rear end questions

i abused the living hell out of my rear diff with 35s on stock gears with the 8.4 and she's held up great. I did however switch over to 4:10s recently and its so much better for my driving

 

My buddy ran 35s on his first gen with stock 4.10s. He beat the shit out of that thing. Even snatched my buddies f250 out with it. The whole truck was hopping. That diff always stayed together

 

Yes, every one has a buddy who pulled a simi fully loaded out of a mud pit with it stuck to it's frame with his 2.7L 5 speed Taco SR5 or the guy who's next door neighbor swapped in an LS7 motor but both are still using the stock rear axle and has never broken it.

Now, I'm probably one of the biggest Toyota fans out there. I love all of my Toyota's and when they finally come out with the true third gen Taco, I'll be first in line. However, Toyota didn't get to be one of the biggest automakers in the world by putting in super strong, ubber expensive axles in their light duty trucks. They market to the masses which is why the 2nd gens have the sorriest excuse for a transfer case known to man here in the states while the rest of the world gets a real t case that hardly ever breaks down.

I've watched countless 8" and the so called 8.4" rears break apart time and again. Jason Demello broke three of them in his old FJ alone. Now true, it was super charged and on 35's but it still broke. We suggested he move up to the Currie version that would bolt right in so he wouldn't have to worry about it again but he sold it instead. Then you have the poor guy HBMurphy, that had to drive backwards for 10 miles, He followed Me and a friend out because everyone else wanted him to leave his truck in the middle if the dessert, coming out of the hammers when he shattered is ring and pinion in his Toyota rear on his second gen just climbing up a simple 2ft rock face. ( Three trucks broke that day ). Ive seen Marlin from Marlin Crawler fry one and he's just running the 2.7L in his truck and it's lighter than most of ours Taco's are. Ive replaced a ton of those things for people from 4Runners to Taco's and Tundras.

It's all relative I guess. Put anything larger than 33's on and start really wheeling with those axles and you could very easily find yourself searching for a new third member.

Like I said. I am one huge Toyota fan. I'll always have a Toyota. Heck, I have a business dedicated to them, but I also know their weaknesses and wont shy away from pointing them out. Thats why I swapped T case's in my truck to the FJ case because the Tacoma case was such a big piece of crap.

That rear axle is a good axle. About as strong as a Dana 44. But don't fool yourself into thinking they are indestructible. They could leave you highly disappointed.