Front Axle Upgrade (1 Viewer)

[jrob]

Pretty new to the forum and about to buy my first 40..'78. I do not have it as of now...should have it by mid december!

I want to put disk brakes on the front (this is a non U.S. 40) and it has drums all the way around. I want to swap the front axle.

I have read about fine & course spline front axles (fine spline preferred) Why? and What is this relating to...the pinion (please clarify)? Do all american assembled '76 and later 40's have fine spline and disk brakes?

I have read the FAQ's and really did not find the answer I was looking for.



A little help to clarify this would be great.

 

[Vicm]

I have a non-us 78 with front drums , which is basicly the same a us 78. Only diff is the drums instead of discs . You might even have better locking hubs or drive flanges. Mine had the Asco ones.
So your axle shafts, wheel hubs ,diffs , and all will be same as a 78 us disc front axles. Same size and splines.
You might even have the heavy duty drums too.
I must say with 4 drums , I had the best brakes. A lot stronger than 4 discs.

 

[jrob]

thanks for the info. By the way where did yours come from?

 

[Bret]

FJ60 stuff could be swapped from the knuckle out if you want. Larger pattern knuckles, 4-Runner brake calipers too. It all just depends on what you want and how much you want to spend. As far as disk versus drums, some swear by their drums when properly maintained, others prefer their disks. I have disks all around and I like it. There are compromises though.

 

[Vicm]

thanks for the info. By the way where did yours come from?

Mine came from Germany in 97, friend of mine brought to Canada , he was on a student visa, so I ended up buying it when he moved back to Germany.
What about yours?
Don't forget that we like to see lots of pics when you get.
Vic

 

[Combat Chuck]

There's no need to swap the whole assembly out, a disc brake conversion's simple enough to do, and cheaper than replacing the whole axle.
rigger and 1973Guppie here on 'Mud have great writeups on how to to do a conversion.
Good luck, and welcome to 'Mud!

 

[GarageRat]

Everything seems to have been answered except for why fine splines are preferred. Think of each spline as a lever arm acting on the axle, if say 100 ft lbs (or 135.6 Nm) of torque are place on a coarse spline axle with say 10 splines (I'm simplifying everything) then each spline has to be able to take 10 ft lbs (13.56 Nm) of force. However, with a 20 spline axle then each spline only has to take 5 ft lbs (6.753 Nm). So, more splines means that there's less stress on any individual piece so there's less chance of it failing (mechanical advantage).

With cruisers it can refer to both the outer axle splines for the hubs and the pinions as both came in coarse and fine splined variants depending on the year. Good luck with the conversion.

 

[Poser]

FJ60 stuff could be swapped from the knuckle out if you want. Larger pattern knuckles, 4-Runner brake calipers too. It all just depends on what you want and how much you want to spend. As far as disk versus drums, some swear by their drums when properly maintained, others prefer their disks. I have disks all around and I like it. There are compromises though.

Solid axle 4runner brake calipers are not compatible with FJ60 rotors...



Further, the caliper piston sizes are the same between Land Cruiser and solid axle mini truck/4runner, until Toyota went to the V6 in the mini trucks; then, and only on the V6 engine-equipped trucks/4runners did the caliper piston size change, and become equal sized, opposed to larger and smaller pistons as used on the Land Cruiser and non-V6 mini trucks.

 

[shelfboy1]

if your gonna drive mostly on the road with some ocasional wheeling fine or course spline wont matter much.we dont rock crawl but course splines have worked well even with a 501 caddy and auto tranny.if your gonna beat the crap out of it or rock crawl with reverse cut tires or whatever then the fine splines are probably the way to go ,then again so would longfields and other up grades good luck

 

[Bodean]

This 40 came from Brazil. Full floater rear and lots of other non US options like vent windows in the front doors, no dash pad and a split t-fer case. I was amazed at the condition of the truck. Purrs like a kitten too! oh, someone asked about the hubs. They are AVM (my US 78 has them as well). I think we are going to try to find a late model front end besause this truck will see the trails quite often.

Later,

 

[jrob]

This 40 came from Brazil. Full floater rear and lots of other non US options like vent windows in the front doors, no dash pad and a split t-fer case. I was amazed at the condition of the truck. Purrs like a kitten too! oh, someone asked about the hubs. They are AVM (my US 78 has them as well). I think we are going to try to find a late model front end besause this truck will see the trails quite often.

Later,

Thanks for posting that Bodean!

I must give credit where credit is due...Bodean found this truck for me!

 

[jrob]

With cruisers it can refer to both the outer axle splines for the hubs and the pinions as both came in coarse and fine splined variants depending on the year. Good luck with the conversion.[/QUOTE]

This is what I have been wondering. So you can't have fine spline hubs and course spline pinions(or visa versa)..correct? Meaning when they changed to fine spline hubs the pinions changed also?

Thanks alot....just been curious

Really appreciate all the post.....

 

[jrob]

if your gonna drive mostly on the road with some ocasional wheeling fine or course spline wont matter much.we dont rock crawl but course splines have worked well even with a 501 caddy and auto tranny.if your gonna beat the **** out of it or rock crawl with reverse cut tires or whatever then the fine splines are probably the way to go ,then again so would longfields and other up grades good luck

I have a feeling it will see a decent amount of wheeling!!!

 

[Poser]

With cruisers it can refer to both the outer axle splines for the hubs and the pinions as both came in coarse and fine splined variants depending on the year. Good luck with the conversion.

This is what I have been wondering. So you can't have fine spline hubs and course spline pinions(or visa versa)..correct? Meaning when they changed to fine spline hubs the pinions changed also?

Thanks alot....just been curious

Really appreciate all the post.....[/QUOTE]


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Who did you try and quote?



You can have fine spline axle shafts and a corse splined pinion...



08/75- and later were the larger, 30 spline outer axle and disc brakes in the USA.


Differential pinion shafts were corse spline until 01/78, when they changed to fine spline. Also, the pinions were stepped, and used spacers and shims to set pinion bearing preload, corse spline, fine spline does not matter, until 11/84, and then Toyota went to a crush sleeve and smooth shank, non-stepped pinion after that.

 

[Poser]

I have a feeling it will see a decent amount of wheeling!!!

Then when you convert it to disc brakes, you may as well get the 30 spline Longfield axles and chromo lockout gears.


Have fun!

 

[jrob]

Thanks for correcting me Poser. Thats just been something I have wondered about.

I know I messed up on the quote on the earlier post.

 

[Bret]

Solid axle 4runner brake calipers are not compatible with FJ60 rotors...



Further, the caliper piston sizes are the same between Land Cruiser and solid axle mini truck/4runner, until Toyota went to the V6 in the mini trucks; then, and only on the V6 engine-equipped trucks/4runners did the caliper piston size change, and become equal sized, opposed to larger and smaller pistons as used on the Land Cruiser and non-V6 mini trucks.

I apologize I should have specified the IFS V-6 (89-92?) calipers with the 4-40mm pots.

Any reason not to use the whole assy from the FJ60 for the knuckle/hub/rotor etc?