Hey folks!
I wanted to share a DIY project that I did on my GX. While down at Cruisers on the rocks, I blew up my fourth 8" rear end in the GX.
Chatting with some of the other guys there, we came up with the idea that I'd try and squeeze the 9.5" rear end from an LC100 into the GX. They're really good folks down there, a few guys hooked me up with gears, and another sold me a 9.5 axle for just $200. Great people.
Overall, if you're diligent about measurement, and you have an angle grinder and a MIG welder, it's not a bad job.
Basically what I ended up doing was cutting the tubes off the 8.0, so I could keep the ABS sensors and tone rings, spring perches, control arm mounts, and axle shafts.
Then, I cut out the pumpkin from the 9.5, sleeved it, and welded it into the center of the old 8.0. Used a 30 spline lunchbox locker for an 80 series to interface the whole 3rd member with the 30 spline GX axles.
What I ended up with was a 8.0/9.5 hybrid, that bolts right up into the stock location. It's 3 linked so it adds some extra clearance by the gas tank since there's no upper link there. So far it's working great. At 4 trips out, and about 1200 miles on it now.
Full write up on my blog, with measurements, tips and tricks, etc, but I also dropped in some images here as well.
I wanted to share a DIY project that I did on my GX. While down at Cruisers on the rocks, I blew up my fourth 8" rear end in the GX.
Chatting with some of the other guys there, we came up with the idea that I'd try and squeeze the 9.5" rear end from an LC100 into the GX. They're really good folks down there, a few guys hooked me up with gears, and another sold me a 9.5 axle for just $200. Great people.
Overall, if you're diligent about measurement, and you have an angle grinder and a MIG welder, it's not a bad job.
Basically what I ended up doing was cutting the tubes off the 8.0, so I could keep the ABS sensors and tone rings, spring perches, control arm mounts, and axle shafts.
Then, I cut out the pumpkin from the 9.5, sleeved it, and welded it into the center of the old 8.0. Used a 30 spline lunchbox locker for an 80 series to interface the whole 3rd member with the 30 spline GX axles.
What I ended up with was a 8.0/9.5 hybrid, that bolts right up into the stock location. It's 3 linked so it adds some extra clearance by the gas tank since there's no upper link there. So far it's working great. At 4 trips out, and about 1200 miles on it now.
Full write up on my blog, with measurements, tips and tricks, etc, but I also dropped in some images here as well.