sport vs off road axles

Looking at getting my first Tacoma and was wondering people's opinions on how much stronger the 8.4'' rear end is versus the 8". Have there been any problems with the trd off road axles. It seems that most really built up Tacoma's on this site are either sports or sr5's. Does anyone run 35's on the 8"?

I'm not sure how much off roading I would be doing but it seems like a sport with arb is a much better setup than the e-locker, but I'm not sure if it's worth the hassle. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

Sport with Arb is superior to the e-locker yes. That's why I got a sport.

 

Do. Bit of searching and youll turn up reading material for days

 

Yes I agree, however are you running oem Toyota ring and pinion? The photos of failures I have seen indicated the oem gear is weak under high loads.

The bearing support truss on the 8.4 seems to beef up the carrier bearing supports, but still it seems the weak ring gear and fewer bolts is a problem.

PK

 

8.4 is stronger. A number of people have blown up the factory ring and pinion on the 8". Although it's pretty rare once someone regears so possibly the factory gears are the real weak link.

 

Because A-trac makes my offroad so much more capable

 

^ ha, funny.

Brett

 

The axles are fine I mean I have the off road and it does pretty well but its your choice

 

Ya a Taco on Ton's.

Brett

 

i got it for the hood scoopz

 

I blew up a stock side gear?

running nitro gears

Suppose ARB would have fixed that issue though.

 

I like that the factory Sport saves one tire during a burnout. Nice feature.

 

Thanks for the replies. This message board has awesome support. I've done plenty of reading, just looking for a direct comparison between the two. A couple of you who have replied have pretty sweat rigs that are off road models so I probably shouldn't worry about it too much.

 

How common is a LSD in a non-sport? I just bought another 05 a few weeks ago and it has a LSD in it and it's an SR5. Didn't know it when I bought it but I was pretty psyched when I was underneath it a few days later and saw the tag. Jacked it up and sure enough it's a limited slip.

As for durability of an 8" I would assume the 8" TRD Off Road 3rd member is very similar to the original 8" they have used since the late 70's. I know a lot of guys who have swapped in domestic V8's in older trucks and beat the crap out of them. Only one broke a diff and it had aftermarket 5.29 gears in it so it was weaker than stock anyhow.

 

My 11 SR5 came with LSD also.

 

Good point I let that slip by me... haha All 2009+ Tacoma have Electronic-LSD, it is part of the traction control system. Only the 2005-2008's have a mechanical LSD from the factory. I thought it was only the sports though.

 

Sure seems to me A-TRAC makes the truck more offroad capable. I believe the system was pioneered by Land Rover many years ago, the Land Rover kicked the crap out of every other 4WD hill climbing over rocky terrain, hence Toyota copied it.

 

It is better than not having the system for sure, but if you have a locker (which the TRD offroads do, and only the TRD offroads come with A-TRAC), the system is all but useless really. I've got A-Trac and front and rear lockers and I've done some experimenting with it all and having just a rear locker has been superior to A-Trac in all cases so far.