Torfab 80 Series Front Axle Conversion Kit – At Home Install (1 Viewer)

[Bullzi]

A few years back, I was lucky enough to partner with @torfab to help create an 80 series front axle conversion kit for the FJ60/62. Ever since, I’ve been excited about installing the kit on my own truck (it took me awhile to convince my wife we should spend the $$!).

This thread will be my install of the Torfab 80 series front axle conversion kit in my garage with basic tools and no vehicle lift. I’ll be doing this with jacks, jack-stands, grinders and a welder.

The Torfab kit includes the brackets to graft the 80 series suspension attachment points onto the 60 series frame. Once the brackets are welded on, you bolt in a stock 80 series axle with stock radius arms, panhard bar and steering linkage.
We spent a ton of time designing and indexing the brackets to different features on the frame so you can easily place the brackets in the proper location. Measurement verification is still required, but locating the brackets is pretty simple.

Kit includes:

• Radius Arm Mounts
• Spring/Shock Mounts
• Panhard Mount
• Panhard Brace/Mount.

If you are using a sway bar, mounts will need to be fabricated. I plan on using an 80 series front sway bar, so this will hopefully be covered in this install.

I picked up a 97’ LX450 axle from a local Cruiserhead. It came with radius arms, panhard, sway-bar and tie rods. He also threw in some FJ60 hubs to convert the axle to part time. I spent some time and rebuilt the axle. It was in somewhat rough shape, so I got new brakes for it and threw in an ARB locker. It got new paint, a knuckle service and some new tie-rod ends. If your interested in the axle or more on my truck (the Bean), the build thread is here. 80 Axle content starts here.

Additional items Needed:

• Springs
• Shocks
• Spring Hollows (bump-stops)
• 80 Series Steering Stabilizer
• 80 Series Steering Stabilizer Bracket
• 80 Series Pitman Arm
• 80 Series Front Driveline - Will need to be modified
• Custom Brake Hardlines on the Axle
• 60 Series locking Hubs
• If your axle year is 4/94' or later and you want to use Aisin hubs, you will need to machine grooves in your birfs or get the earlier year birfs. Informative Thread.

Once I finished prepping/refreshing my axle, I started in on removing the axle from my truck. I’m always surprised how quick this is. The toughest part was figuring out the best way to jack up the truck for the foreseeable future. I usually do jack stands right behind the rear leaf mounts but that would be in the way of the new axle setup, so I decided to put jack stands near the transmission mount and use 6x6 posts under the very front of the frame. This gives me a lot of working room and is super solid.

 

[Bullzi]

Once the old axle is out, the old mounts need to be removed.

These include:

• Shock Mounts
• Leaf Spring Mounts (only the rearward ones need to be removed)
• Transmission Cross Member Mounts (depending on your year).

If you have a later 60 series (like mine), the transmission crossmember mount will be in the way. You will only need to remove the transmission cross member mounts on the outside of the frame rail, but I did both the inside and outside since mine serve no purpose with the relocated mount for the GM swap. If you are using your original transmission and have the later 60 mount location, there are ways to modify your current mount or you may be able to relocate it using the earlier 60 series mounting location.

For the mounts that are riveted (shock and leaf mounts), I find it easiest to drill a hole in the rivets and then chisel the head off with an air chisel. This method is super fast. If you don’t have an air chisel, you can use a cold chisel or just grind the head off. You can either punch the rest of the rivet out or you can grind it flush and leave the rest of the rivet in place. I chose the latter.

Rear-ward Leaf Spring Mount:

The transmission crossmember mount is a little trickier…you have to get in there with a grinder and cut it out since it is welded on. Not super hard, but takes a little more time. I used a small grinding wheel on my right angle die grinder. This allowed me to get into the tight spaces. I also removed my exhaust which gave me a little more room on the inner frame rail.

 

[Bullzi]

Here’s the grinder that I used on the transmission crossmember. The small wheel made it easier to get into the tight spaces.

This tool with the Roloc attachment (specifically the scotch-brite pads) is invaluable! I use it for everything. I even have some mini flap-disks for it.

 

[Bullzi]

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[Bullzi]

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[Snicklephritz87]

looking forward to following along.

 

[matmattmatthew]

Just when I made the decision to keep my truck Leaf Sprung, you have to go and post this.

 

[red66toy]

Love this! Glad you get to knock this project out and enjoy the fruits of your hard work in regards to the coil design/engineering!

 

[4runner2FJ60]

Ive been debating this for some time now. Just like @matmattmatthew said....now I am questioning my decision......

 

[Tennessee80]

That painted front axle is awesome looking! Great work

 

[TheNeek]

I am prepared to be very jealous

 

[Bullzi]

The frame is cleaned up and I tacked the radius arm mounts to the frame. These are located by a square cutout in the frame.

I should mention that it isn’t necessary to clean the paint off the frame as much as I have, but I am going to repaint the forward section of the frame. It’s the only part of the frame that I haven’t painted and it has some surface rust.

I used some weld through primer on the areas of the brackets and frame that won’t be able to be painted.

Contrary to popular belief, you’re not actually supposed to weld directly through the weld through primer. You should wire-wheel it away before welding.

Also, other paints will not stick to the weld through primer properly. It will cause lifting, so all the extra weld through primer will need to be wire-wheeled off.

I used a piece of pipe and a laser to make extra sure the brackets were aligned properly and tacked them into place!

I set the axle in place to see what it will look like.

Approximate ride height:

 

[bottombracket]

This is hot.

 

[Bullzi]

Coil buckets and pan-hard brackets are tacked in place.

Before tacking the coil buckets in, I sprayed the interface areas with the weld through primer.

I also painted the backs of the brackets because once they are installed, the inner fender makes it almost impossible to get to the back of them.

I did have have to shave a 16th off the middle tang on the coil bucket/shock towers to make them fit with just a little less gap. No big deal…super quick and easy.

Tacked into place!

Panhard bracket tacked into place:

The panhard bracket fits the frame really well. If you are doing this with the stock panhard bar, you will need to be careful to have the axle centered exactly where you want it before tacking it in place. My axle came with a Slee panhard adjuster that you weld into the stock panhard bar. I’m using this, so the exact placement of the bracket is a little less important.

I also took just a tad off the rear edge of the panhard bracket to angle it very slightly towards the axle. This makes the panhard line up a little better. It’s not really necessary, but it makes it easier to get the panhard in and out.

Because of this, I had to slightly bend my panhard brace to get it to line up with the opposite side of the frame better.
I used a press to bend the brace. It is very subtle. Without the bend it was hitting the opposite coil bucket. I'll get some better pictures in my next post.

 

[Bullzi]

Brackets are all welded in!
The truck is able to sit under its own weight.
Unfortunately I’ll have to wait for shocks to come. I couldn’t decide and then finally decided to pull the trigger on the Radflo shocks that are valved for my weight. I was initially planning on buying Nitro Chargers or similar from Bilstein, but in the end decided to just go full send .

It’s going to be a few weeks until they show up so I’m the meantime I’ll be working on sway bar bracket fabrication and painting the frame.

Here are some pics!

 

[matmattmatthew]

Looks amazing. I really wanted to do this with my 62 but I’ve decided to put it on the back burner until I take care of the 38497 items that need attention.

Curious what your preferred frame paint is? You’ve ground a lot of the frame down to bare metal so are you not using a rust converter/encapsulator? I’ve been cleaning up my frame but not to bare metal, I still have some surface rust so I trying to figure out what product to use. I see just as many people saying not to use POR15 as praising it. I’ve also seen a lot of people recommending the Eastwood products.

 

[4runner2FJ60]

Excellent looking welds! Looks like the shock towers are indexed with a couple of existing holes in the frame? I too am curious about the painting/coating choices...
Once its all complete will you do your own alignment then get it checked at a shop? Looking forward to hearing about he ride and your first impressions.