I was talking to someone about the possibility of trading gears. He has a '95 4Runner with factory 4.88's and an ADD-equipped front diff. I have an '88 4Runner with 4.10's. He wants my gears for better highway mileage with his 31's and I want more power for my soon to be purchased 33's and my question was, can I bolt the ADD axle tube (from the 95) onto the 4.10 non-ADD diff (from the 88) and have the ADD still work in the 95?

I've searched and searched already and I can only find info of putting factory 4.88's into a non-add truck, but that's NOT what I'm looking for!

Any help, links, etc are greatly appreciated!

 

comment deleted, I bow to MudHippy's superior knowledge. See Post #4 below.

 

I don't mind swapping axle tubes... I was just wanting to confirm that the 4WD would still work on the '95 after swapping the 4.10's into it.

Can anyone else confirm this? (Not that I don't trust you, just want a second opinion)

 

You can't bolt a non-ADD axle tube to an ADD differential without removing the inner side gear shaft bearings first. The side gear shafts in ADD differentials are not the same as those in non-ADD diffs. The ADD side gear shafts have inner bearings to support them. Non-ADD differentials have side gear shafts that aren't designed to be used with those inner bearings. And they won't fit if installed into an ADD diff(without those bearings removed). AFAIK...

To retain ADD in the 95 the inner bearings from the ADD diff would have to be installed in the non-ADD diff(on the axle tube side atleast). As well as installing the ADD axle tube with the side gear shaft made to be used with the inner bearings. AFAIK the side gear shafts on the other end(passenger side) could, in theory, stay the same on each of the axles being swapped. But it would be better to swap those(and the inner bearings for the passenger side ADD side gear shaft) too. Better for the ADD axle anyway(which benefits more from having the inner bearings on both side gear shafts...hence why they're there)

 

I deleted my inaccurate comment, thanks for the clarification Mud.

 

Thanks for in the info! Does the bearings need to be pressed in or is this a pretty simple job?

Do you happen to have a link to a tutorial? I've been looking with no good results.