Axle Buildup-First stab at a tech writeup.

[jps8460]

Hi All,

I’ve never really done a highly technical write-up; so, I figured I’d give it a shot with my axle build.

I’m sick and tired of the lunchbox I have in the front end of my 60. I’m blaming it for my rebuilt steering gear and rebuilt pump that are starting to show signs of failure. My birfs have seen better days and I’ve also decided to make the step to a 315/75R16.

I’ve scored a set of FJ62 axles from the junkyard down in Littleton. I love it when regular old bone yards get Landcruisers (thanks Ricardo)…….it’s like Christmas. These axles will be my starting platform. I picked them both up as full assemblies for a tiny bit over $200 and some labor (thanks to rockhound).

I chose the front FJ62 axle because of the added pinion angle built in. They both have 4:10’s in them. The front also has a truss built into it. Not sure how I feel about the truss yet, but I’m sure time will tell. As for now, it appears that it will be a good place to bang rocks into.

I know the knuckle rebuilds have been beaten to death, so I’ll try to focus on the R&P / ARB installs a little more. Hopefully someone will find it useful. ☺

I've set up a few 9" fords and a D44 back in the day. My experience is limited and I appreciate any constructive feed back. My diff setups and documentation will be reviewed by a good friend of mine (Brian Paul of Quick Performance) who has set up approximately 10,000 differentials all makes and models from mild to wild.

The plan:
Completely rebuild both axles flange to flange with detailed documentation here.
Clean, clean, clean, clean, Paint
Do a needed brake upgrade (I drove my truck around with 35’s for a weekend….scary)
Upgrade strength where I can
Lockers front and rear
Go from 3:70 to 4:10 gears
Do it all in my garage (with the help of a few stragglers and beer I’m sure)
Be done in plenty of time for Cruise Moab
Measure the Delta in pinion angles to understand how much reverse shimming I can do for caster correction.


The Parts:
• Front Axle
ARB locker
Longfield 30 spline shafts/birfs
Longfield hub parts
Reuse front R&P from fj62
Yukon (Koyo) master install kit w/solid spacer
ARP hardware
4Runner calipers new hardware
New hard lines (mine are mangled)
Marlin cross drilled and slotted rotors
Nice set of ceramic 4runner pads
Dust shield eliminator kit (both sets of shields that I have are pretty mangled….we’ll see about this mod, I’m a little cautious)
New pinion flange
New Studs
Paint (not sure what to use here. I used VHT epoxy paint on the housings/3rds last time and it didn’t hold up very well.) suggestions??
Bearings seals etc.
• Rear Axle
ARB Locker
Poly Performance Axles
New Toyota axle bearings and seals/gaskets
New 4:10 Nitro Gear R&P
Yukon (Koyo) master install kit w/ solid spacer
Turned drums (I now have several used pairs in good shape and can’t justify buying new ones)
New wheel cylinders and hardware
New shoes
New wheel studs
• Other Tid Bits:
4Runner Booster
Dakar add-a-Leaf for the driver side
315/75R16 Irock ND’s (this is their less aggressive version. From what I gather, they are supposed to be in the same class as a duratrack but ¾” skinnier on 8” rim)
Stand alone ARB compressor for lockers


Megan (my wife), Rockhound, and aprosise will likely be helping me document the process. With any luck I’ll be testing these things out on cliffhanger in late April and at Rubicon this August.

Expect to see the pics start flowing this week!!!!

Cheers.

 

[Air Randy]

If you are going to be running 35's, and since you are already buying a new R&P for the rear, I would recommend going to 4.56 gears instead of the 4.10's. With 4.56's and 35's it should put you in the same power band you had with stock gears and stock rims/tires. It will make a noticeable difference at this elevation. If there is any chance of going to 37" tires, go with 4.88's.

The polyperformance axles are a pretty expensive insurance policy. The Toyota rear axle shafts are actually pretty strong, especially since you will be running an ARB. It's much less expensive to just snag an extra set of axle shafts. Unless you are really hard on the skinny pedal, you shouldn't have an issue breaking rear axles with 35's and a 2FE.

 

[jps8460]

Good call on the 4:56's. I should have mentioned that I have a AA 4:1 t-case. This is an 8% under drive from stock. With a 4:10, I'm extremely close to a "4.56"

 

[LXBRADY]

To Randy's point the 4.56 or 4.88 gears are for street ability to rotate the larger tires in the engines power band in addition to a better crawl ratio . 4:1 case will show its value off road.

 

[rover67]

I echo the comments above and will add that i have had stock rear axle shafts in my 60 for a long time behind the V8 and with some fairly spirited wheeling.. I shut it down quick when it starts to hop on rocks but definitely don't take it easy on the truck. They seem to have held up.

What is the pinion angle difference on the 62 axles?

 

[LXBRADY]

The key there is the V8. I had 4.10's in my 40 behind my 350 and there wasnt any issue with power. But behind a stock 6 no bueno.

 

[jps8460]

Thanks for the feedback so far all. I'm excited about the responses, and I haven't even started yet

Just to clear up one thing first, the 4:1 t-case reduces the high range by 8%. This almost equates to going from a 3.70 to 4.10 in high range....almost.

Megan and I do a lot of wheeling fully loaded down, my thoughts were with the 4:1 case and 1500lbs in gear it would be good insurance. I for sure might have jumped the gun there, but it was in the budget and princess approved.

I'm not sure how much difference there is in pinion angle, but I plan on figuring that out.....this applies to front only. There are a few folks that have stated this on mud. There could be zero, but a rough AB side by side shows that there must be a little.

Any advice on LC diff/axles or runner brake swap pitfalls are very welcome


I think I'll be getting some pics up tonight of the beginning.

 

[Adventurous]

Sounds cool Jackson. I look forward to following this.

 

[jps8460]

Any advice on paint? VHT epoxy didn't hold up, no budget left for powder coat unless I can get in on a batch deal ....

 

[LXBRADY]

Hmmmm I thought 4:1 case in 2wd or 4wd high was 1:1

 

[rover67]

Hmmmm I thought 4:1 case in 2wd or 4wd high was 1:1

Yeah that's what I was wondering too. So it's an 8% underdrive in High?

 

[AxleIke]

Yup. The AA cruiser gear sets are pretty sweet that way. 1.08 high range, 2.xx, 3.xx, and 4.0 options for low. I love how on cruiser cases they can run a reduction on the high range gear sets. I wish the mini truck cases were that way, rather than a straight through style output shaft.

 

[AxleIke]

My suggestions would be:

Build a diff holder. Robbie has something like this (basically a set of arms that are adjustable and bolt into the third member mounting holes. Trying to set the pinion and carrier preloads in a bench vise is a royal pain.

Get a good quality torque wrench or torque meter. Auto parts store or even craftsman are very coarse and caused me a ton of headache when I set mine up. Pinion chewed into the ARB a bit due to the torque being off on the crush sleeve. I realize you are going solid spacer, but setting preload and the like also needs good measurements. Worth the money to get a professional grade wrench that is fully calibrated if you don't have one already.

I thought the poly performance rear axles got chewed up by the bearings under highway use? Maybe thats 80 series? Anyway, worth looking into.

Anyway, just my $0.02.

Good luck!

 

[SteveH]

RE: axle paint:

I brushed on satin Rustoleum (from Home Depot - $8/quart) on my FJ45 axles and it looked good - the right level of sheen. I put on 2 coats and it went on pretty thick, but didn't show the brush marks too badly. With the flying rocks that hit axles on the road, I think you want a clean surface and a relatively thick paint coating. I would not use aerosols for this reason.

 

[rover67]

I thought the poly performance rear axles got chewed up by the bearings under highway use? Maybe thats 80 series? Anyway, worth looking into.

Anyway, just my $0.02.

Good luck!

They supposedly fixed this, but mine had the issue. lasted like 10k miles and even though I tried to clean it all out real well the debris ended up taking out my diff bearings and mucked up the locker.


It was expensive and i ended up with my stock shafts again... carrying a longside spare on the longer trips.

 

[jps8460]

Well I have to fly to LA today....so no axle pics or grease covered PBR's.

 

[DanS]

My suggestions would be:

Build a diff holder. Robbie has something like this (basically a set of arms that are adjustable and bolt into the third member mounting holes. Trying to set the pinion and carrier preloads in a bench vise is a royal pain.

Agreed.

Here's what I built:

Took me 20 minutes, tops. Robbie's is nicer, with the curved arms, but this works fine. MUCH better than trying it in a vise. It also fits into receiver hitches, so in theory it could be useful on a trail (not sure why I'd bring it on the trail though).

I noticed you said the front was getting a new 4.10 R&P. The stock rear from the FJ-62 will be 4.11 (9x37). That mismatch would bother me personally, if that's the case. 4.10 came in the 80 series (10x41).

Dan

 

[jps8460]

Stand=check, that's good info on the R+P. I didn't know it was different. I'll have to take a peek to see what I actually ended up with tooth wise. Thanks for the insight. Hopefully I'll be back home in the morn.

 

[jps8460]

OK, I've consulted Brian (quick performance). He has informed me that for high speed 4x4 driving the acceptable range is 1% difference between front and rear. 4.11 to 4.10 is .2%

I am going to carry on with the 4.11/4.10 combo. I did some rough calculations on potential tire wear and differences in tire inflation that would create a greater final drive difference greater than .2%

He also informed me that several vehicles came from the factory with mismatched differential gearing due to available R&P diameters/gears.

I have the weekend completely open. So, I should make a ton of progress.

I've always been curious on the time savings for axle swaps using the "disassemble everything" method vs. the "unbolt the knuckle and set asside" method. I'm going to time myself on each side and see.

-Jackson

 

[jps8460]

It Begins

Hi All,

here are some pics and details on my build so far. I decided to start by building up the "New" Diff.

I kicked the day of by mounting my diff fixture. I went with an Ebay unit that was $140 shipped. I'm going to be setting a few of these up over the next couple of months and probably some more in the future.

I'm between welders (sold my last one), otherwise I would have whipped something up like the ones above.

I started by disassembling the old diff that I had. I had no intentions of reusing any old parts, except the case. If I was going to reuse the R&P (like I will in the next assembly), I would have measured the backlash and patterned it so that I could set it up as close as possible on the reassembly.

I marked the carrier retaining caps, so that I wouldn't mix them up.