Ranscat3

It's time to take a break from chasing OBD2 codes and fix a more serious problem. Driving home on I-5 NB right next to the Tacoma Dome I felt and heard a good loud clunk from underneath my truck. Wife and kid were with me and we were towing a small trailer with some of our household goods in it because we recently moved. We got over to the shoulder and again made use of awesome roadside assistance through USAA. Luckily it was only 4 miles over out max to get us home so it was only 13 bucks to get us the rest of the way. Almost cheaper than the gas it would have cost!



The story goes: To save on re-gearing costs I sourced a carrier with 5.29 gears already installed off craigslist from another Toyota nut for $100. Bad idea I guess. It was fine for a couple hundred miles using nasty coastal tranny fluid. It had been ticking ever since I switched everything over to royal purple a few weeks earlier. I suspected the transmission over the rear end since it all has more than 200,000 miles on it, was abused, and not serviced at all ever by the previous owner(s). I'd planned on rebuilding it this summer, it didn't make it. Back in the driveway it's clear to me the transmission is working fine...

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU5IA0WJun4[/YOUTUBE]

So rather than just having it re-geared, I'm going to put the money towards a bit of an upgrade at the same time. The wife said she didn't care how much it cost, to just get it fixed. Yes Ma'am!

-97 4Runner rear axle hub to hub with eLocker, full body harness, controller and switch, delivered from a junkyard I found on car-part.com a few hours away. $702.50. (should be here Tuesday)

-New 3rd from East Coast Gear Supply with 5.29s and solid collar. $663.00 (expected Friday)

4wheel parts wanted $1000 to regear the eLocker. 3 day turnaround. Randy's Ring and Pinion wanted $860 with 1 day turnaround. ECG was the better option in my opinion. The only problem with that is it won't be here till next Friday, I have been DDing this rig and will be in the field at the rifle range wed-sun. So it won't get put back together until Monday at the earliest. Looks like I'll be riding on 2 wheels rain or shine next week.

Why not just retrofit the existing axle you ask? Because at our new place the only tools I have are the ones I carry in the truck at all times (which will be enough) and I don't have the space/shop needed to do it right. This will be done in a driveway. The most overhead I have is the truck itself. Also, because the extra 1.5" of this axle over stock means I can use smaller wheel spacers to help offset the extra 6" of width that will be added up front when I go long travel. SASers don't hate, I like to be stubborn with my inferior 7.5" IFS! You're telling me I should have just gone with an ARB air locker? Someday for the front, ya I'll get one when I find 2G laying around not doing anything. That now would really put my costs through the roof. The difference between fixing what I have and getting the eLocker is only about $200. So that $200 and the $700 for the axle puts me at getting a selectable rear locker for about $900.

I know this has been done before, but I figure I'll put up a good documentation with lots of pictures just to add to the wealth of information.

Today I removed the rear drive shaft so I can drive it in FWD if necessary. Really it was just to spin it around in the driveway and to get me started. This weekend the rest of the back end will be coming off.

MaK92-4RnR

Is the 97 rear axle a direct bolt in for the 90-95 4Runners...? I did this swap on my brother's 98 Tacoma using a tacoma rear e-locked axle. but I didnt know the generations were the same?

Ranscat3

I don't know if the leaf spring parts all line up between the generations but the coil springs do. I read in another article that the coil perches are a little larger in diameter, but that they line up center to center when put next to each other. I'll look for that source. Diff lines and bolts up the same. Erik's Toyota Differential page has some great information.

The ebrake mount needs switched (welded) to the other side of the axle and the lines switched for length purposes. Brake things are set-up backwards on the 3rd compared to the 2nd gens. I think that's it.

Ranscat3

This posting on TTORA is where I saw the measurements, a little over half way down.

Originally Posted by GPorsch
I took some measurements comparing my axle (1990 Truck) to a newer Tacoma TRD E-Locker axle. The E-locker is 1-1/2" wider overall. So thats a 3/4" on each side. And the spring perches seem to be a 1/4" wider center to center. Plus all the brake stuff is flipped. Parking brakes, brake lines, and brake bias valve are all on the opposite sides.

Ranscat3

I finally got started wrenching yesterday, until I realized I didn't know where my 22MM socket is, so the axle is still on the truck. I'll pick up another one on the way home. I suspect it's lost in the move and I need to get my rig going again! The axle arrived last Tuesday. They charged me 100 for the wiring harness... ok, uncut from the locker motor to the control box to the switch, that's what I asked for. They gave me the ENTIRE body harness back to the tail lights, but not one thing to do with the locker box, not even the plug so I could run my own wires. After them ignoring me a few days I finally got through to the guy (ya, I'm mad about it) and they said they'll UPS it to me on Monday. I don't have time to go get it and it's non-essential to regular driving, so I'll let them do the work. Carrier still hasn't arrived from ECG yet. Talked to them on the phone Monday when it went out.



Here is the extent of my work space and tools for the project, less a 22MM...



Close up of the new axle. It's not pretty, but I'll clean it up.



I discovered one of my 4 link bolts had wiggled out.



I never noticed this on my axle before, I guess the axle had been replaced.

I did run into a bit of a setback. I know, I should have laid eyes on my axle before I bought it, and then I could have avoided having to do this, but it'll end up working out for the better.




Here are my shock mounts pointing to the rear, and below are the posts facing the front.



Hey, no worries, that's why God gave us grinders and welders! I'll take more pictures and measurements when I actually drop the current axle, but the spring perches on the 97 axle look too small. Also, the hubs are very much different with the brake business. I'll just swap over mine. My plan is to pretty much cut everything off of each axle and retain the current setup on the new axle, leaving the 4 points untouched to keep alignment.

While I'm at it I'm going to raise the shock mounts to give me a little more clearence, I'm still researching that part of it. I don't have 220 where I'm at, just the little 110 wire feed, thinking I only needed to weld some brake mounts. I'll tack weld the mounts and perches and anything else requiring the arc welder then haul it to Mom's for the heavy duty business. Then it will be a direct fit!

I want to add 2" coil spacers while I'm at it in prep for the long travel front end. Do I need to get some extended 4 link bars too? Or is the amount the axle is moving forward minimal enough to not worry about it. I'll have to add longer spacers to my fuel tank to get it to clear and a new drop for the tracking bar. Any other suggestions to get to the 6" total I'll need for things to be level (after the LT) with coils? I recently put on new springs for the 4" Trailmaster lift in front. I would like to do whatever lift mod I'm going to do while it's apart this time.

Ranscat3

On Sunday night I pulled the axle housing off and there are more differences than I'd expected. I'm in too deep to turn back now. Must accomplish mission.



The springs do not fit securely in the 97 perches.





Some measurements I took: 90/97
Spring perches - 6" base, 4" inner/5" base, 3" inner
Top 4 link mount outside to outside - 25 1/2"/21"
Center to center on sway bar mounts - 24"/30"
Center to center of spring perches - 36"/30"
Center to center of shock mounts - 48"/48"
Lower 4 link outermost to outermost - 42 1/4"/39 1/2"





Here's what the inside of my old 3rd looked like. Lots of chunks of teeth came out.



I didn't know I had an audience.

Prepped the new axle on Monday night. Everything is coming off and the old mounts will be moved over as precisely as I can get them. That's the plan. I considered converting to leaf springs, or doing a fancy triangulated 4 link, but at this point those unnecessary options don't repsect our budget. I figure I might as well give it a try. Maybe I'll get lucky and everything will come out true. If it works then I save some cash, if not I can at least tell my wife I tried.

Stuwy123

iTrader: (1)

Good luck.
At least you'll have a spare e-locker diff to sell/keep for parts.
Why don't you just modify your current 90 axle to accept the e-locker?
That sounds like a lot less work then swapping the 97 axle under your 90.

You have all the tools, grinder and welder.

Ranscat3

No spare e-locker. That gets sent back to ECGS as a core. I did take the good 4.56 gears off of it and put my bad 5.29 on it to send back. They won't use those either way and I could use some money by selling the mint factory gears to offset the cost of the rebuilt e-locker.

It would have been much less work to just modify the housing, especially with what I ended up having to do to make it work, but that's not what I wanted to do.



Not only is the locker axle longer, but it has a greater diameter. It was a challenge to get all of the brackets lined up correctly. I marked center lines the length of the axle from hub bolts center to hub bolts center along the top and the front of the housing. Then I found the center of the housing and marked a common measure towards the ends of the axle, just outside the opening for the carrier. So not I had a place to measure from, and guides to line up on. I put the brackets back on the original housing, measured the length from my common points and marked it on each bracket. Then I marked the sides of the brackets where my center lines intercepted with them on both sides. From there all I had to do was line up the marks and tack weld them in place. That took a while, getting all those angels mirrored just right, and was difficult because my uneven cuts didn't sit on the new round housing exactly the same, so some eyeballing came into play. I know that's not the place to be eyeballing, but if it doesn't work out the wife already gave me the OK to pick up a nice 3 link set-up and drop the truck off at 4Wheel Parts in Tacoma to get the work done. Spendy ya, but we don't plan on parting with this truck until it's mangled beyond repair even for a toy, or they stop selling gasoline.

I took the axle to my parents and used to good arc welder on 220 to weld the brackets properly. It'll get the job done.



I painted it green because, well... I could, and HMMWV paint is very durable. Tonight I will put back together the rest of it. Last night I put the housing back on and everything lined up like it wasn meant to be and the bolts went right in.

Since everywhere I call wants me to wait a week or more to get the paper gasket for the carrier and I didn't plan ahead, any thoughts against just using Permatex like I did on the open 8" with no gasket?

Stuwy123

iTrader: (1)

Good job.
I imagine permatex is fine.
Most people use the paper gasket because they use it as a template to modify the diff housing.

hamish_18

okay so this is sorta off-topic but not.. I ran into an issue when I modded my stock axle to mate the e-locker to it...

I have a 90 4runner btw..

So the rear sway bar hits the top of the motor for the locker.. Did you happen to get the sway bar from the donor?? I am trying to find out whether there is another sway bar that will bolt up to my axle and to my frame.

sorry for the slight high jacking

Also gray RTV always works well..

stockwell45

iTrader: (1)

x2 on the RTV. I've heard of some bad experiences with those paper gaskets, so I ended up using RTV for my swap and it worked great.

And not sure if I missed it or not, but if you are still having trouble with the coils, why not get some designed for a 3rd gen 4runner?

Ranscat3

I put the complete 97 hubs/axles on, but I don't feel like dealing with the eBrake modification. I'll deal without the eBrake until I change the fluids after it breaks in and then swap the 90 hubs onto the 97 axles. The eBrake spring thingy on the hubs is in the way of the shocks, being on the rear of the axle. Probably wouldn't of had any problems if I had raised the mounts like I'd planned, but that didn't happen. The eBrake wouldn't hook up even if I'd tried because the shocks are in the way with these hubs.

When I hooked up the panhard, it was about 1/2" too far left, which I remember it being a pita (even with the 4" trailmaster drop bracket) to get back in there when I lifted it, but this is a glitch from the swap. So I'll be ordering one of the many adjustable options soon to get the axle back over. My tire sticks out more on the right side than left.

I'm having the same problem hamish_18, the stock sway bar doesn't fit and yes I want one. It's about 2 inches too high where it bolts on the axle. I thought about making some brackets but I would rather not. I'll try to find one at the junkyard this weekend but I'll probably end up just ordering one from eBay or something aftermarket. Does anyone know if there's a difference between the rear sway bars on eLocker equipped and non equipped 3rd gens? Or will any of them work with the locker? Aftermarket recommendation?



I also remembered this little plug hanging from above the axle. I believe this is for ABS...? right? If the original truck had ABS, and since I'd discovered the axle was swapped already, and was non ABS, I wonder if I can hook up the dual connection ABS on the newer axle to the older style plug. I'll have to look into this some more for sure. I know my wife especially would appreciate ABS during the WA winters and rainy season.

Ranscat3

And I happily used gray RTV.

Ranscat3

I called Toyota yesterday and asked parts if they had 2 different part numbers for the locked or not 97 4Runners for rear sway bars. They said no, just the one so that leads me to believe that either will work, so I'll get on this weekend at the JY if I can. Here's a couple mostly finished shots.







The ebrake cables are mounted as they should be, but are just zip tied to the sway bar mounts on the axle, since they aren't being used right now. I hope i don't have to move them when I get the sway bar that fits over the diff. I still plan to swap the hubs.

My locker is locked and I don't feel like pulling off the motor to switch it over at this point, but the motorcycle had trouble starting this morning so maybe I will have to. I could make a harness to control it, but it's been almost 3 weeks now and the deadbeat junkyard worker who messed up the order in the first place said he finally got the harness in the mail yesterday. Since it's only about 3 hours away hopefully I'll get it soon and then unlock it when it's hooked up properly. He has one job to do! How do you mess it up?

hamish_18

Cool. I checked a buddy's 2001 4runner.. It seems like the bend over the diff is further out like it's closer to the pinion flange than sucked up tight to the axle housing. It also seems to have a lot longer/flatter bend over the diff. I am REALLY excited to know if it will work or not. I'll deal with the mounts if it doesn't mount right up, but just knowing if it will clear the locker motor will be huge!

hamish_18

Any update on this? I went up in the snow this weekend, and on the way up really could have used the sway bar.. Man the body roll sucks!! LOL

Ranscat3

I hit the junkyard hard on Saturday and my buddy and we got all the pieces we'll need to complete his 3.4 swap. They threw in a 99 4Runner /w e-locker rear sway bar and the locker wiring harness for free, because we had so much other junk. Anyway, here they are side by side.



99 on top, 90 on bottom. I pulled the wheel and ya it fits over the locker properly. However, in my situation, it doesn't clear the coil spring perch.



As you can see in the photo, the straight mounting portion is too long to allow me to mount it up properly. Should fit perfectly for those rocking leaf springs or the smaller perches.

I think if I lay them both flat, scribe the top side, cut and weld the two desirable traits of each sway bar, it'll work. I'd cut inside of where it mounts to the axle. I also thought about cutting a bit of the spring perch, but it would need to have too much cut off of it, like I'd have to take spring off too. I know the welding messes with the strength of the metal but.... my plan is to just cut and weld it with the 220 arc welder? Meh?

Ranscat3

I can get distance measurements up in a day or two if anyone would like.

Ranscat3

My axle broke off last night going over a center median curb. Luckily it was next to an O'Reilly's so when the tow truck showed up and my tire was slipping out underneath the back of the truck, (I didn't have any of my recovery gear...shame shame) I was able to run inside and get some ratchet straps to hold it in place.



Three of the four links broke. The lower one on the passenger side is still attached.

I'll put 4 beefy and opposing ratchet straps on there when I get home tonight and carefully drive it the mile to my parent's place where the 50 Amp 220 welder can be used at a higher heat...

I had it just hot enough that the brackets wern't liquefying onto the concrete, but I guess that wasn't hot enough to penetrate the axle housing. Bah! And do the sway bar while I'm there.

Charge!

Ranscat3

Mmmkay. Welded mounts back on. I was only welding at 85 amps the first time. No wonder. I invited a skilled welder over and he helped me get them on there at 150. I bout punched a hole in the housing at one point so I turned it down to 135. I got good penetration there. Driving to work today, the alignment is all messed up. Expected I suppose. I want to get the DOM bars to dial it in better. One of them has been bent for a while anyway. So I want to add Sonora Steel's Fully Adjustable Trac/PanHard Bar. Anyone know if there's anything stopping me from using the "3rd gen" bar on my "2nd gen?" with the 2nd gen mounting? I'll have to compare the 3rd gen bar I have in the backyard. I think the axle side mount is different. I'd like to hit up Trail Gear for some creeper joints and dom tubing also. Talking bookoo bucks here! I think a rock assault housing with 3 link would have been easier and tougher.


Those were pretty new too. Bummer.



For the fun part, sway bar-age! I lined them up end to end and made marks on them with the grinder. They pretty much laid flat. I cut off the ends one at a time, so I could retain the angle of the section that clears the carrier. The straight bar was used as a guide to help me keep the pieces lined up. I turned the heat up to 180 and punched through to the center of the two butted bars and held for just a moment. Again on the sides, a little grinder action, some paint and walah! I call it the Franken-sway. Here it is half done. I finished it, but haven't put it on yet. I'll let ya'll know how it fits when I do.