Rear Axle Swap Help

Im lifting my 97 5 lug (Diff is not E-locker) and I had an idea and I need to know if it'll work, (I do not have access to the tools needed to knock axle perches, weld them, or install new gears) rather than buying a spring over axle conversion kit, buying new gears, paying a shop to install the gears, and then paying to have a shop knock my axle perches then reweld them could I just simply swap in an axle from a 1st gen pre runner or 4wd with the desired gears as long as it doesnt have an E-locker? Everything I have read says that the axles should be the same width and have the perches in the right location but nobody has directly addressed this, and in addition i am concerned about the drive shaft bolting up to the new differential. Does anyone have any experience with anything like this??

 

Well, the axle should fit and the driveshaft should (not 100% sure) hook up fine, but what about the other axles being 6 lug?

 

That did cross my mind but I was under the impression that could be solved by using the same size wheels as in the front just using the lug pattern that would match the6 lug axle. Would it have any repercussions other than just having to buy 2 sets of wheels with different lug patterns?

 

You couldn't rotate your tires and you would have to carry two spare tires. Seems like it would be better to find a good welder in town and bring him some new perches. A good metal guy will get the pinion angles and everything set right and have those perches on within the hour. Just buy a U-Bolt flip kit and your good on mounting your leafs to the new perches.

 

What about a 8.8 trutrac ford unit and use a mechanical lin lock for a ebrake ? same bolt pattern and get disc brakes and a lsd too ? discuss