I talked to a 4x4 shop here, and he suggested it was fairly easy for him to take off the knuckles and change the housing around to have the diff moved over to the drivers side. That way you don't have to mess around with the axle shafts themselves. I was wondering if the width of the axle is close to the width of the 3th gen 4runners and tacos.

Anybody know?

 

Stock FJ40 is 55" wide (wms to wms) An FJ60 is 3" wider

Compare this with how wide yours is.

wms = wheel mounting surface

 

IF you are going to mess with it, get the housing of an 80 series cruiser.

Better yet, get a crawler box so you have the correct side out put and then use the cruiser axle.

 

A local junkyard here has an axle from a fj40, this made me wonder if I should pick it up. I have a feeling that the width is fairly close to the 4runner. It would be nice to keep it all Toyota. The 80 series are quite a bit wider, aren't they? I was hoping to avoid axle shaft modifications.

 

It is not close.

An 85 Minin front is 55" WMS to WMS.

A stock IFS rear is 58" WMS to WMS.

A 3rd Gen Runner is ~61" WMS to WMS.

An 80 front is ~63" WMS to WMS.

A 60 front is ~60" WMS to WMS.

 

So 60 axles would be the best fit width wise. Do they have the off center diff in the rear? I don't think they do. If so it would be better to get a set of axles off a 60. A prefer not to mess around with the drive train and exhaust.

 

so your gonna swap axles, front and rear, but not mess with the drive train or exhuast?

seems a little backwards to me, most people mess with that then do MAJOR mods like you have planned
wae

 

I am not saying I am going to do it, it crossed my mind. I might do it one day. I just think it is easier to prep an axle while the 4runner is running. Projects seem to balloon out of control quickly when changing suspension & drivtrain at the same time. It is also nice to keep the front driveshaft & fuel tank on the same side, and the exhaust on the other. If I were to do it, I would put leafs in the rear too. SAS usually lift the 4runner, and I've talked to some guys locally who said the 4runner handled better with leafs in the rear then with coils. This was an issue when they ran more then 4" of lift.

At this point I am mostly thinkering with the idea, but if I come across some axles at a good price I might just buy them. There is a good shop with a very nice owner close by here. He does very nice custom work, and he figured that changing the axle was very doable and I can do most of it myself. I would get him to do the welding on the axle, because I would want it to be straight and not warped because of heat.
The brackets for the SAS I could easily build myself if I have some time.

 

Rear axle on a 60 is offset to the rt side.

 

Why swap the rear at all?

Why mess with getting an axle that has the diff on the wrong side?

Dana has the solution to one problem and Marlin can solve the other.