I feel dumb for asking this but I've never played around with diffs and trucks in general as I have more of a background in FWD Hondas so forgive my ignorance.

If I were to install an aussie in my stock diff with stock gearing, would I have to replace the locker when I purchase bigger tires and re-gear in the future?

 

As long as you don't change housings your golden.

 

Yeah, the housing stays the same. I have 4.88's and 33's and the aussie fits.

 

OK cool, thanks guys. So I should be looking for a locker that fits what housing? Do I have a 7.5" or an 8" housing? What is the difference?

Again, sorry for my ignorance.

 

your rear axle is an 8"

your front is a 7.5"

most pre '96 yota axles (pickup and 4runner) seem to be 8", except some 2wd's have 7.5 in back, and all of the IFS are 7.5" in the front.

 

OK great. That makes sense.

When it comes to the re-gearing it is my understanding that people like to use v6 gears as they are supposed to be stronger. v6 gears wont fit into 4cyl housings and vice versa. Am I wrong in this statement?

If I purchased the aussie locker and installed it with my stock gears, I would be buying 4cyl gears when the time came to regear. If I want 6cyl gears, I would have to change the housing and the locker itself right?

 

You might want to check out this site for some useful info and maybe an answer or two too.
http://gearinstalls.com/

 

there is no such thing as 4cyl gears and 6 cyl gears! there is a difference in the 3rd members and the carriers though

 

Well, i have a strange scenario. I am not sure how likely this is but this what the gear shop told me after the bearings they originally got wouldn't fit.

Supposedly I have a 4cyl carrier, 4cyl aussie, and 4.88 gears, but it turns out that my 3rd member is from a V6. I don't know if this is even a possible combination, but that is what I was informed of.

 

Originally posted by Drew Persson
----------------------------------------------------
Techies can read this. Newbies please skip to the next post, you'll only drive your local parts guy nuts if you try to talk to him about it.

Here goes: There's no such thing as "4cyl" and "V6" R&P.

"Uhhhhhh, say what Beavis?"

There are actually two types of R&P, let's call them "LPH" (Long Pinion Head) and "SPH" (Short Pinion Head).

- '79-'85 rigs have SPH gears and a "thick" inner pinion bearing designed for the 4cyl housing. All aftermarket "4cyl" R&P and inner pinion bearings are identical to these factory parts, that way the same part numbers will fit all '79-'95 four-cylinder rigs.

- '86-'95 four-cylinder and V6 rigs ALL come with LPH gears. However, to use LPH gears in a four-cylinder housing you MUST use the "thin" '86-'95 factory Toyota four-cylinder inner pinion bearing. If you use a "thick" aftermarket bearing (or a factory '79-'85 bearing) the pinion will be too deep into the mesh and won't work.

- SPH gears will fit V6 housings if you add a lot of inner pinion bearing shims. Precision Gear avoids having to use so many shims by offering an aftermarket LPH gearset for V6 housings.

- '88-'95 V6 housings must obviously use V6 inner pinion bearings, so there's no confusion here.

- Carrier bearings aren't an issue here either, just R&P. You need 4cyl carrier bearings for 4cyl housings and V6 carrier bearings for V6 housings regardless of year.

So what good does this do anyone? Say you have some used LPH gears collecting dust because you didn't think you could use them in your 4cyl housing. They're even the ratio you want, like the V6-only factory 4.56 or a set of Precision LPH gears (any ratio) your buddy traded you for a six-pack. Take your bad self over to Toyota and order a '86-'95 4cyl inner pinion bearing, and you're in business!

Note: The above does not apply to the somewhat rare "3rd type" of R&P, the factory 4.88's. These can only be used in the factory 4.88 3rd member housing. This 3rd member housing is different than all the others, and won't accept ANY aftermarket R&P or factory gears of any other ratio. If you have one of these 3rds, it will be that way forever. Please don't sell this 3rd (or god-forbid an empty 3rd member housing) to anyone without fully explaining what they are getting, think of the potential frustration.

 

Thanks Napoleon,

After reading that I think my scenario was explained to me incorrectly.

I was wondering how a 4 cyl carrier would fit in a V6 third. It woudl take some real strange carrier bearings.

If I remember correctly, my pinion was sitting too far to mesh with the ring gear. I bet they got a thin pinion bearing instead of the thick one. EVen though I have aftermarket 4.88's. They ordered the parts from toyota, but I guess anything can happen, right?

Thanks for the great info.

 

4cyl carrier bearings have a smaller ID and smaller OD than the V6 carrier ones

to use a 4cyl carrier in a v6 3rd you need a bearing with the larger OD and the smaller ID. the problem is nobody makes a bearing with those specs. timken, koyo, you name them, they have been called and nobody makes that bearing. so, you need to machine a sleeve for the 4cyl carrier to accept the v6 bearings. then it works.

 

So then I definitely don't have a 4cyl carrier and a V6 housing. Because I definitely have a 4 cyl carrier. They must have just been confused about the bearing thickness.... one more thing off my mind.