1996 3.4l m 4x4 extra cab taco restoration

All ready to install the locker now

 

Arb locker story in 3 photos

 

Y’all I made a huge mistake. This is a 4runner 3rd member and it won’t fit. Oh well

 

Bummer! Too late, FWIW

http://home.4x4wire.com/erik/diffs/

Maybe you can get a good price for it now that it's cleaned up and looking good.

 

Original owner is taking it back. He was mistaken That it would fit also. Guess i can afford that bumper and bodywork now

 

Lol, it explicitly states it like 6 times that they won’t swap. I figured that they both used the 8.4

 

If they could go back in time I'm pretty sure Toyota would have done that rearend in both unless it's a clearance thing under the 4runner vs. the Taco...

 

Having swapped a ton of parts onto this truck I’ve never seen such similar platforms from a manufacturer with non compatible Parts it blows my mind the length Toyota went to to differentiate these two models. I’m used to vw where 90% of parts fit all cars like legos.

that said, I think this axel was stronger than the older 8” so it made sense in the 95-97s before the locker was an option to put a better axel. in the off-road truck

 

To them at the time 4runners and trucks may have seemed like such different vehicles - I mean the 8.4 was around well before the 3rd gen 4runners in T100’s and I meant looking back now they’d say “that body on frame truck and that body on frame suv both get used the same way by the same guys - why not keep our costs down and put an 8.4 in both of them unless they want the (already swappable) e locker.” Who knows maybe that’s the way we’ll look at modern Tacoma’s and 4runners in 20 years.

 

Nope different rear ends

After having a Tacoma and 4 runner and other 4 runner

There aren't many parts that interchange between models

An 01 limited 4 runner and 98 sr5 4 runner have supprisingly few parts in common

 

I meant if the engineers and cost analysis management could have gone back in time they would have probably left the mini truck 8” that ended up in the 4runner to die and universally used the 8.4 and the e lockers across platforms. Did you even read previous posts where I linked that info from erik’s database?

 

Yea we are in agreement on this

 

Sweet truck! Are you going to add a light bar and LED headlights to the truck next? I had halogens headlights on my 97 for so long before I switched to LEDs and I gotta say LEDs are 10000 times better and Im not sure why I didnt switch my halogens out sooner.

 

I’m going to put on ecodes and a brighter bulb but no on the leds unless there’s a swap that looks stock. Light bar also no. Maybe a set of ditch light pods

 

when was the 1st year for that gen of 4runner?

 

96-02 but it should work though 05

 

96

 

so you think they should've built the 4runner to more near resemble the tacoma platform?
i recall the top line 4runners cost $5k or $6k more than my truck did at the time!

 

From a guys perspective that likes easily swappable parts I do lol. Toyota is good at making money so they made good decisions back then too, but to me it makes sense since all the other parts in the rear axle are nearly if not exactly the same. Interestingly that price difference is nearly identical to today’s MSRP for a 2020 PRO Tacoma vs. 4runner.

 

What is "reading back"