Solid Axle Swap BS Thread

I had 150 in my tapped box before I changed it to and orbital and full hydro.

 

Really and truely if you have a little mechanical aptitude, drilling and tapping the box yourself is an option. I didn't have the time or the facilities at the time to do it myself. Buy a Boyd for a 100 bud, drill and tap it and add 1/4 to -6 fittings and call it done. If you screw it up buy another cheap box, try it again and chalk it up to a learning experience and still be ahead of a $300+ Box from a vendor.

 

Anyone know where the Transmission control module is located? I have a rail shifter I'm wanting to try in the automatic tranny in the Tacoma but need to splice into the wires leading to the TCU. This will allow me to manually shift into whatever gear I want and hold it in that gear.

 

I just bought a high pinion ford Dana 44 with a detroit, 4.88s and RCV shafts for my soon to be swapped 2nd gen. I know it is not the preferred axle to those that are hard core, but it will be more than enough for me because my truck is not a crawler. I use the truck for my 5 mile commute, for all my camping trips, mild wheeling, a ton of snow wheeling and a lot of sand dunes.
I only paid $1100 for it and am working a trade to get all the parts to swap to 6x5.5 so I can keep my trail ready Beadlocks I just mounted a few weeks ago.

The main reason for swapping is due to steering (truck doesn't like to turn the 37s around town much less offroad) and locker choices for the front of the 2nd gen tacoma plus the weak strength of the IFS stuff in general.

 

Thats exactly what Im looking for! Nice find

 

I'm on 37s with 4.88s and and ARB up front. I haven't broken a CV and the truck has good power. Are you on stock gears?

 

Having the RCV shafts is pretty damn sweet though.

 

Stock gears because I didnt want to spend money twice. Truck has decent power with the 3.73s, the auto doesn't like it though. I don't like arbs because of the reliability issues I have had.

 

Yeah, I'm gonna give it a shot. I was a machinist at Pearl Harbor for 8 years, made it up to leadman before I quit. I also have a bench lathe, bench mill, and a tormach CNC mill in my garage. I'm sure I can tap for a couple 1/4 NPT fittings

 

Not really sure there is a strength gain here. @allenfab has broken shafts on his d44 on 35s and he has a 1st gen. Like @SGTCap said he's been running his issue free and he's got the heaviest 37s you can find

 

Never understood why anyone would go to the trouble and expense of a SAS for "mild" wheeling. In your case you might be better off downsizing your tires and keeping the IFS.

Having said that, the HP version of the d44 is the best choice. It is wider, high pinion obviously, and has half inch thick tubes. I think it is the strongest d44. Plus it has RCVs already, so you have a good combo in that axle.

 

Might just keep it and sit on it till i end up with axle tech's and build a mud truck that i can take to the tractor pulls as well.

 

I'd never put a D44 into a 2nd gen unless you like to baby it everywhere. I broke shit everyday on my D44 with 150 hp engine weighing way less than a 2nd gen on 36" tires. Good luck. Do it right, do it once. You will spend more time wrenching on that D44 than wheeling it, trust me, I know. I did it, I lived that life. 5 trips now on my D60 and stickies and haven't broke a damn thing. I don't wheel lightly either.

 

This x100000 should have got a crawlbox instead.

 

Its not too late. He wouldn't lose a dime reselling that 44.

 

Very true! A crawler setup is about what he paid for that axle.

 

It's really not that big of a hassle to swap in my opinion. It is the same as cutting and rebuilding a jeep and we do that very often at Tnt Customs (which is my side job).

A Dana 44 is lighter, easier/cheaper to make the correct lug pattern and built correctly (like the one I just bought: RCVs, full case locker, 30 spline rcv slugs, only 4.88s, 1/2" tubes and a Tnt truss) is more than good enough to last underneath a truck that will weigh less than 5000lbs, won't see many rocks, and isn't beaten on and is treated like the $20k vehicle it is.
A Dana 60 needs custom hubs and a brake solution, costs a ton more (I could not buy a halfway decent kingpin axle for what I paid for the Dana 44), hangs lower and higher (bigger) and weighs a ton more which goes against everything I'm trying to do with this truck.

To the crawl box comments: It will eventually have an atlas 4speed like my second to last jeep had.

 

What I paid is what I'd have to spend to gear and lock the front ifs. No point in a crawler in a truck that has stock gears and 37s and doesn't see rocks but sees street every day.

 

So after some thinking and quite a bit of wheeling since I've finished my swap, I hate how much of an over hang the rear of the bed has on the extra cab. I know the easy thing to do is just bob the rear to spring hangers and call it good but I want a shorter wheel base. Im at 125-126" and with a toyota axle, the steering just isnt there with the long wheel base. My idea (ive done a little searching) is to scrap my bed guards and rear bumper and get a double cab bed bobbing the back of it, mount the bed and cut the frame in front of the bed and shorten it till the body lines up with the cab. Cutting and splicing the frame isnt a problem, my dads done it once but am wondering what you guys see going wrong? My main concern is the gas tank and moving the springs foward. (Chevy 63s) Would probably end up using a ford tank and mounting it in the bed. Anything else?

 

Are you gonna keep the stock rear axle? Is it an E-locker rear? My experience, and I think others will agree, is that the rear in the second gen is the weak link. I grenaded mine on 33s. I know a bunch of others that have as well. I haven't fucked up a CV yet, or even wheeled with anyone that has in a second gen. We've bent tie rods, control arm bolts, blew a bunch of bushings but haven't lost a CV yet. The rear ends seem to be a ticking time bomb though.