DIY 4.3 Re-Gear (2 Viewers)

[bloc]

Starting to collect a parts list for this to perform it over the winter, and looking at used front diffs on car-part. I want to find one with as little wear as possible.. seems to me Tundras with the disconnecting front axle would be pretty low wear.

My question is whether any tundras with 4.3s came with AWD? Some Sequoias would have been AWD, but with 4.3s? If it was an option I'll try to seek out a diff that didn't have it.

@bjowett might be an authority on this.. I seem to remember him swapping a cruiser transfer case into his tundra to get AWD.

 

[TeCKis300]

Starting to collect a parts list for this to perform it over the winter, and looking at used front diffs on car-part. I want to find one with as little wear as possible.. seems to me Tundras with the disconnecting front axle would be pretty low wear.

My question is whether any tundras with 4.3s came with AWD? Some Sequoias would have been AWD, but with 4.3s? If it was an option I'll try to seek out a diff that didn't have it.

@bjowett might be an authority on this.. I seem to remember him swapping a cruiser transfer case into his tundra to get AWD.

I believe you're right that Sequoias came with the most sophisticated variant of our common transfer case allowing 2WD, 4WD, and 4x4. Whereas the Tundra utilized a very basic variant allowing 2WD or 4x4, with an ADD mechanism on the front axle.

I think if you're getting a late model low mileage front axle off any of them, they're all going to have pretty long useful lives.

 

[bloc]

I believe you're right that Sequoias came with the most sophisticated variant of our common transfer case allowing 2WD, 4WD, and 4x4. Whereas the Tundra utilized a very basic variant allowing 2WD or 4x4, with an ADD mechanism on the front axle.

I think if you're getting a late model low mileage front axle off any of them, they're all going to have pretty long useful lives.

Yeah my concern is finding low mileage.. there are about a dozen of these diffs 40 miles down the road but I haven’t started asking about mileage yet.

Your post made me realize I can just look for ADD on a given diff.. if it has that the odds are very good the important parts are low-wear. So thanks for that.

Seems the really hard part to find low mileage will be the 100-series rear. Not many of those under 100k making it into salvage yards.

 

[lx200inAR]

Yeah my concern is finding low mileage.. there are about a dozen of these diffs 40 miles down the road but I haven’t started asking about mileage yet.

Your post made me realize I can just look for ADD on a given diff.. if it has that the odds are very good the important parts are low-wear. So thanks for that.

Seems the really hard part to find low mileage will be the 100-series rear. Not many of those under 100k making it into salvage yards.

(Responding to @bloc's comment, but not particularly addressing them, more of general questions for the hive mind)

I've contemplated the rear end issue of this project as well. What would be the biggest issues with going with a new Toyota gear set? I suspect it's somewhat more expensive most likely. I assume the biggest concern is wanting to keep a factory set up differential in play. I know there are some master gear technicians out there, but is it really difficult enough that if you had a shop that does regular re-gears that they wouldn't do a good job? Also, if you intend to add a locker, how does that affect the change. It seems like once you have to pull the rear end apart for the locker, there really isn't much difference.

 

[ARKginger]

Yeah my concern is finding low mileage.. there are about a dozen of these diffs 40 miles down the road but I haven’t started asking about mileage yet.

Your post made me realize I can just look for ADD on a given diff.. if it has that the odds are very good the important parts are low-wear. So thanks for that.

Seems the really hard part to find low mileage will be the 100-series rear. Not many of those under 100k making it into salvage yards.

(Responding to @bloc's comment, but not particularly addressing them, more of general questions for the hive mind)

I've contemplated the rear end issue of this project as well. What would be the biggest issues with going with a new Toyota gear set? I suspect it's somewhat more expensive most likely. I assume the biggest concern is wanting to keep a factory set up differential in play. I know there are some master gear technicians out there, but is it really difficult enough that if you had a shop that does regular re-gears that they wouldn't do a good job? Also, if you intend to add a locker, how does that affect the change. It seems like once you have to pull the rear end apart for the locker, there really isn't much difference.

If you're lucky and willing to shop around you might be able to find a lower mileage rear like I did using car-part.com. The place I got my rear third member from was in Alabama.

I suspect the biggest issue going with a new Toyota gear set is cost. I don't know a lot about gear setup at all, but when I was talking to the guy who installed the locker in my 100 series rear, he mentioned he had to set the tolerance on it tighter than a new set of gears since it was already broke in. I'm sure someone will come along and explain in the correct terms.

 

[TeCKis300]

Whether used or new, it's somewhat the same work as I would highly recommend tearing down a used set and rebuilding with new bearings and such. It's documented in here, but with the used 100-serires gearset I had, the tolerances were drum tight and factory new at .07 backlash. Gear faces showed practically no wear.

In my mind, the opportunity with a used 3rd member is partially cost, but the big advantage is to have a complete 3rd member. To be able to build it up outside of the critical path of tearing down the car. Once it's ready to go, the swap couldn't be easier.

 

[bloc]

Whether used or new, it's somewhat the same work as I would highly recommend tearing down a used set and rebuilding with new bearings and such. It's documented in here, but with the used 100-serires gearset I had, the tolerances were drum tight and factory new at .07 backlash. Gear faces showed practically no wear.

This was the plan, get the used rear chunk and evaluate whether it needed bearings. As it is my rig has 180k so a minty fresh diff isn’t totally necessary but something not worn out makes sense too.

Any idea how many miles your 100-series rear diff had on it?

 

[TeCKis300]

This was the plan, get the used rear chunk and evaluate whether it needed bearings. As it is my rig has 180k so a minty fresh diff isn’t totally necessary but something not worn out makes sense too.

Any idea how many miles your 100-series rear diff had on it?

Good thing I documented it here, as that would have been hard to remember. 168k from an '02. To your point, it's going to be hard to find a low mileage unit with as old as these part are.

Ah. I'm not familiar with the 8", but the retention on the 9.5 seems very sound. Neither of the 9.5 carriers I disassembled, including the '02 with 168k miles, had any unexpected play. They were both drum tight.

If you can see in this pic grabbed from Otramm's vid, it's clamped firmly by the carrier main bolts, with pressure from the side adjusters, that's then locked down with the stop.

View attachment 2360446

 

[bjowett]

Starting to collect a parts list for this to perform it over the winter, and looking at used front diffs on car-part. I want to find one with as little wear as possible.. seems to me Tundras with the disconnecting front axle would be pretty low wear.

My question is whether any tundras with 4.3s came with AWD? Some Sequoias would have been AWD, but with 4.3s? If it was an option I'll try to seek out a diff that didn't have it.

@bjowett might be an authority on this.. I seem to remember him swapping a cruiser transfer case into his tundra to get AWD.

No Tundras came with awd, but all Sequoias did. If they have the tow package, which most did, then the 4.30 ratio was used.

 

[bloc]

No Tundras came with awd, but all Sequoias did. If they have the tow package, which most did, then the 4.30 ratio was used.

Thanks.

Did the sequoia come with ADD? If not would those diffs bolt in without having to swap extension housings like Teckis documented?

 

[bjowett]

The Sequoia also has the ADD like the Tundra.

 

[bloc]

The Sequoia also has the ADD like the Tundra.

Good to know.

 

[highfructose]

The Sequoia also has the ADD like the Tundra.

Are the ring and pinion gears from the tundra/sequoia front diff directly swappable into the land cruiser front diff?

 

[bjowett]

Yes, same 8.7” differential. LC 2016 and up likely has a different carrier offset, so swapping just gears is probably out.

 

[highfructose]

Yes, same 8.7” differential. LC 2016 and up likely has a different carrier offset, so swapping just gears is probably out.

Perfect.

Sounds like I don’t need to move the gears over if it’s the same diff.

Would anyone happen to know if this 4.10 geared front diff from a 2011 tundra will swap into my 2011 lx570 (with the appropriate modifications mentioned by teckis300)?

 

[TexAZ]

The front diff will work. I put a 2010 sequoia diff in my 08. Easy swap. I'm at 260k miles, still running strong and smooth.

 

[highfructose]

The front diff will work. I put a 2010 sequoia diff in my 08. Easy swap. I'm at 260k miles, still running strong and smooth.

What gear ratio did you end up with?

 

[TeCKis300]

Perfect.

Sounds like I don’t need to move the gears over if it’s the same diff.

Would anyone happen to know if this 4.10 geared front diff from a 2011 tundra will swap into my 2011 lx570 (with the appropriate modifications mentioned by teckis300)?

View attachment 3198667

Yup, will drop right in with same procedure I documented earlier in this thread. Change for the LX mounts and extension tube. May need to address the roller bearing.

 

[100kiwi]

Yup, will drop right in with same procedure I documented earlier in this thread. Change for the LX mounts and extension tube. May need to address the roller bearing.

I used a carrier out of a 2014 tundra with 3.91 gears. The roller bearings were the same ID as the 2017 carrier that came out. I left them in there.

 

[Hakosuka200]

If 41201-80493 is 4.3 ring and pinion rear for 200 series 08 -15 .
What would be front oem number I could Use ?.
Would have trouble finding Tundra front diff for swap in Australia.