed manual. Super fun car to drive and its been averaging 25 mpg even with me driving like a jackass everywhere which is awesome. Best part though is that it means the 4runner is now 100% a toy so I can actually take it apart and do these bigger projects I have been planning out. Hoping that within the next month or so Ill be able to get all the remaining parts I need to swap the rear axle in and get the housing off to powder coat so I can stop worrying about that 8 inch diff. Also have started putting my lbj elimination plan into place with the new front control arms to keep things together untill I get the money and parts for the front SAS. Thats all for now

[Dirtco]

The axle looks good!

Looks like a fun Moab trip, I can't wait to get back out there! The car looks nice too, having a second vehicle is almost necessary once you start running harder trails. I remember the headache all too well, I had to buy a $500 beater just so I could get to work Monday morning.

I have no idea why you have issues with rear wheel bearings! Haha

[Black798]

Originally Posted by Dirtco

The axle looks good!

Looks like a fun Moab trip, I can't wait to get back out there! The car looks nice too, having a second vehicle is almost necessary once you start running harder trails. I remember the headache all too well, I had to buy a $500 beater just so I could get to work Monday morning.

I have no idea why you have issues with rear wheel bearings! Haha

No clue why the shafts and bearings keep getting jacked up haha. The second car has already been a lifesaver when it comes to the hassle of always feeling like "oh shit I need to get this done by sunday night so I can still make it work" Its cool to say your daily is also your crawler but it definitely gets old after awhile. Since getting it the 4runner hasnt moved off the jackstands in the garage and its so nice to be able to take the time to look at it from every angle and not feel rushed. Should really open up some possibilities.

Cant wait to see your "4runner" get put through its paces that thing looks badass!

[cdrewferd]

Can't wait to see how you set everything up to get that new axle in place! I know you're super busy, but I was wondering if you're still selling the plans for your skid plates?

[Black798]

Originally Posted by cdrewferd

Can't wait to see how you set everything up to get that new axle in place! I know you're super busy, but I was wondering if you're still selling the plans for your skid plates?

I've honestly just been giving them to people lately. I made the plans a long time ago and over time lost some.of the files so they aren't really complete anymore but still give a decent starting point so if you want them I can send them to you

[Black798]

Suppose its time for another multi month update lol. Pretty uneventful summer as far as wheeling trips. Middle of August we drove up north to Kalispell to go check out the Wild Bill OHV area. This is the only full size accessible OHV park in the state that I know of an is supposed to be the hardest of the hard. I honestly was a little disappointed, the majority of the park is man made obstacles and after awhile it all gets to be the same, you either end up making it or turtling out HARD which I did several times during the day. That ended up resulting in a ripped and bent transmission crossmember, broken transmission mount, and 3 bolts of the 4 that go into the trans worked themselves loose.







And towards the end of the day this happened... Got super lucky that my slider dug into the wall and stopped the truck from going all the way over onto its side. Happened so fast and I honestly didnt feel like it was in a position it should have rolled but oh well, no damage and I drove out of it.







This was also the first trip that I trailered the 4runner on which was pretty awesome, way less worrying about driving it home and all of that.

Next tip was a quick overnighter up to Blue Lake with some friends







And then another overnighter to whitetail reservoir. This was a super sweet camp spot right on the shore of the lake that somehow had no bugs and was still as can be during the night. On the way out there though I was hearing a faint clicking coming from the driver rear tire fairly often. Checked the lugs multiple times and they were tight, so I figured what was going on was the bent axle shaft I never replaced had finally cracked at the bearing and was on its way out. I took backroads all the way home for fear of the shaft totally snapping and I didnt want to be going 75 in traffic when it happened. Well I got all the way to 3 miles from my house and she let loose on the offramp from the highway. Felt the truck drop and before the tire even went by I knew what it was, saw the tire go by and all I could think was "holy shit thats gonna go back on the highway and kill someone." Thankfully there was very little traffic and after several good bounces the tire ended up 400 yards down the road in the ditch so no injuries or real damages. Since the brake drum and backer plate were totally fubar I said screw it and drove the truck down the offramp into a dirt lot and let it sit for a few days to figure out the repair plan. Went down and pulled the shaft, brought it home and pressed in some spare studs and got it back together and limped home.



So why did it fail? I really do not know, I know the lugs were tight not even 70 miles before but I do know that this specific corner had been severely over torqued by a certain firestone when I had them replace a bad valve stem a few months back. My guess is the two studs that sheared had cracked, hence the clicking, and the others had stretched so while they torqued to spec they were just elongating. After the two sheared it allowed the wheel to start wobbling working the other 4 loose until the wheel finally let loose. ITs my best guess but also a long shot, anyway just puts the final nail in the coffin for this 8 inch housing, the thing is bent about 3 different ways and has just had all it can take.





This also ended up being the final trip with the supercharger as well, Ive never been totally happy with the power it gave and have really had a lot of headaches due to it. A knock sensor failure earlier this summer was what finally started putting the pieces together. Even after replacing the sensors and harness with all oem stuff the truck was still running in a soft limp mode below 3k rpm in boost where it would pull all timing out of the ignition curve and just fall on its face. What I figured out was when the rotors got under load it was making enough mechanical noise that it was somehow tripping the knock sensors above 3k rpm and the ecu was transferring that to lower rpm. I didnt want to disable the oem knock system for what realistically was a 30hp over stock gain so off it came and I sold it. So what was next? enter the turbo kit. Its the cx racing manifold kit with one of their nicer gt35 ball bearing turbos. Ill be going into more detail on the kit later but so far im pretty impressed with the quality and super excited to get it installed and running.