Hello, I have an 1986 FJ60 with a 4BD1t diesel swap. I was thinking of running front and rear locking FJ80 axles, but I can't find anyone on this site who swapped out the 60 axles for the 80 up front. Can it be done without a ton of work? I want to still run the FJ60 springs with a SOA kit, but have the wider and E-locking FJ80 axles, Is anyone running this set up? Thanks for the help
FJ60 to locking FJ80 front axle swap? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter NewGuy
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It would be the same as doing a SOA with factory 60 axles, but with more stuff to cut off of the housing.
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- #3
Cruisin, thanks. Thats what I thought, just wanted to make sure before I spent the cash on the axles. Thanks again.
i run 80 axles on my 60 in the rear all i did was cut off the link mounts and weld on spring perches. in the front i cut all of the suspention off an 80 and welded it onto my frame. it rides and handles alot better now even with the 37 12.50 17 km2's. ive heard if you want to go bigger than 33s dont use the e-locker as its not strong enough and it will bind and get stuck. i have one in the rear and it works fine for me but i baby it. i only lock if i have to and then unlock it as soon as i can. i have an aussy up front so normaly it just pulls me over everything.
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- #6
Ok, great to know, i was wanted to run 37s. So I can save some cash and get and unlocked front! Thanks for the help. You have any pictures of your front setup?
I'll try to get some up after work
I'm pretty sure running leaves on the front would be a problem. I don't think you can center the housing in
the 60 frame. You have to do as RCMCCARS did and do a full coil/radius arm swap. The rear is simple
the 60 frame. You have to do as RCMCCARS did and do a full coil/radius arm swap. The rear is simple
- Thread starter
- #9
Ok I see, so maybe that is why I havent been able to find anything about this swap. Thats really not what I wanted to hear......Thnaks for the help.
not good at pics hopefuly this works
- Thread starter
- #11
rcmccars Thanks for the pictures, nice setup. So would I be able to run this setup with the FJ60 leaf springs? or as mentioned above would the 80 axle not center up with the 60 leafs?
i dont see why you wouldent be able to center it. you would need to cut off the spring perches and radius arm mounts to put on leaf spring perches. the prob i see is with the steering. 80s have a uniqe steering system. you can see in my pic from the steering box on the driver side it goes to the passenger tire and then the other arm that conects the two tires is behind the axle.
in sua your going to be fighting the bar behind the axle and soa your going to be fighting the bar in front if that makes any sence. slee and some others make hy-steer kits for 80s but they are all kinda weird set-ups. i also had to move the steering box foward a few inches to line up with the new steering arms. my insperation and all the details here https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/244530-fj80-axle-coil-swap.html. if you do this get a set of 60 locking hubs 80s are all wheel drive and you want to have a way to diengage the front hubs. i had an axle out of a 91 and they bolted right on no mods req. later axles you need to cut a groove in the splines to make them fit. it is easy enough i had to do it when i went to longfields.
in sua your going to be fighting the bar behind the axle and soa your going to be fighting the bar in front if that makes any sence. slee and some others make hy-steer kits for 80s but they are all kinda weird set-ups. i also had to move the steering box foward a few inches to line up with the new steering arms. my insperation and all the details here https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/244530-fj80-axle-coil-swap.html. if you do this get a set of 60 locking hubs 80s are all wheel drive and you want to have a way to diengage the front hubs. i had an axle out of a 91 and they bolted right on no mods req. later axles you need to cut a groove in the splines to make them fit. it is easy enough i had to do it when i went to longfields.
You can also transplant the 80 outers to your 60 housing. This allows you to run the big birfields if that is your biggest concern
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If I were to go through that much effort to swap (and if your not a purist) I would go to a dana 60 instead.
unless you already have a locker in the 60 . You also have to address the cost of a Dana and deal with the 8 bolt pattern. Six bolt hubs will cost extra and you'll either need to grind the brake calipers or buy bigger rims
i had to get bigger rims but i dont remember why. i think 80s have 16's dont quote me i just remember needing bigger rims to clear. i think is was the brakes but it might have just bin for the rear disks.
that would be the issue. Dana 60's came with 16.5's
the problem with 16'5's is they don't have internal bead locks so you
can't air down under 25~30 lbs
the problem with 16'5's is they don't have internal bead locks so you
can't air down under 25~30 lbs
another good option for selectable front locker
This gets my vote!
All the money I would have saved by just going to tons from the get go... would have paid for at least half of the chromoly parts i bought for my front dana 60. Live and learn. I knew I was gonna wheel it hard too, so it isnt like it was a maybe, it was a for sure I was gonna push it hard...
- Thread starter
- #19
Thanks everyone for the input! I think im going to stick with the 60 axles, they should handle what I plan on doing with them.
I'm currently trying to transplant mini truck knuckles into an fj80 housing. I'm doing it just because and I also have a spare set of 4x4 labs high steer arms and a complete set of gm 1ton tre's. I'm going soa and want really good driveshaft angles. I figured since only a few folks have done this and haven't elaborated too much on it I'd do a more comprehensive build thread.
