Will a Toyota Solid Axle fit??

[PhunkyMunky]

I was talking with a guy on a NW whelers forum, and he brought up the idea of fitting toyota solid axles onto a Ranger. Will this work?

 

[Andres629]

Anything will work with the right amount of time/money/parts.

 

[ThatGuy]

Sure. If you don't mind swapping your t-case to a pass. side drop.

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

They are also quite a bit narrower than your stock axles.

 

[Bennybooster]

Plus it would be way homo to do so...

 

[-Nathan-]

and....unless youre going to run longfields or dirty 30's for birfs, then you wont keep a front end together.

 

[ThatGuy]

To wrap that all up for you and put a bow on it.





NO!

 

[Andres629]

It'd be interesting to see someone do so, though... I mean it sure would be neat to see a 4-linked Ranger on 'Yota axles... could run a BW 1350/Dana 300 doubler to get the pass. side drop...




BRB STEALING FRONT AXLE OFF MY LAND CRUISER.

 

[BONES]

and....unless youre going to run longfields or dirty 30's for birds, then you wont keep a front end together.

WTF? I run 40's under my V8 Rover with Toy 8" solid axles all stock, they'll hold up just fine, actually they are the same diameter axles shafts as a 1/2 ton truck and the birds are comparable in strength to the d44 u joints and have no bind through out steering lock to lock, and the ring and pinion will hold up to 300 hp all day. You make it sound like Toy axles are super weak when they are actually stronger than the stock RBV axles out of the box. I never broke a single part in my Toy axles with V8 power, 38's and a heavy right foot.

Locked, 35's and rock crawling will be the limit from what I have read if your a rock guy, but in the rest of the world Toys can handle 38's-40's before you need to start throwing money at them.

Ignore the opinions and search the facts Phunky.

One problem you will run into is the width of the 79-85 Toy diffs, at 55" wms to wms they are quite a bit narrower than your axles now at 59"-60". This problem is solved with bolt on factory parts to widen the diff.

What you want to find is a 79-85 Toy p/u front axle and start some simple mods on it. If you pick up 86-up Toy ifs front wheel hubs they will bolt on with minimal mods (google ifs hub swap on Toy axle) and add another 3" of width to the 79-80 Toy solid axle front, bringing it very close to what you need for width. Then grab the same rear axle from the 86-up truck as it's also 59" wide wms to wms, exact same width as 91-94 Explorer rear 8.8. If you look around you can find factory 4.37:1, 4.56:1, 4.88:1 gear ratios for the toy 8" diffs.

Then the tcase is on the wrong side as well, this can be dealt with in a couple of ways.

1. You could flip the diff housing, cut and rotate the knuckles and make it into a drivers drop diff, I have done this and it's really not very difficult if you have some basic metal fab skills which if your considering swapping them already you must have some skillz. (Google Toy axle flip) The drop out will fit upside down with a couple mounting holes drilled out and the knuckles are sleeved into the axle housing so if you only cut into the housing at the knuckle about 3/16" you can then spin the knuckles in the housing 180degrees and they will be the right way up again, weld em back together and now you have a drivers drop Toy diff. Extreme 4x4 PowerBlock did some along these lines on their Toy axle Zuk project a while back, they show how to cut a turn the knuckles, easy. You will need to cut off the factory Toy shock tabs and such but that's easy.

Time spent on this depends on your skills, it took me the better part of a day to get the diff flipped and knuckles rotated and slapped the ifs hubs over, cost was nothing but some mig wire and a couple zip cut disks, not including the price of the diff and ifs hubs and such. I paid 100 for the complete 85 diff and 50 for the 87 ifs hubs. The lockouts are a different spline between the ifs and solid axle but the solid axle lockouts swap right into the ifs hubs so it's all good.

There is huge aftermarket support for the Toy diffs, far more stuff avail. than for the RBV diffs.

Or 2. You can swap in a pass drop tcase of some sort, tho that will likely mean swapping trans as well, I'm not as well versed on what swaps into an RBV for trans so you will have to search that one out.

When someone says it's gay or your dumb for trying something different it really shows their ignorance for creativity.

I say do some research and do what you feel you can do with the skills you have, nothing ventured nothing learned right? Don't be afraid to go against the grain! Great things can happen when you think outside the box.

My 2 cents anyways.

 

[ThatGuy]

I know quite a bit about Toy axles. Being co-owner of a shop that built Samurais, we built many sets of Toys. I'm definitely not knocking on the axle's strength because they are much better than what the RBVs come with. I believe the OP may have been asking the question as in relation if he could possibly bolt in a set or with minimal fab work get some set up in his truck. To that the answer would be no. Anything is possible with enough time, money, and skill but you get to the point of why go through all the trouble just to be different? If you want Toy axles that bad, buy a Toyota.

And you are correct that they axles are plenty strong without Longfields. The one bad "upgrade" to stay away from is the birfield eliminator kits. I bought one and broke a u-joint the first ride out. Coulda wheeled all day with my stock birfields. Bought a set of Longs and never looked back.

 

[4x4junkie]

You make it sound like Toy axles are super weak when they are actually stronger than the stock RBV axles out of the box.

Actually stock for stock, the RBV Dana35 seems to be the stronger frontend. This would be due to the Toyota birfield joints being weak (I've seen 'em blow without much provocation even with 31" tires). Once upgraded though, the Toy axle (particularly with a HP centersection put in it) would then have the strength advantage.

However because of all the other things mentioned (p-side drop, width, etc.), I also just don't see any practicality in using one under a RBV (spacers to make the axle wider do nothing for your scrub radius, which adds a lot of stress on the steering and what not). RBVs are much heavier, so whatever size tires work well on a Toyota, won't necessarily translate the same over to the Ranger either.

If you want to "do something different", build the D35. It's a good strong axle that is seldom given the credit it deserves... There's enough upgrades available to have it live quite well with a locker & 35" tires. Otherwise, IMO, I think a D44 has much more to offer over a Toyota axle under a RBV.

Just my 2¢.



Edit:
just noticed the OP has 2000 listed under his model year, which would be the SLA IFS D35 (oops). Forget what I said about building the 35... The D44 still applies though.

 

[-Nathan-]

WTF? I run 40's under my V8 Rover with Toy 8" solid axles all stock, they'll hold up just fine, actually they are the same diameter axles shafts as a 1/2 ton truck and the birds are comparable in strength to the d44 u joints and have no bind through out steering lock to lock, and the ring and pinion will hold up to 300 hp all day. You make it sound like Toy axles are super weak when they are actually stronger than the stock RBV axles out of the box. I never broke a single part in my Toy axles with V8 power, 38's and a heavy right foot.

I didnt say anything about toy axles being weak. I know my way around a yota, just got done building this:

rebuilt the entire driveline, including dual cases, 37" iroks, 5 29 gears and dual detroits.


I know the axle shafts are bigger yes, and they have an 8" ring gear, so what. I didnt say anything comparing them to ranger axles,

so where do you get off giving me the e-finger?

What I said was that the weak point on a toy axle is the birf.

Its like anything else, it depends on how you drive.

 

[BONES]

so where do you get off giving me the e-finger?
QUOTE]

LOL, sorry man, the E-finger was a smiley, didn't think it was offensive but more a ribbing, Ah what ever, wasn't trying to offend, but give the OP some facts and personal experiences instead of opinions like *quote" it would be homo to do so". *

My Toy's are basically stock behind a 300hp sbc and sitting on 40's, I haven't broke a Birf ever, I made 1 start to get clicky on tight turns but so far they have held up to front and rear spools, front digs and a heavy right foot, that's the point I failed in was trying to get across.

Dare to be different, like most of us RBV owners, we didn't buy the Jeep, did we?

I still don't think the d35 is as strong as the yotas tho, especially the Ranger d35 with them little ujoints. My opinion tho as neither of them broke any front axle parts on me off road, I had the 92 Explorer d35 with the d44 sized ujoints, I don't think the d35 would handle 38's and locked, but I know the toy's will around here anyways. No rocks here.

It's all good guys, the more actual info we can provide the better this site is as a tool for all us builders and web wheelers alike!!

I find it tough sifting through all the 'opinions' to find the actual facts, maybe it's just me tho, but I'm not on here for the drama, you guys can have that.

 

[COPPERHEAD85]

I have seen the Toy axles stand major abuse from a small block and 37's,They are pretty impressive!

 

[4x4junkie]

I still don't think the d35 is as strong as the yotas tho, especially the Ranger d35 with them little ujoints. My opinion tho as neither of them broke any front axle parts on me off road, I had the 92 Explorer d35 with the d44 sized ujoints, I don't think the d35 would handle 38's and locked, but I know the toy's will around here anyways. No rocks here.

Ranger... Explorer... Same D35 with same D44 joints

Not having any rocks around makes it harder to break pretty much any axle, really.