I'm trying to decide what kinda straight axles I wanna put under my 88 4Runner, I plan on running 39.5's. I was thinking of going with a chevy 3/4 ton axle, but I'm not sure. Ideas please.

 

Anyone?

 

it's 3:00 in the morning...i wouldn't expect an answer until about noon tomorrow.

And i have no knowledge whatsoever on SAS's. What did you come up with in your search?

 

Well, upon checking craigs list for what was available cheap in my area, I found a set of 2.5 Rockwells, but most of the other stuff I looked at was "buy the rig and these are on them..." BUT, I've been thinking about the Chevy 3/4 ton, Dana 60, or Dana 70. I know a little about SAS, but not enough to make any decisions without some advice from others. It's my first Build-up and I'm going somewhat big.

 

why not toyota axle?

 

Ummm - not to sound harsh, but if you have to ask this question, you probably don't NEED an SAS. (Want is a whole different matter!)

You need to decide what width you're going to go first. If you want it narrower, it's hard to beat Toy axles with extra gusseting and cromoly shafts/longfields. A D44 is NOT an upgrade to a Toyota axle - at best it is equivalent in strength. If you want to be wider and stronger than a Toyota axle, you're looking at a D60 (BIG bucks), Rockwells (BIGGER bucks), Unimog (HUGE bucks), or custom (Diamond, currie, etc).

 

3/4 ton is not a D60.

Do you really need 1 tons? Think first about how wide these axles are (70" or close to it) and then the amount of mods and money you will need to spend to put these under your rig.

You've got an 88 model so running a Toyota front axle with IFS hubs will be cheaper then putting 1 tons under your truck. Add some 35 spline Longs and some other things can you can run 40s.

 

So, the Toyota axles do have plenty of strangth to push that big of a tire? I always heard that the D44 (maybe I'm getting my axles confused) couldn't really handle much bigger than a 35' and if the Toyota axle is comparable wouldn't it be about the same? That's why I was curious about the bigger axles, also to get the lower gearing. Cuz, I do know that once you start getting into the lower gearing in the D44, it starts getting weaker due to more teeth in the same amout of space. Less Metal = less strangth right? So, It's not that I don't know anything about SAS or wheeling or all that other crap, this is just the first build-up I've ever done or even participated in. I've wheeled my dad's XJ runnin Toyo 35's D44/D35. Anyway, I was just curious about what some of the people here had to offer for Ideas on why which would be better. I like Yota-Tony's Idea, so I'll look more into it. Thanks. What else would I have to do beside's keeping the Toyota Hubs and using the 35 spline?

 

35 spline Longs
ARP hub and knuckle studs from Front Range Off Road.

The D44 isn't strong because it was small u-joints. You can get alloy shafts for it though.
I'd stick with the Toyota axle though because they can be bought for cheaper.

Not to mention I'm on of those people who wants to keep the Toyota drive train in my Toyota. Even though I plan to run Diamond axles one day, they will have Toyota guts.

 

Right on, thanks for the info man! I'll definately be sure to keep that in mind while searching!

 

Longs are 30 spline BTW.
http://www.longfieldsuperaxles.com/

We just put a set in Molly's truck. It's not exactly a plug 'n play operation. The outer bell is SLIGHTLY larger and required some grinding of the inner knuckle to get them to fit.

 

Nothing on this truck is gonna be plug 'n play, I'm well accustomed to grinding and have done quite a bit of it the last couple of month or so (since I bought the my T4R) Thanks for the address though, that'll help me out.

 

Not all inner knuckles need to ground though, at least from what I've read.

And honestly if a bit of grinding is a big issue to you, you might want to find another hobby.

 

I would recommend going with a wider axle than the stock Toyota axle.

The Toyota axle, combined with 30 spline Longfields and the other various chromoly upgrades will survive the 39s, especially with a 4cyl or even the 3.0 however width and stability becomes an issue when you are putting that large of a tire on a rig with narrow axles.

For the trails I run in AZ, between all the big climbs and off camber stuff, a low center of gravity and wide axle is the ticket. Take into account what you are building the rig for and go from there.

If I had to do it again I would have got a Diamond front axle in the 63" range. Even a D44 is not a bad idea considering you can get them cheap, and they are wider than a Toy 8"...you'll want chromoly shafts anyway unless you go D60 or bigger.

 

I live in Oregon, and there is a very wide range of wheeling around here, mostly it's deep rut trails, snow and mud, but there is also a whole lot of rock crawling, and sand dunes. that's another reason I was thinking about bigger axles rather than the stock Toyota axles. Something that can push the tires, and alterate like a crawler. I can compensate for the lack of width to make the center of gravity lower using the sawzall (which I plan on doing anyway.) I guess most of the stuff I will be doing is trail and rock runs, with a few mud holes every once in a while.

 

For cost effectiveness, its tough to beat the Toyota 8". Throw in some 30 spline Longfields if you are running tires that big. It may be worth the extra few bucks to have your gears cryo'ed in the front if you are re-gearing or adding a locker. Get the chromo hub gears as well.

 

Apparently you missed my buzzword thread.

A Dana 44, built is as strong as Toy built. The 44 has the benefit of stock housings with width.

I have Diamond axles built on Toyota parts. They are at 67" That is not stock.

Please do some more reading.

Rockwells are WIDE.

A 3/4 ton 44 just means it takes wheels with 8 holes.

 

btw how much are those rockwells for sale for? Just wondering...

 

I will be running 37s on stock axles, i will upgrade to longs when im ready to lock the front, and ill be getting The tg replacement rear axles which are supposedly stronger. I ran 35s on stock axles, locked front and rear, but didnt have a crawler box, now that i do i see how ☺☺☺☺ breaks these things bring teh torque.

 

I run a FJ80 Front axle(1991-1997), from what I hear, the stock birfields on them are good up to 37's(bobby long also makes a kit for these), I have taken them out to install my reverse cut 5.29's, and you can see that they are beefier, not to mention, it is a high pinion, AND has an elocker, Plus they are quite a bit wider than toy mini axles, I also run a rear tacoma trd elocker axle, it to is also wider than the mini trucks, even the 86+ ones, not really sure how much, I think about 4 inches wider than an IFS rear axle.