Solid Axle Swap BS Thread

Negative. Ford 9"

 

buddy of mine has a high pinion dana 44 (open) and a for 9" (locked) under his ranger and guess what after three days of wheeling in moab he blew the spiders out of the 44 and broke the 9" housing. It's not that everyone hates your idea's it's just they know you're wrong. Being lucky like my self and not breaking shafts doesn't mean you're right it just means you've been lucky the breakage will come and when it does it'll keep coming.

 

I'm not saying I'm right by any means lol this truck isn't really being built to be a hard core wheeler. It was my dads and I'm rebuilding it to what it was cause its what I've always wanted

 

Easier to add spacers to the rear But narrowing a D60 is sacrilege and expensive if you have to pay somebody to do it. Having full width is one of the benefits of 1 ton axles.

Well, you are not the first person that thought it would be cheaper to simply throw a straight axle under there and then deal with issues as they arise; or the first guy that said they would not be hard core wheelers ever...or that would not want to go taller than 37" tires.

That philosophy is what makes things very expensive. Everybody always ends up wheeling harder and wanting to go with bigger tires. Building axles twice or three times after they are under the rig gets expensive very quickly. And eventually you will tackle more difficult trails and push your rig harder as you gain experience.

That's why You hear guys saying the phrase over and over, "do it right the first time." It's a lot cheaper and less frustrating to just build a strong axle when it's outside the truck and before you start wheeling. A D44 in stock form is really not a strong axle as people have mentioned several times already.

And stop listening to rctoy...he's one lucky guy running those big tires with stock D60 shafts

 

When I say its not gonna be a hardcore wheeler I pretty much mean it lol we have no trails here anymore. Except for the occasional visit to my buddy's lake house and random dirt roads it probably won't ever see mud. Don't get me wrong, I understand everything y'all are saying but I'm trying to make this truck what it was, not something new. Maybe if I had a set of 60s and could find these wheels I'd do it but I cannot find any. If the axles end up being that big of an issue I'll deal with it when I get there. I could've just kept it on beams

 

This is tacoma world where you need 60s, links, a rtt and 10 light bars to hit a gravel road..... not because they actually have any of that stuff, but because they read it somewhere.

 

oh my God yes full width is where it's at esp. when you're tall. And yeah i've been so lucky, buddy of mine breaks the 30 spline outers like toothpicks on 40's. but at the same time i did plan to go 35 spline chromo.

hey some of us are working on the rtt and 10 light bars. those gravel roads man i'll tell ya they can get scary.

 

Well...I guarantee you that my decision to go with links and 1ton axles was not because I read it somewhere lol

I think that the decision to build a rig should be based on the type of terrain you have around. Here in the southwest the trails are just insanely brutal. Can you wheel around with leaf springs and smaller axles and tires tires? Sure you can.

I wanted to have peace of mind. Wheeling being afraid all the time that something can go "kaboom" too easily takes the fun out of wheeling. Obviously anything can break, but the added peace of mind just makes wheeling so much more enjoyable.

There you go have it...those are the arguments I use to console myself when I see my empty wallet lol

 

Believe me, if I were building my Tacoma it'd be 60s and 37s probably and if I lived out west where there's actually wheeling, it would be happening lol

 

agreed. One can get away with a half ton axle setup in Florida because of the lack of rocks. That's why I chose to just go with a 44 front and stock rear. Light truck, loose terrain, and max 35" tires makes it easier to get away with smaller axles. Even though like I stated earlier, I've taken out an inner, outer, and joint on that very terrain.

Just noticing that @YotaOverAll is in Florida as well so i can agree with him only wanting a half ton front.

 

yotaoverall,

Build the Tacoma and head out west at least once a year. You must wheel yar junk in Moab, Utah, at least once in a lifetime! Most beautiful and amazing wheeling place ever.

i wanted to build my truck to fit 40"s. Lot easier to downsize than to start with a smaller tire and then try to fit bigger meats down the road. I actually was going to roll on 37"s first, but then found a used set of 40" Nitto trail grapplers with 75% thread for $500 So 40"s it is for now lol

 

Yea those stock outers cannot be trusted! I totally considered building my D60 with stock shafts to save some money up front and wheel it like that for a while. But decided to bite the bullet with the 35 spline kit. It was an expensive upgrade that could have waited..oh well

BTW, Totally forgot you had full hydro steering. That might be the reason why those stock shafts have survived that long Even hydro assist makes a huge difference in taking stress off the shafts.

Absolutely.

If was still living in the northeast I would have never gone the 1ton axle route. Heck, back then i wheeled everywhere with IFS, 33s" locked front and open rear axle lol. But down here in AZ is a whole different ball game all together.

 

If I ever get another Tacoma or build this one it'll be on 3/4 or tons for sure. Keep the weight and width. And then I'd have to go to like moab and all that shit lol

 

Many people just do that. They build a rig and go on a couple of bad ass wheeling trips per year - in addition to wheeling locally.

I've wheeled pretty much all over the country; as I've moved a lot because of work. The farther go go west, the better the wheeling gets.

Moab, Utah, is at the top of my list. That place is just insanely awesome. But you cannot go wrong wheeling in Colorado, California, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. There's just so much in those states.

Even if you have to drive thousands of miles to wheel just for a long weekend or maybe a week if you can afford the time is totally worth it.

 

If hes in florida, theres plenty of badass wheeling up in tn and ky, there are sooo many parks now. Harlan in ky kicks total ass!!

 

or maybe he is really a web wheeler but blames Florida for it lol

 

I mean it'd be cool driving a straight axle Tacoma around...but kinda hard to justify two built trucks when there minimal stuff to do without driving days to get there

 

Meh im in illinois, im in the same boat as you. Now go get some landcruiser axles or some tons and swap them in!!

 

I dream of shipping my truck to the mainland and spending the summer with my wife and daughter driving around cali, Nevada and Utah and hitting those awesome trails

 

True this. I drove all the way to Washington to hit trails for a week and half. Beautifull scenery