Rear Differential Question

Hey all,
Quick question regarding rear axle compatibility between 4runners and Tacomas.
The rear axle on my 04 Tacoma TRD 3.4 with 4:10 gearing and e-locker is rusted out and I was wondering if a rear axle out of a 4runner with the same specs would be compatible.
Thanks!

 

Just make sure you know the difference between the 8" and the 8.4"

Other than that, I'm pretty sure they're the same. Not 100% though.

 

If you're talking the whole rearend no its not a direct swap. Runners use coils in the rear...

 

AFAIK, an e-lockered diff from a 3rd-gen 4runner should bolt onto an elockered Tacoma housing. But not sure if the gear ratios would be the same. That would have to be verified.

 

You'll need to remove all the 4runner suspension brackets. Then weld on spring perches. Your elocker third member will bolt into the 4runner housing. (Make sure the runner housing had an elocker). I was going to do the same thing, but found a Tacoma axle housing.

 

Your axle rusted through? Like holes in it? Or it's just gnarly looking?

pics...?

 

Thanks guys, the axle housing itself is fine except for one small hole where the fluid leaks out when driving the truck.

This picture is from back in July when it started to get bad, since then I've been religiously patching with JB weld and its just not doing the trick on longer drives. I drove from VT to ME on friday and now the rear end has started to whine... So friday night I bought more gear oil and before re-filling it I noticed that the differential smells burnt.

 

Damn! Is that from rust or a serious impact to your rear end????

 

A good cleaning and painting before it starts leaking will keep this from happening in most cases

 

JB Weld lol maybe some duck tape and your good to go

 

JB Weld that sucker. And its Duct tape not Duck tape.

 

What i buy says duck tape with a little duck on it lol

 

Thats not Diff repair approved.

 

I've been keeping it patched with JB Weld since June, it was time to bite the bullet and replace it.
Picked up this today!

 

Wow if you were close to me I would love to buy your old housing .

It seems this rusting out is pretty rare I have been looking for a rusted housing for about 5 years I have yet to find one within a few hundred miles of me.

 

@buckhunter95 I saw that beast on Craigslist!! There are two more in western MA right now listed on craigslist is anyone in NE is looking.

http://westernmass.craigslist.org/pts/5857784146.html

 

Out of curiosity, why buy a rusted housing?

I saw those! Looks like a good deal if they are in decent shape

 

the Tacoma 8.0 diff does not fit into the Taqcoma 8.4 axle housing
nor visa-versa.

If an 8.0 diff is utilized from an elocker axle...
it will require installing the elocker axle housing as well.

It's been tried/tested.

unless you're doing some serious susp. mods...
~ leaf springs to coil springs ~
the 4runner diff/axle housing is not what you want.

Thought I read somewhere that the 4runner's 8.0 diff
is different then the Tacoma 8.0 diff.
And that they can't be swapped.
But I'm not 100% sure of that and haven't followed up with it.


Stick to the Tacoma axle choices...

8.0 axle W elocker

8.4 axle Without elocker

the 8.4 is stronger... but an elocker cannot be installed.
and so will need an ARB or Lockright to have a locked diff.

 

Had you gotten your hands on a dab of bel-zona. it would have sealed it up for good but it's about 150 bux for a small kit.
We used it on shipping containers w/ rust holes.

 

I want to design and build a fairly reasonable fix to see if it can be done .

maybe even using epoxy instead of welding so save the time of removing the differential

I can`t justify using a good housing for a demo