No binding issues at all. The high steer clears just fine and the drive shaft is good too. The drive shaft is an '86 rear cut down to fit. I don't have a ton of uptravel so I have about 1.5" of the splines let out at ride height. If it ever looks like it's slipping too far out I may look into a long spline kit.

hey KYcrawler are those pictures from the dirty turtle?

Yeah, they are from the dirty turtle.

what kind of welder did you use to weld ur spider gears with? and is it still hold up?

It was a Miller stick machine. I cleaned out the differential and used a cutting torch to burn off the oil and pre-heat the surfaces before welding them and took extra care to keep slag off of the ring/pinion gears. I have'nt had any problems so far and I don't see any way the welds could fail before it would take out a weaker link (birfield,u-joint,etc)

how did your truck do down there. I havent made it down there yet but this summer Im planning to go there and black mountain with my crew from northern Ky.

It was so muddy, we couldn't do much but it did pretty well. Dirty turtle is pretty cool even though it's fairly small (275 acres or so). Where are you guys in NKY?

florence. its about 10 min from KY speedway. we all run toyotas. were planning a trip to there and black mountain. I've heard nothing but good things about black mountain.

Myself and 3 or 4 buddies all run yotas, let me know when yall will be at DTOR and maybe we can all get together.I hear that the annual Toyota crawl is next weekend at black mountain. Wish I could make it

WTF kinda axle is that?????

A hybrid; Toyota center section, Dana 60 outers.

WHYYYYYYY?????? haha

In the pre-Longfield days, there was no really decent birfield upgrade out there, I broke two of Marlin's super duper birfields on one trip. So this option came out with no birfields and it is 3" wider than stock. Sure, today you can pick up a custom wide Diamond housing and throw some 30 spline Longs in there. But 12 yrs. ago, that was not an option. I've not broken anything on that axle in 12 yrs of use, wore out some ball joints, rod ends, spindle bearings, but that was just normal wear and tear stuff.

One of the first runs with that axle, got into a spot headed down off a steep drop off and had to back up with the front wheels cranked to full lock. Certain death for a birf. and one of the guys spotting was trying to wave me off saying I would break the front end for sure. Just backed up and took a new line without even a slipped tire. Like the commercial goes, new axle, $$$, look on spotter's face, priceless!

Update
 

It's been a while and I actually forgot about this thread for a while. Since the swap I have had the truck out a couple of times and the stock rear pack up front has done pretty well.
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...ictures072.jpg
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...ictures075.jpg
I'm running 35s and those are 36s on the camo truck.
Even managed to get a fair amount of carnage on my most recent trip.
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...4-22-11023.jpg
I beat the sheet metal back out and wound up with these....
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...4-22-11037.jpg
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...4-22-11041.jpg
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...4-22-11043.jpg

All things considered, I think I,ll run the springs the way they are until they crap out on me. Very pleased with the swap.

this is exactly how im building my truck! how far forward did you move the power steering box? and lets get some details on those half doors :)

never mind i just saw 3-3.5".

I really don't have many other pics of the half doors (as they were kind of slapped together with not a ton of thought about looks) but I will say even using .023 mig wire and gas the factory sheet metal is very thin and you'll blow holes in it very easy. Just tacking it I managed to do so. After crushing in the drivers door, beating it back out and trying to just make it manageable, I didn't bother smoothing the edges with bondo. You may want to though.
As far as the axle swap, the only thing I don't recommend is the Sky's front hanger. It's rather weak because of the open bottom. I would suggest taking an extra day or so and make your own. I do however like they're boomerang shackles.

Yeah I think im going to get the shackles and I already have the datin fabrication front spring hanger

little more fun stuff
 

At some point I guess this should become a build thread, but I don't know how to edit the title much less move it. Anyhow, I did add a bikini top (fj-40) and some much needed rust repair so I figured I would share.


http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...an1980/055.jpg

http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...an1980/058.jpg

http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...an1980/027.jpg

http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...an1980/029.jpg

http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...an1980/038.jpg

I went ahead and pulled the carpet and used duplicolor bedliner to coat the floors.

http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...an1980/040.jpg

http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...an1980/041.jpg

Added some lighting up front also......I may have already mentioned that but pics anyway.

http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...4-22-11003.jpg

http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/a...an1980/060.jpg

Now I just need to get it in the dirt again!!!!

sweet runner, i may want to do a sas with rears up front also

Thanks, I would definitely say it's worth the time/money and I'm sure it can be done cheaper now that I've done one. Make your own hanger,make your own shock hoops if you have access to a bender and don't buy an axle that is in need of so much servicing. The RUF is the way to go if you want to stay low IMO.