had too much fun in my 97 taco 4wd v6 and bent the rear end housing. got a rear end out of a 98-99(not sure of the year) from a local junkyard w/ locker. cleaned it up painted it put new seals in it and put it in the truck. The drivers side axle was bent, went back to the junkyard to see what they would help me out with. No more dealings will be done between this business and I w/o fists or bullets flying. Got an axle out of an identical rearend, even had the locker except the plate all the brake components mount to (the e-brake hook up was lower and points to the rear instead of staight up like a tacoma). It did slide right in the rear end and bolt up perfectly. Got the 2 axles apart to swap the plates and found they are different. the 2nd one has a larger diameter where the seal goes between the hub and bearing and greater radius transitioning down to where the bearing sits.

anyone know the years of these changes and are the bearings the same?
what did the 2nd axle come out of 4runner maybe what year?

man i'm getting mad with this one.

 

4Runners from the similar years (1996-2001) had a link suspension in the back and a totally different housing.

 

i found out that the axle is a 01-up out of a 4runner. seems to slide in the rear end and mesh with everything fine. looks like the truck will have a 98-99 tacoma rearend with a 01ish axle in one side.