3rd member swap?

thegipper

thegipper

New member
I just bought a wrecked 99 SR5 4x4 auto that has an Eaton LSD in it (4.10 gears).

My 97 SR5 4x4 auto also has 4.10 gears (did the spin test).

Can I just remove the 3rd member from the donor vehicle and swap it into mine or do i need to swap the entire rear axle?

I'd imagine just swapping the 3rd member would be a lot less work than swapping the entire axle housing assembly.

Thoughts?
 
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Well that is awesome news. Here I originally thought I had to swap the entire axle housing. Shit, maybe I'll do it this weekend then!

Thanks guys
 
A 3rd member swap is pretty easy. I'd bet about the same amount of work as a fully axle swap. Since you are in a rust-belt state, go with the axle housing that is in the best shape...

You need to pull both axles out about 6" to get the 3rd member out. Once they are that far out, they won't damage the seal if you set it down in the axle tube.

-Charlie
 
The donor axle housing is definitely in better shape but mine isn't too bad, doesn't leak or anything.

It sure seems like swapping the entire axle housing would be a lot more work than just the third member though.
 
I'd rather swap the housings. Unbolt the control arms at the axle or body, disconnect e-brake, one side of panhard bar, rear brake line an lower shock bolts. Lastly disconnect 4 driveshaft bolts an it's free.

Other option you mess with axles, seals, an potentially create oil leaks.
 
I would swap the entire axle housing because scraping off an 18 year old gasket SUCKS, wrestling a 3rd member SUCKS, and if your FIPG gasket doesn't work, you'll be doing it alllll over again. And yes, that SUCKS.

Of course, if you have a way of getting the truck high enough in the air that you don't have to be laying on your back while installing the 3rd member, it's not that bad.
 
thegipper said:
The donor axle housing is definitely in better shape but mine isn't too bad, doesn't leak or anything.

It sure seems like swapping the entire axle housing would be a lot more work than just the third member though.
Click to expand...

Nope. Having done both, I'd say it's actually easier to swap the whole housing than mess with just a 3rd.
 
Thanks for the feed back guys, this is interesting.

Either way I have to remove the brake lines so I'll need to bleed the brakes, this is my biggest fear. I'll be super lucky if the bleeders don't snap off, maybe I should start spraying them down.

The donor axle is definitely in better condition than mine, I'm starting to think that maybe I should just swap the housings. The only caveat is the donor housing does look like it is leaking around the bottom bolts. I can check the torque on those bottom bolts and spray down the housing and see if it still leaks. If it does, I'll have to pull the 3rd member anyhow to fix the leak.

My only other concern with the donor housing is if it was damaged somehow from the accident (rear ended). What if some of the mounts got bent or something, I don't see anything obvious but it would really suck to later find out something is out of alignment.

Would you guys still swap the entire housing or just the 3rd member?
 
Swap the whole housing. Hit the new housing with por 15 or Eastwood before you put it in. You can do any rust repair or prevention to the under body, upper shock mounts, frame etc with the housing out of the way.

I'm in the middle of a swap right now & I'm rust proofing everything, sway bar, upper & lower control arms, crossmembers, frame, undercarriage....
 
It is definitely not rusted through, the housing is in very good shape with essentially zero rust. My guess is when they installed the truetrac several years ago, the cover wasn't properly torqued or the gasket/rtv failed.

Good idea on keeping it protected while it is off.
 
i haven't swapped a whole housing, but swapping the 3rd member is about a two hour job. Hard to believe you can do the whole housing quicker than that. Hardest part is pumping the thing full of oil after you're done.

When I did it I built a simple wooden platform that bolted to the top of my floor jack, with a v-block to cradle the small end of the 3rd. That eliminated the wrestling of the 3rd member while lying on the floor under the truck, and made it an easy one-man job.

Also, I would not recommend using the Toyota FIPG. That stuff has too short a working life. I've always used Permatex gasket sealer, and have never had it leak when I reassembled things.
 
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Dig in and do it man. You keep saying it's in better shape then yours. Do it for less hassle later on. If you don't want to do this much, you certainly won't want to do this job a second time when something leaks or doesn't come apart and it breaks on your existing housing with seized fittings/bolts.

I swapped an E-locker housing into my 97' 3 weeks after carpel tunnel surgery by myself in 2 hours. That was picking it up out of truck bed, fighting it down to the ground, getting it on a jack, lifting into place and working on re-connecting everything. If I can do that as a one handed gimp, you can do it too.

Keep it simple. Don't mess with critical portions to avoid removing a few bolts. In the time you have been hearing input, it would have been done already.
 
It doesn't matter to me which way I do it, just looking for input. If the donor housing wasn't leaking, there wouldn't be any question but I may have to remove the 3rd member anyhow to fix the gasket leak.

I'm going to re-torque the bolts and spray the housing down and see if it keeps leaking.

I'm hoping that I can pull the donor housing on Friday after work and do the swap on Saturday.
 
Remove the donor housing and reseal off the truck. Doing that with the housing on the truck SUCKS. I used to work at a shop out of high school; we never swapped thirds. Junkyards never sell thirds without housings and no one wants to deal with that greasy mess of resealing if we don't have to.
 
Ok than it is settled, I'll swap the entire housing. I'll fix the leak while it is off (pull 3rd member and reseal).

Thanks for the feedback fellas.
 
Pull the abs sensor and check for any oil before you make any decisions. This will give you an idea of how good the seals and bearings are. Draining the oil out will also help with checking the condition. The sensors have to come out anyways and despite what everyone says they are a pain in the ass to get out. I changed out the whole axle when I did mine, all you need is a couple floor jacks and a ratcheting strap to get it in and out
 
That leak is my fault. I loosened the third-member nuts last week thinking I'd pull the third-member. I didn't expect them to be as easy to loosen, didn't expect to break the seal. Sounds like I didn't get them tight enough when I retightened them.

You have a good plan. See if you can tighten them to stop the leak. If not, the seal needs to be refreshed and that will be easier with the axle out. It didn't leak until I loosened those nuts.

FYI, I also loosened three of the four nuts/bolts connecting the driveshaft to the rear U-Joint.

Hope you don't mind me commenting on your thread and find the background info helpful.
 
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