Gear & Locker???
 

Ok...I have some ?'s about this subject...Im new to the whole Toyota scene...and im a little confused...ok here it goes:

What does a Spooled rear mean? Welded? Full Floating?

Ok also I have 1981 Pickup 4x4, and im going to have gears and lockers installed...im going to putting on a 6'' lift...on 35's, Im going to put in a IFS rear...but if Im going to do gears and lockers...do i also need regear the 3rd...im really confused on the whole 3rd member thing...I mean I know wat it is...I just dont understand it...and I would Like too...thanks for any help...and Im sorry if I sound like an idiot to ya'll...thanks

Ryan

A spool is like a welded rear end, it is just a solid hunk of steel the ring gear is bolted to:
- http://www.markerink.org/WJM/HTML/diffs.htm

The 3rd member is just the differential inside the axle. In the Toyota axle it comes out as an entire unit to work on:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/4R_TechI...#Differentials

Ok...Thank you...so the locker and gears go into the 3rd as an assembly?

Yep:
- http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/tech/gear_setup/
- http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/tech/detroit_locker/

See threads stickied above about lockers and spooled/welded diffs.

Normally, Toyota minitruck rear axles (and Tacoma/3rd+ gen 4Runner fronts) are semifloating - meaning that the axleshaft itself not only transmits power, but plays some role in supporting the weight of the vehicle and holding the wheel on the truck.

In a fullfloat axle (solid front axles, early IFS, and LC), the axleshaft itself ONLY transmits power. The weight of the vehicle is borne on a spindle and the wheel is held on by the bearings and jamb nuts.

Full float is definitely preferred to semifloat for hard wheeling because it is MUCH more abuse tolerant. If you have an issue with a diff or axleshaft, you can pull them and get home without worrying about the wheel falling off. If you are going to 'wheel really hard on 35's, or reasonably hard on 37's, I would HIGHLY recommend you convert your rear axle to FF. Front Range Offroad has a kit:
http://frontrangeoffroadfab.com/nfos...3a0332566d0bd0

why Independent rear suspension, just curious? i figured out what you meant nvm.

I've never though of Hi-Trac IFS as being a full floater before, but yeah, it totally is. Not quite what I see when envision a full floating axle.

To be honest, I think more of the rear tandem axles on this:

http://www.advancetruckcapital.com/i...gs/ER-6097.jpg


On vehicles with weak semi-floating axles, this happens a lot (can you guess what vehicles have weak axles? ):chairfall:

http://www.billhughes.com/dana35c/

http://www.lornesmith.ca/whipsaw/ima...oken_axle1.jpg

http://brokentrucks.com/igm_gallerie...Trail_1_fs.jpg

http://www.4x4wire.com/jeep/tech/axl...a44/dana35.jpg

http://www.billhughes.com/dana35c/br...xle_part_1.jpg

http://www.billhughes.com/dana35c/brokenaxle.jpg

http://www.billhughes.com/dana35c/circ35.jpg

http://www.billhughes.com/dana35c/grantKashasam.jpg

Wrong, that doesn't happen to weak semi-float axles. Our rear axles are semi float. That only happens with C-clip axles.

The axles are held in by a c-clip in the pumpkin and when a shaft breaks its past the c-clip so it can wander out, with ours the shafts are held in at the wheel so if they break we don't have a tire trying to come out on us.

Wrong - ours are held in by the pressed on bearing. When the bearing fails, the wheel comes out. Admittedly, this is more robust than the c-clip design, but if you bend an axle housing or break an axle, it's just a matter of time before you lose the wheel. How do I know?

http://cottora.shutterfly.com/1918