agent_j

You don't need any of the shaft. You just need a way to keep dirt out of the area vacated by the shaft. I've never looked, so I don't know, if the caps are something you could get at the dealer. If yes, then your good to go. Leave the hubs on there... drop the drive shaft and diff and go play. Like I said before, the more you leave intact...the easier it is to return to "stock" if the need should arise. I don't think it would be that hard to come up with a quick and easy way to seal up that area even if you cant get the factory plugs. All you have to hold in there is some grease.

91Toyota

Maybe this sounds kinda stupid...but you said your problem is nose diving right?

Why not just put weight in the bed to counter-balance it???

arizonaguy

why the hell do you want to make a pre runner out of a toyota four wheel drive? it sounds like you need to get your prioritys straightend out>

gary96360

1111111

gary96360

haha owned

Matt16

No, I'm going to disagree with you once again, the above idea is NOT stupid. That's not too bad an idea, as long as the extra weight wasn't too much of an issue. The "General Lee" from the Dukes of Hazzard used a couple hundred pounds of weight in the back during jumps IIRC.

You'd want to keep that weight low down an as far back as possible. Might put the battery in the bed behind the wheel arch and maybe take an old rim, weld like a hub cap on and then fil the area between the rim and the cap with cement or lead. Winch that back into place and you have a weight down low, well anchored and behind the rear axle. Might want to make sure the spare tire x-member is in good shape though.

Matt16

He said PreRunner, as in dessert racing, jumping etc. That sounds like wicked fun. He didn't say "mall-crawler", so what's the beef?

xzyragon

sell the 4x4 and get a 2wd

gary96360

yeah just stick weight in the back and put wider tires for flotation. what if you need 4wd for a little boost.

xzyragon

as i recall, 2wd's have better performance than 4wd

olharleyman

I pulled my diff , front driveline and cv's when I was getting the 5.29's put in the front and ran it for a couple weeks like that kinda the same as making it 2wd I guess.

slcpunk74

Wow you guys are veri quick to knock someone. Well...

I have two full size spares on the bed cage already. I dod not say that I nose dive(much) but every jump is different and I like to know that I have little less chance of dying(is that bad?). I already have a caged 4x4 truck so why should I sell it? I am not one of those guys that does glass with stock suspension; check my sig and if you dont understand it then just realize its not ghetto. I plan to put my fuel cell about over the axle asap and yes that is all in an attempt to shed some lbs and place what I have where it is most usable. I am most likely going to a full width nine in the rear with 5.43 gears and I dont wanna re-gear the front so it will be dead weight anyway.

Hey thanks matt. Its nice to hear a little think before we talk.

ozziesironmanoffroad

trust me man, keep 4x4. these trucks are getting harder and harder to find. just find a way to counterbalance the weight, my buddy overcame that with his ford 4x4, he strapped an engine block in the back.. sure its overkill, but seemed to work pretty well.

gilby4runner

He makes a point that we are quick to knock others for what they are wanting to do with their trucks.
1. He knows its a 4x4 but he wants to make it a prerunner...what is so hard to understnad about that. Most of the work is already done for what he is wanting in a rig.
2. It is his truck he can do as he pleases.
3. He seems to want to do it right and have professional looking results. I know its hard to understand why he doesnt want a 4x4 but he isnt climbing rocks or running through a mud hole. He is running on sand and jumping dunes. He is building his truck accordingly. If i wanted the best rock crawler possible i wouldnt want people telling me to get a 94 with stock ifs. I would want the info i need to make my truck better. He doesnt need testimony about why he needs to keep the front diff or why he needs to buy a 2wd.

SLCpunk- Good luck with the truck. Seems like a few good ideas have been thrown out there for you

newman

you can sell me your front axles...i'm getting a JD kit this weekend and want to retain 4WD... need the longer axles.

looks like a nice truck!

mr86_runner

im not getting why you would want to ruin a 4wd 4runner. just leave it in 2wd you arent going to break anything. besides your going to want that 4wd someday, trust me.

abecedarian

I'm not sure what the "nose dive" thing is.
If you're talking about hitting whoops and finding the nose facing down, that can be controlled with shocks which are valved appropriately for the conditions you're driving, as well as pitching the nose up higher than the rear to begin with and softer springs in the rear with appropriately dampened shocks.
If people can run V8's in tube-frame chassis with fiberglass beds and deal with the front end landing first I'm sure you can find a way to run yours without resorting to nix'ing the 4wd. All you really need are springs that can support your weight then let the shocks control the motion (which is what they are supposed to do).

newman

he's talking about when he gets off the ground. jumping. light rear end with a really heavy front end = nose dive. common sense. he wants to shed weight up front and doesn't need the 4WD, sounds simple to me. adding rear weight doesn't make sense, it's already an underpowered truck, i'm sure.

crolison

If your really wanting to go to 2wd. This is what i would do.

Pull the diff and the cv's, and manual hubs put on drive flanges and cap the other side of the spindle. You should be able to get the cap from toyota. And I'd keep all this stuff incase you wanted to go back to 4wd or would try to sell it 4wd to get more $$ out of it.

abecedarian

Well, I sort of got that, and addressed that in my post.
Pitching the nose up higher (more lift up front), appropriately valved shocks, softer springs in the rear...
You can't do all that much about the weight up front since that's were the engine is. An extra hundred pounds up front isn't going to make a world of difference if the springs are capable of holding it up and the shocks can slow it down when it crashes.

What seems to be the issue is the inertia and rotation when hitting 'bumps', which is why I said softer springs in the rear so that the rear wouldn't be launched as high as the front, considering it weighs less.