Well, it has begun. I am now the happy owner of a 1983 solid front axle. I am so proud... Anyways, this is the beginning of a several month project in which I will be converting the rear of my 1995 4Runner to leafs and swapping a solid axle (leaf sprung of course) in the front. I found a great deal (in my area-$200) so it set my rear swap back a couple of weeks; however I will be running the 3" front and 4" rear setup from Wabbit. I hope to include many pictures, but when the work gets moving, it's hard to stop and take the time to shoot some pics. It has been done too many times for any kind of writeup, so I just want to share my experience and fun. Now for the good stuff....

 

awesome man, you are going to love the sas, trust me. myu brothers 4Runenr is awesome.

*subscribing*

 

More specs. Tires, gears, lockers, ect? good luck its a fun project and great experience

 

Well, despite popular demand I will try to run 33's with 35's being the biggest that I will go. Gears will really depend on tires, but 4.88 for 33's or 5.29 for 35's. No lockers for a bit. I will be removing the third from the "new axle" and dissassemble then reassemble several times. Then I will set up my own gears when the time comes. The goal is a rig that can be driven to the trail, ride the trail, and driven home. No doubt that longs will eventually be in the future. It will also see some trips to the mountains for skiing and mountainbiking. I guess it will be an expedition setup. The question that I pose myself now is wheter I will cut and rotate the housing or hope that shims can tidy-up the road manners with the low SAS. The need for SAS does not arise from breakage of IFS, but rather the need for flexability and reliability offroad. Therefore, my entire suspension setup that is currently on the truck is and will be intact for sale once I complete certain steps in the swaps.

By the way, does anybody know of some really abrasive degreasing agents that I can use on my axle? I have just used 3 cans of break cleaner with little more than a dent in the 24 year old grime.

 

could alwasy get it sandblasted. it helped in my case from knowing a guy but other than that its scrubbing and more scrubbing.

 

Sweet Pics!

 

I ended up using a wire wheel on my grinder to cut through the grime. That and a chisel.

You've got a lot of work ahead of you... but I really think it's an experience you'll enjoy overall.

 

whoa whoa whoa

brake cleaner?

if this is the kinda crud I have incountered on many axles where there is a slight engine oil leak and then it mixs with dirt and cakes and bakes for years you need a much stronger approach.

It all depends on what you have access too but I plan on using my 2500 PSI pressure washer to get through most of the stuff on my current project axles. Then a degreaser soak, followed by more pressure washing. Then complete disassembly. Then the wire wheel, cleaning, then primer, then paint...

 

wire wheel and brush. even used a flathead a few times... i tried a few cleaners and none of them worked on mine.

 

Yeah, the putty knife came out for a bit and seemed to work pretty well. It will be getting a full teardown and rebuild, but I want to avoid the pressure washer mess if I possibly can.

 

I'll be taking my housing to the car wash this weekend and use the "Engine cleaner" setting and the high pressure water.

No mess at my house!

 

yelp and a mess someone else has to deal with, nice very nice. Good luck, I want to start soon on my swap all I have to do is get the stuff and a arc welder so Im going to ask the santa at the mall for a welder.

 

Purple degreaser stuff (environmentally friendly) and a pressure washer will make short work of that mess compared to a wire wheel and all that elbow grease, not to mention little metal pieces stuck in all your clothes and everywhere else.

Let me know if you need some parts for your project.

 

Thanks, guys. Wabbit, you'll be my first call...

 

I am ready when you are!

 

Here is the beginning of the rebuild. No new parts yet, but it'll get some good cleaning. The sad part is that my laptop bit the dust this past weekend, so I may be putting truck funds into a new laptop. It's what pays/will pay the bills... Anyways, here is a pic...

 

Flexability you will have. Without longs, reliability equal to what you have now.

No lockers? Too bad, easier to do it once. You will want them.

A cut and turn is a HUGE amount of work. Keep in mind that this axle came off of a truck that was equal in height to your truck, with IFS, when it was stock. Are you going lower than that? You will be close enough to either cut and reweld the perches, or shim it.

 

I'll lock it later. Not really a part of the big picture at the moment. 33''s and stock birfs aught to be just fine. If I have the extra cash then I will longfield it when I lock it. Flexability is my main concern. I am not losing traction when I have the wheels on the ground.

 

**sigh**

As there are many threads, I'll keep it short. Flexy suspensions are about stability.

Say, for example, there is a rock, and it is 24 inches high. You want to drive over this rock, say, with your passenger tires. This rock is in the dirt, on the trail.

there are 3 scenarios:

First is an IFS truck. It is locked front and rear. It has about 6 inches of flex. It climbs this rock. as the climb begins, the climbing side flexes up, hits its max compression at around 5-6 inches, and then the truck starts tipping to the side. At the top, the body is leaned WAAAAYYY Over, and it is scary, maybe close to a roll.

Second is a SAS truck. It is locked front and rear. It has 15-20 inches of travel. It climbs this rock, and flexes. It keeps flexing. It has a little body lean, but not a ton, on the way up. It hits its max, and continues climbing to the top. At the top, it is hardly tipped at all, a little bit, but not badly.

Third is either a SAS truck, or an IFS truck, open front and rear. Doesn't matter. The SAS truck has the same flex as the one described in 2, and the IFS the same as described in 1.

Clearly, the SAS truck has better flex. However, neither truck climbs the rock. As they pull up, the front tire hits, and stops dead, while the other tire spins in the dirt. whichever rear tire has the least traction begins spinning, even though both tires are firmly planted. The other spins a bit, now and then, but not much.

Flex does not equal traction. Flex equals stability. Sure, you can lift a tire, and say, OH, if I had more flex, i'd keep going, because my tire would have been on the ground. in some situations, that is true. For most, it is not. The tire will still spin because, even though it is still touching, it will spin, since there isn't enough weight on the tire to get traction.

I'm not trying to change your mind, since you've already got the parts, and a plan. You are putting lockers in and longs down the road. Excellent choice. And this will be a sweet build, I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.

However, others will read this, and the idea that flex will give better traction is only very marginally true. If traction is an issue, a rear locker will give them far more capability at a mere fraction of the cost. A swap with stock birfs, and no lockers is a lot of money for a steering upgrade, almost zero axle strength increase, and minimal to marginal capability increase.

Your final plan will fix those problems and make an extremely capable trail machine. I'm looking forward to it.

 

Axle,
I absolutely agree with the need for lockers. If I am going this far with a modification to my truck, it is wonky not to lock it. Lockers are not conducive to the budget until further down the road. I would like to go ARB to lose the annoying road manners of an automatic type locker so the extra $1300 is gonna have to wait. Maybe if I am lucky, the electronic lsd+locker will come around for our axles (doubt it). I do not want anybody to think that SAS is a be-all-end-all to traction, flexability, etc., but the off-camber situations are what I am addressing. The IFS gets too tippy too often and the girlfriend doesn't much like having to crawl into the back of the truck to redistribute the weight and put the wheels on the ground on a very minor obstacle. I have read up on CV vs. birf strength and know that essentially, CV's are a bit stronger especially cryoed. My CV's are not at an extreme angle because of my bracket lift and pose little danger of snapping because of torque+traction+angle. However, I do not get a warm and fuzzy when my IFS crossmember becomes a skidplate/slider. I do like the warranty with longs, but that $700 is gonna have to wait as well. Birthday's in April, maybe I can address these to issues then.

By the way, has anybody seen brad's (Mossyrocks) skid plate that he welded to his axle? He's over on TTORA, but may be here too. I kinda like this idea...