I decided to take care of some lingering issues with my Land Cruiser UZJ100, by making it less complex and refined—in the form of a solid front axle.
A little back story: a couple years back we acquired a ’93 80 series Land Cruiser, and fell in love with most aspects of it. The failings of that truck are the lack of power, and associated terrible fuel mileage. So I started looking at wrecked vehicles to be a drivetrain donor to do a V8 swap. While I searched, I realized how much work that swap would be (and the type of work I do not enjoy)…but I also came across a 2002 100 series, which already comes with a V8.
It wouldn’t be as powerful as the GM V8’s I was originally looking at, but still a nice improvement over the I6.
So…I got the 100 for a good deal, I thought. The repairs (naturally) cost more than I was hoping, so my “good deal” at first wasn’t so good in the end, but still OK. I replaced the spindle, upper and lower control arms, fender, hood, headlight, bumper, valence, and had the A-pillar fixed along with the new paint and windshield. The frame was also straightened…as much as it could be. The body shop that was doing the work couldn’t get it quite straight, and bent their frame rack trying. :laughing:
So…with the frame not-quite-straight, my alignment was always just a bit off. There was some negative camber on the passenger-front, the caster was near zero and the wheelbase was shorter on that side. Some of that could have been remedied with some adjustable upper arms, but overall my wife and I were just not happy with how well it drove. I can fix it!
Here’s the “before”. 30mm rear spring spacer, torsion bars cranked to match, 18” 200 series wheels.
You can spy my beloved 80 in the background here.
I started collecting parts a couple months before beginning any surgery on the Cruiser. I started with a couple of Super Duty Dana 60’s.
Ruined the first one.
Ruined the second one.
Clean brackets off both long sides. (the short side knuckles went to a friend who is building an axle)
Cut to length, and bored the end out a bit on both sides.
Took the unit bearings apart to access the ABS tone ring hidden between the bearings. Ford uses a 60 tooth ring, Toyota uses 48 teeth. You can see the original on the right half, in this pic. I don’t have any pics of the new one, but trust me…it’s in there. I still don’t know if it will work as I hope it will, but we’ll find out once it drives again.
I welded closed some of the original stud holes, and had the flange machined with the new 5x150 bolt pattern using the original studs—since they are the same 14x1.5 as the Land Cruiser studs. Here is is with the wheel pilot machined to 110mm, but before the stud holes were machined.
Since then the outside diameter has been reduced, and the brake rotor pilot also reduced…both to fit some 14” Tundra rotors. With some custom brackets, the original 100 series calipers fit.
Rusty/crusty high pinion Dana 44 center section—I left 3” of axle tube sticking out each side. This is the only picture I have of this part. The D60 tubes that were machined earlier, will press onto the stubs of axle tube.
Pile of goodies from @cruiseroutfit Cruiser Outfitters; 4.88 gears, install kit, and pinion flange for my 100’s rear axle, and D50 4.89’s and 35 spline ARB for the front. Not shown is the Jantz Engineering kit to make the D50 gears fit inside the D44 housing.
Along with lots of grinding inside the housing, the carrier needs to be machined also—I took .045” off the face of the ring gear flange. It was a little scary putting a brand-new ARB in the lathe, so I took my time and made sure I didn’t mess it up. :ugh: I also had to drill the ring gear bolt holes to 7/16”.
With the axle mostly worked out, it’s time to get going on the truck itself. Remove all suspension parts.
Remove all suspension and steering rack brackets, and buckle down for lots of grinding.
After it’s all smoothed out, plate the frame for both strength and beauty.
A little back story: a couple years back we acquired a ’93 80 series Land Cruiser, and fell in love with most aspects of it. The failings of that truck are the lack of power, and associated terrible fuel mileage. So I started looking at wrecked vehicles to be a drivetrain donor to do a V8 swap. While I searched, I realized how much work that swap would be (and the type of work I do not enjoy)…but I also came across a 2002 100 series, which already comes with a V8.
It wouldn’t be as powerful as the GM V8’s I was originally looking at, but still a nice improvement over the I6.
So…I got the 100 for a good deal, I thought. The repairs (naturally) cost more than I was hoping, so my “good deal” at first wasn’t so good in the end, but still OK. I replaced the spindle, upper and lower control arms, fender, hood, headlight, bumper, valence, and had the A-pillar fixed along with the new paint and windshield. The frame was also straightened…as much as it could be.
The body shop that was doing the work couldn’t get it quite straight, and bent their frame rack trying. :laughing:So…with the frame not-quite-straight, my alignment was always just a bit off. There was some negative camber on the passenger-front, the caster was near zero and the wheelbase was shorter on that side. Some of that could have been remedied with some adjustable upper arms, but overall my wife and I were just not happy with how well it drove. I can fix it!
Here’s the “before”. 30mm rear spring spacer, torsion bars cranked to match, 18” 200 series wheels.
You can spy my beloved 80 in the background here.
I started collecting parts a couple months before beginning any surgery on the Cruiser. I started with a couple of Super Duty Dana 60’s.
Ruined the first one.
Ruined the second one.
Clean brackets off both long sides. (the short side knuckles went to a friend who is building an axle)
Cut to length, and bored the end out a bit on both sides.
Took the unit bearings apart to access the ABS tone ring hidden between the bearings. Ford uses a 60 tooth ring, Toyota uses 48 teeth. You can see the original on the right half, in this pic. I don’t have any pics of the new one, but trust me…it’s in there. I still don’t know if it will work as I hope it will, but we’ll find out once it drives again.
I welded closed some of the original stud holes, and had the flange machined with the new 5x150 bolt pattern using the original studs—since they are the same 14x1.5 as the Land Cruiser studs. Here is is with the wheel pilot machined to 110mm, but before the stud holes were machined.
Since then the outside diameter has been reduced, and the brake rotor pilot also reduced…both to fit some 14” Tundra rotors. With some custom brackets, the original 100 series calipers fit.
Rusty/crusty high pinion Dana 44 center section—I left 3” of axle tube sticking out each side. This is the only picture I have of this part. The D60 tubes that were machined earlier, will press onto the stubs of axle tube.
Pile of goodies from @cruiseroutfit Cruiser Outfitters; 4.88 gears, install kit, and pinion flange for my 100’s rear axle, and D50 4.89’s and 35 spline ARB for the front. Not shown is the Jantz Engineering kit to make the D50 gears fit inside the D44 housing.
Along with lots of grinding inside the housing, the carrier needs to be machined also—I took .045” off the face of the ring gear flange. It was a little scary putting a brand-new ARB in the lathe, so I took my time and made sure I didn’t mess it up. :ugh: I also had to drill the ring gear bolt holes to 7/16”.
With the axle mostly worked out, it’s time to get going on the truck itself. Remove all suspension parts.
Remove all suspension and steering rack brackets, and buckle down for lots of grinding.
After it’s all smoothed out, plate the frame for both strength and beauty.
Love it.
