im wanting to go to 4.56's. have the rear 8"'s...so now just need the fronts. dumb question, but will the front diff of a 2nd gen work on the 3rd gen? or are the r&p (and carrier?) the only things i can use? someone locally is selling the front diff, but i think its from a 2nd gen runner which is passenger side diff, hence my inquiry..

thanks

 

no. no interchaning at all.

you can only swap the rears if you change the whole thirdmemeber. you can't regear a 2nd ged thridmember with 3rd gen gears either.

however, you are a direct rear swap for a tacoma TRD 4wd and a direct front swap from any 4WD tacoma with ADD and any 4WD tundra. they share the same front chunk (gears, housing, ADD, etc) with the 3rd gen 4runners.

 

aah crepp. so i cant even use the gears (not housing, carrier etc) from the 2nd gen diff? i thought all gens used the same 7.5" setup? as for the rears, i was just gonna get the gears changed, not a whole 3rd swap since ive got the elocker...

thanks for the info andy..i may just hold off till i can score some 4.88's then.

 

you can't use the front gears due to the different rotation since they have the pinion on the driver side with the diff pumpkin on the pass side and the 3rd gens have the pinion on the pass side of the pumpkin with the pumpkin itself on the driver side. essentially a mirror image causing reverse rotation in comparison of the gears. also, a different pinion placement causes the ring gear to be a different thickness.

sucks, but that's what i learned in researching my gear swap. the good news is that a 4WD TRD taco or or 4WD Tundra will work as a direct swap on the front - think of all the SAS/SAC threads on the tacomaterritory forum and the ones on the tundrasolutions forum... if you can find someone with a full diff for sale, then you just drop yours and bolt that one in it's place.