The beginning, 4Runner SAS

I expect this to take a while, with work a new baby girl and two little boys. The time to actually work on my truck is a rare commodity. The plan is to keep it low on 35's, maybe 37's.

I finally found an axle, it appears to be an 81-83 as the gusset stops at the u-bolts. I already have an open 3rd with 5.29's to match the rear. With an eventual high pinion ARB'd 3rd in the long term plan.

Most likely i'll use the Trail-Gear swap kit with 3 inch springs. If it's too high i'll piece together a custom RUF pack.

I'll need to buy a Plasma cutter or a cutting torch too, I love a good excuse to buy new tools!

Pics of the axle:





I put a stand together on casters so I can move this heavy SOB by myself.


Guy,

 

must be nice!!!!! keep us updated!

 

The axle is striped down and ready for paint. Still haven't got the
locking hubs separated from the knuckle though, damn cone washers.

I learned a cool trick off the web for separating the Birf's from the axle shaft. Basically you take a piece of tubing the shaft will slide into, place it on the ground facing up. Drop the shaft in, letting the Birf hit the top of the tube and gravity separates them.

The stock ring and pinion was trashed. Pieces of gear all inside the housing. Thankfully it was never in my plans to reuse it.

The axle will get a complete overhaul, new seals, races, bearings,wipers and felts. I'm thinking its a good idea to upgrade all the hardware too.

GH

 

Very cool, good luck to you. Look forward to wheeling with you and this bad boy for sure.

 

I used the Marlin Crawler f&r full axle rebuild kits on my 82 they both came with everything needed. Highly recommend it.

 

Do you know if the Marlin rebuild kit includes anything that the Trail-Gear SAS kit doesn't?

GH

 

I'm not sure if it does or not.

 

I'd recommend going with the marlin. TG has been known for lower quality parts. I'd trust Marlin.

 

This. I've got some tg parts and wasn't very happy with the quality. Marlin on the other hand have all been quality stuff.

 

I might use Marlin for the axle rebuild, i'll have to research the parts i'll need. For the axle swap Marlin recommends All-Pro, so don't know which way to go there, All-Pro's springs are allegedly made in India and TG are made in China right?

Maybe piecing it all together is the way to go.

GH

 

That I don't know, I know plenty of people that are running TG leafs and seem to flex great, i've never seen the All-pro leafs in person. If I were you I would get a full SAS kit either it be All-pro or TG. Its much simpler and will come with everything needed. Piecing it together will cost more and be much more of a hassle.

My opinion, TG is the Wal-Mart of the offroad world. Yes i've got plenty of TG parts but if cost weren't a factor I would've bought from someone else. Just my $0.02

 

I decided it go with the Trail-gear kit. The main reason cost, I was able to get the kit for 1139.00 with free shipping from frontier4x4.com. Luke with Frontier is a good guy, very helpful and great customer service. The other reason is how TG handled a warranty issue for me in the past.

I went to the welding supply house today to get the tank for my MIG filled and checked on a set of torches. Way to much money from them, even with leasing the tanks instead of buying it's expensive. Does anyone know if one of the small tank set ups from Tractor Supply or Northern Tool would suffice?

One other option is a Chinese inverter plasma, you can pick them up of eBay for under 3 bills. Any feedback on these units would be appreciated.

Guy,

 

Swap parts will be here this Friday, still have a few odds and ends to pick up before I can get started though.

GH

 

even good plasmas are great at being unruly pieces of crap at times. and sourcing consumables for any unit can be difficult depending on your work schedule and location. and as units get newer and safer, if they don't like the tip that's in them, they flat out don't work until you replace it. along with air pressure, power supply, etc, etc.

if your thinking of the bottle sizes im thinking of, i think they will be too small. there is a lot of shaving to do (if you don't wanna spend all that grinding time) which would quickly deplete one of thos o2 bottles. spring for the good stuff. you may spend 100$ on bottles for the month, and you could sell the regs, hose, and torch for 20$ less than what you paid, in a heart-beat

 

I've got a set of small torches I use. The tanks are about the size of 2-liter bottles. I got mine used and very cheap. It's held up great for me and as long as you keep an eye on the level you should be fine.

 

A big old pile of parts showed up this afternoon! The big stuff is out of the way, just a few odds and ends left to buy, oh and some way to cut the IFS off.

Going wheeling tomorrow too, maybe the last time with IFS

GH

 

Got the truss welded on. The kit came with a small weld on diff guard, don't think I'm going to use it. They make a much nicer one with better coverage for 30 bucks, have to order it.

I should have time to paint the steering knuckles tomorrow, I'm going to do them in red.

GH

 

Very nice, sub'd.

 

sub'd