I'm looking at picking up an 87 4runner rear for my 83 pickup. Can I swap the end of the drive line between u joint and pinion flange between drive lines? I've been looking for pinion flanges, but I can't find a reason to swap one if I can just replace a u joint and that section of the drive line. Is it really that simple.

 

Lets see if I have this correct

Your drive shaft flange on your truck does not match with the pinon flange of the new rear end.

Instead of getting the correct pinon flange perhaps splines are different or it is just not made.

You want to install the correct yoke flange on the drive shaft to match what is needed to mate with the new rear end.

If the new flange Yoke has the same size holes so it uses the same joints then just get the assembled drive shaft balanced.

Now if the holes are different size and a proper joint can be found your good to go .

If you can`t go that route have the back of the shaft cut off and the proper flanges put on to match .

It might just be easier to have a whole new drive shaft built to do what you want to accomplish.

Now if this is a off road only vehicle that seldom sees speeds over 10 mph you might get away not getting things balanced on the street for sure getit balanced.

 

just rotate the drive shaft on the flange , and drill new holes




.

 

Unfortunately it is a daily driver right now, so I'm not looking to make it off road only. I'm just looking to get 10 inch drumss and widen my stance a bit. What if I just swap 3rds since there won't be a gear change. Are the spline counts the same from earlier rear ends to the 58 inch?

 

Yes you can do this.

 

Doing this is easier than swapping the third member.