At work this past week we had a customer bring in his brand new FJ Cruiser. I had it up on the 2 post lift and was looking at the rear end that thought it looked almost identical to my '98 4runner setup. What got me thinking of a swap was it has an e locker but more importantly (for me) was the rear disc brakes.

I couldn't take any measurements while the truck was there to compare to my 4runner so I'm wondering if anyone has any info on compatibility and dimensions between the new FJ rear ends and a 3rd gen 4runner? Is this just a pipe dream?

 

if i remember, your rear axle is 60" and the FJC is around 64".

 

you should do some looking into that u might be onto something there!!!

 

I second the 'i think its around 64'

If possible, i think that would be a sweet idea too, but how easy would it be to come by a fairly new FJC axle?

 

aside from the length, it won't be a bolt-on swap because of the placement of the coil springs and the shocks. my understanding is that the FJC has their shocks and coil spring perches located a bit farther out. why not modify your axle ends instead so you can install the drum- in-disc rear brake assembly?

 

another option would be to use bigger (positive) offset wheels with wheel spacers for the front

 

Thanks for the info. I might take my tape measure to the dealership next sunday and do some measuring while they are closed. I hadn't thought of the differences for the shock mounts and spring perches. I don't really want to do any major modifying if this was possible, but I do have access to some nice welding equipment as well as tools for the job if I had to relocate some things. I was looking at the ABS stuff and brake lines and that too would have to be finaggled. I've had my ABS disconnected for about 6 years now so I'm not too concerned about that working after a swap, I hate ABS. The parking brake would be nice to retain though. Looking through some other Yota sites it seems there are people talking about this swap but I haven't found anyone that has completed it. There is information about having to regear and modify the e brake stuff but that's where it stops and those posts were from around 2010. Makes me wonder if it's more of a hassle to do since the posts are almost 3 years old and no completed swaps found yet. There was also mention of a recall on FJC rear ends where they completely replaced them, something to do with the gears squealing after 10K miles, but that a regear would fix whatever the problem was anyway.

A lot to figure out that's for sure.

 

What is the main advantage for discs over drums? As I understand it, drums offer more protection for wheeling and on the rear, are nearly as functional as discs.

Someone have more details to offer?

 

also, the locations of the support brackets for the lower & upper control arms and the lateral control rod may also be different. is there a way that you can import a LC90/95 (Prado) rear axle housing assembly? It is available from South America, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Asia, & the Middle East. If you can get your hands on one, then that will be a direct bolt-on swap, except maybe for the gearing as the most common gearing for the LC90/95 are 1:4.30 and 1:4.10.