I see alot of people saying this gear set is a 4.88 v6 gear set for a toyota 8". My question is is there a real diffrence between the v6 and the 4cyl so long as they are both 8" rear axles?

 

You got just a gear set or a 3rd member??

Toyota factory 4.88 gears use a special punkin where the pinion has a different offset from the ring gear than other punkins have.

Because of this, the OEM 4.88 ring gear is thinner than all other factory ring gears.

Only factory 4.88s can go in this punkin, and they can't go in any other. The ring gear carrier itself is the same as other 8" carriers.

There are aftermarket 4.88s' that can fit in any old 8" punkin.

V6 carriers are usually 4 pinion versis 2 pinion carriers on 4 cyls.

See this page:

http://home.4x4wire.com/erik/diffs/

 

So what I want to do is.......

I have a 88 sr5 pickup. I bought a 4.88 ifs whole assembly from a 94 4-runner. I would like to find a 4.88 3rd member to just drop into the rear axle and not have to set up a new gear set.
The 4.88 3rd members I find say v6 so I was wondering if it would go into my 88 4cyl pickup.

 

They will fit no problem.

Bolt up and axle spline count all the same.

A bit stronger than 4cyl type, so thats a plus.