fj40 axle housing question

[2yotafj40]

hi! i am new to this forum, but not to the landcruiser. i feel like a dope for what i have to ask, but with all the forums and such, there is no excuse not to. with a tight budjet and the need for new tires, it is time for a soa.
i don't want to buy small tires to get me by(again). my springs are in good shape and i am a decent welder. what i need to know, is the axle housing cast or what? if you can help me, thanks in advance

 

[woody]

housing is steel....very easy to weld on....

see the tech corner for info on SOA's....Andre did a great writeup on the how to's....

 

[2yotafj40]

hey, thanks a bunch! must be the fastest reply i have ever gotten. must be crappy weather up your way, too! thanks again!

 

[peesalot]

did mine in driveway with 110 mig and 72/25 argon. Use a pipe cutter to cut the ends , cut all mounts and tabs off and grind smooth then run pipe cutter around till its about 1/4 in. deep , you'll know when you get thru the tube it feels softer when your pipe cuttin. Rent a 4 wheel cutter cause then you don't have to swing all the way around and it's way easy. The pipe cutter makes a cut that is actually pretty wide , I just ran the 4 " thru the groove to clean it up and it welded back up really nice , and I can't weld for s*** . Nothin fell off yet.

 

[Jetboy]

I used a sawzall and built a jig to keep the two sides exactly parallel. I dont have pics of it, but Ill get some when I go home in a couple weeks. worked great. the houlsings are made by stamping two pieces of steel( top and bottom) look at it closely and you'll see what I mean, and then welding together with a third piece for the diff. I would also recomend going with cv driveshafts at the tcase, makes for a lot less hassle eliminating vibration. You can do it cheeply by splicing in the cv's froma 80-85 toyota front drive shaft. and this way you dont have to buy new tubing to lengthen your shafts.