jeremy

44 what kind of axle you running?

44Runner

Shane

I have a sneaking suspicion he's running a 44...

Cebby

43, 44 - whatever it takes

jeremy

duh, anyway hows that thing work for you? what lug pattern you running, and whats your crawler set up, t/c splines, adapters etc... duh

44Runner

I am running a 1980 Jeep Wagoneer Dana 44 front. It is completely unmodified unless you count the sping over, which I don't. Width is 60/61", it has a driver's side diff, and the lug pattern is 6 on 5.5 (same as toyota).

I have a marlin V6 adapter to run a gear driver case behind my tranny. I just have the reduction section of the gear driven case with a 23 spline turbo input behind the V6 adapter and that is then mated to an MC09 which then goes to my stock chain drive case.

Unlike some people, I have faith in the stock chain drive case. It is huge compared to the old chain drive cases and seems to be an all around solid unit. Marlin seems to have faith in it too as he made a crawler adapter for it. If it was know to grenade under torque, why would he waste the time when no one would buy the product. I called him when I first started talking about this project and asked him if he thought it would be worth the trouble to switch over to a passenger side diff and he said that it would not be. I personally don't know anyone who has blown any part of this case, but I do know people who know people whose friend read an article about some dude who read on the internet that some dude met a chick whose boyfriend broke a chain....

jeremy

sounds pretty solid to me, i maybe crazy to be thinking of right side drive and an fj80 axle,especially because it is way more $
i talked to brian at FRORF and he said that chain drive is bomber, i liked his antedote of "if its got sheet metal then your probably not gonna break any of this stuff unless your just pushing the stupid lever,i.e. the gas pedal" maybe i should just go with my original plan of a 44 and the same marlin set up as yours, i think i may have got some bad info from whoever i talked to at marlin, he didn't suggest the 44 set up for a few reasons but i think he may have been wrong, even though it would be sweet to have that 80 with big birfs and arb locked up tight, thxs for the info,
44 you got any hard copies of all your parts set up, especially for the crawler?

44Runner

Here is a parts list copied directly from an email I sent to Breezey when he asked for it.

-80's Full Size Wagoneer front Dana 44 (stay away from the vacuum disconnect version and the wide trac version)
-Rebuild parts for said axle (bearings, ball joints, u-joints)
-Warn Premium hubs to convert axle from full time
-Gears
-Locker of your choice
-Flat top knuckles from shakerbuilt
-44 high steer arms (I went with parts mike super arms but there are tons of options including shakerbuilt)
-TRE's for steering
-tie rod and drag link from shakerbuilt (he has the best prices and IMHO the best links so Shaker is your best option here)
-IFS toy steering box from your local JY. Make sure to get the rag joint too. I took apart the stock double joint at the end of the column and made it into a single u-joint and then used part of my stock rag joint and part of the one from the box so my stock steering shaft would fit one side of the rag joint and the u-joint and junk from the box would be on the other side to mate right up. I then measured the diameter of the stock shaft and ordered rod stock of the same diameter and thick tube with that ID. I then cut the stock shaft in the middle and cut a length of the stock and beveled it and butt welded it and ground the welds down flat and used the tube to sleeve the whole thing. Easy way to lengthen the whole thing and not get too complicated.
-sky IFS steering adapter to use stock pitman arm unmodified. I had Shaker whip me up an awesome custom drag link that is chevy on one end and toy fj-80 on the other. It is unique to say the least.
-frame reinforcement for steering box (i got all-pro's taco plates and sleeves, for the price it is worth the time saver)
-i went with stock wagoneer 7 leaf springs up front (from espo springs and things, I also got poly bushings from them to swap in) because they flex great and didn't give me too much lift (i ended up with approx. 6.5" of lift) if you wanted to run bigger than 35s I would go with Rancho 44044s. As you probably know, anything bigger than 35s will require fender trimming for sure.
-off the shelf jeep shackles which were 1/2" but i drilled them out to use 9/16" bolts
-i made my own spring hanger/crossmember and shackle hangers:



I ended up boxing end the spring hangers just in case I decided to smack a rock with them off road.
-ford shock towers, can't seem to find the part number but you should have no problem finding it on the net. I gussetted mine like so:

-some very long shocks of your choice, I went with Doetsch Tech 8000 series. I got the 8403 but the 8407 might be better to get as they are the same shock with different mounting kits. As I remember I had to get new hardware to mount my shocks. These have 13.5" of travel and I use ever bit of it.
-oil pan off 2wd Toyota T100 with 3.4L V6
................Oil Pan 12101-65030
................Plate (windage tray/baffle) 12122-62040 *I stole this list of parts from someone else and when I got all these parts and pulled the oil pan I found that I already had this very part and had to return the one I bought, there was absolutely no difference...
................Strainer (pickup tube) 15104-62060
................Gasket (for pickup tube) 15147-62020
................Dipstick 15301-62060
................Guide Tube 11452-62060
................Guide Tube Union 9040510033 *You already have a VERY similar part pressed into the block, only difference is that there is not a hole in the one the is currently in the block. If I had it to do over again I would drill from the bottom up and just make a hole in the one that is already in the block. I found replacing this part to be a HUGE PITA. I had to use my air chisel to get the old one out and the new one in and there just isn't all the much room to hit it from the top when putting the new one in.
-driveshaft. i sent my stock one to Jesse at high angle driveline and had him retube it for long slip action.
-u-bolts
-u-bolt plates
-I tapped the 44 housing to use the same nissan breather I run on my 8"
-Taco stainless steel lines and replace the bango bolt with ones that fit the stock waggy calipers

********

Now Breezey has a leaf sprung rear end so I didn't include the parts for that. To match the stock waggy springs in the front I used OME 892 coils and hybrid Cornfed spacers. For the spacers the first thing I had to do was mill down the part that fits inside the coil as these coils were a little too tightly wound. I made sure to leave a step at the bottom that was about 3/4 the depth of the rubber ring so it would fit tightly and have room to compress:

I chopped the stock isolator cones like so:

When I ordered the spacers I had Dave include an extra set of rubber rings so I put them over the chopped cones and shoved them in the top of the spacer to get this setup:


the only other thing I did to the rear was to relocate the panhard rod like so:

44Runner

For the crawler you need a Tacoma/4Runner (95.5+) 5 Spd Trans/Automatic to Gear Driven Reduction Housing adapter:

Back of adapter:

Then a gear driven t-case reduction section. I bought the case off some dude on pirate and then robbed it of its reduction section and installed a 23 spline input gear I bought from Marlin:

Next piece is the MC09. Here it is with the supplied output shaft and the gear from the reduction section that is retained on it already installed:



Here is the entire thing adapter to adapter that is installed between the tranny and stock t-case:

The shifter is on backwards in that picture and the next. I believe the added drivetrain length is only like 8" if I remember correctly. Here it is with the stock t-case attached:

jeremy

thanks 44, after checking on steering and everything for that 80 axle,$800 just for high steer on that think whoa, thats more then i would have paid for the axle, i still might do this but it gonna cost huge $, i think i'm back to the 44 idea, and spend the extra cash to out fit this thing proper!

44Runner

A complete 44 like mine can be had for 150 bucks with the full trick steering setup running in the neighborhood of 500 bucks which includes new knuckles and steering box.

jeremy

yea, my friend that is gonna do this already has a 44 waiting for me, and yes it is $150 and about $400-500 for steering, plus adding gears, arb, hubs,brakes etc...so my $ will definetely go further and i don't think i'll break this thing any way with just 35s and a crawler, if i do, then i'll deal, have you even up graded to heavy duty axles or anything yet front or rear?i'm gonna do a full float kit on the rear with disc brakes and 30% stronger axles, so that should be sweet! heh your in Virgina, you do any rock climbing, or river running down there?

44Runner

I try to run all the rocks I can but they are limited around here, the best ones I have found are in Paragon. I have yet to upgrade the axles. I figure I will when I actually break one, but haven't been able to yet. I have even done things where I basically tried to break an axle and couldn't. I really want an excuse to upgrade. Maybe I need to use more skinny petal...

jeremy

i'm about 4 hours from moab and spend alot of time there, and obviously have the potential for getting as hardcore as mechanically possible, but with out going crawler specific, non highway driver, i think i can do just about anything i want once i get set up

44Runner

I am very envious. You will love having a solid axle and a crawler. It changes everything. The crawler is like the best mod ever, it makes wheeling much more enjoyable...

jeremy

yea its pretty sweet, i've been out here for 12 years, originally from miss, & tenn. area, let me know if you ever get this way, i dont get to the south much anymore, but would love to come to your area and do some river running , and rock climbing at the new river, and yes i am very stoked about getting this taco dialed

toy283

The only question I have is why stay with the driver's side diff? If you swap out the axle anyway, why not go passenger side? The gearing choices for the gear driven cases alone makes it worthwhile. How well would a chain driven case hold up if you put 4.7 or 5.0 gears in the front case?

RockComa

Appearantly they chain cases hold up very well. Marlin has recently done a Tundra w/ the 4.7 V8 and 4.56 gears in it. It uses the same MC09 adapter as the tacoma and the guys turning around a 300 and some change crawl ratio. I to wanted to ditch the chain drive case but after speaking w/ Marlin and him only having seen 3 bad ones. 1 ran w/ no oil, 1 ran full of water. and the 3rd the guy tried switching into 4 lo at 55 and exploded it, I decided to mate a gear box to my chain box

jeremy

as you can see above a right side drive for a taco is very expensive because you have to get an axle built ,use an 80 thats to wide and get very expensive steering and then have a 3 ' offset, yes it would be nice to have right side drive, but i aint gots the $'s, know of any other way to do this? a right side drive would be about $2000 more once its all built

RockComa

Have you considered a T100 case. As far as I know it's the same case as a tacoma but passenger drop