minitruck front axle (1 Viewer)

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if i buy a mintruck front axle (whole thing) from the wrecking yard can i:

a) put the entire axle under my 72 40 (housing and all) and would i want to?
b) pull everything from the birfs out and put them onto my axle?
c) use the left over parts (axle shafts, pinion) as spares for my axle?
 
a> no ;)

b> use the knuckles, spindles, birfs, lockouts and rotors/calipers to convert. Down the road, plan to replace rotors/calipers with vented units (rotors from a FJ40/60, calipers from a early-90's IFS minitruck)

c> housing, center chunk, and inner axle shafts are now sellable parts. Housing is only worth something if it's 84-85 which had the best stock bracing, inner shafts are maybe $50 for the pair, chunk about the same.
 
What Woody said! Gut the mini and put everything from the knuckles out on the Cruiser axle. I did it about 2 months ago. It took me about 4 nights working like 2 or 3 hours a night. Read the axle rebuild links at ih8mud.com and print them out for reference. Good luck!
 
the knuckles:

these are sleeved into the housing? so i have to cut them off of the mini housing and weld them onto mine (after cutting mine off)?

or am i thinking of something different?
 
no no no...hehehe

the knuckle is the part that rotates during stereing...it's cast and held onto the housing ends with 8 studs and 2 trunion bearings. NO cutting/welding required...none...

you DO need some minor grinder work to open up the ends to fit the minitruck birfs tho, they are about 1-2mm thicker...minor work tho, takes a few seconds, but do it prior to installing anything. do NOT grind the birf...
 
excellent!
now if i can just find one for cheap.
 
one more thing.
when i'm calling the wrecking yards looking for an axle, what years should i tell them to range through.
if i'm right 84 is the earliest year i should suggest.

also, any of these axles with the disks will give me the birfs i can smurf right?
 
85-older....pretty much anything Toyota with a solid front axle, which covers 1979 thru 1985. 84-85 are more "prized" for better housing trusswork, but you don't care since you don't need it anyways.

And yes, these will have smurfable birfs...

I'm gonna guess $150-250 in the yards....but I've seen prices all over. just be SURE it is complete with rotors/lockouts, calipers, etc.
 
[quote author=woody link=board=1;threadid=5140;start=msg39865#msg39865 date=1063218636]
And yes, these will have smurfable birfs...[/quote]
Woody, anybody else? how do smurfs compare to Longfields?
 
[quote author=78 One owner link=board=1;threadid=5140;start=msg39888#msg39888 date=1063220388]
Woody, anybody else? how do smurfs compare to Longfields?
[/quote]

don't know yet....I've got Longfields installed and have been impressed with about a years abuse on them...no breakage at all. I've got a pair of birfs boxed for smurfing that I haven't had time to take to FedEx to get sent out. I've also got a pair of the new version Newfield enroute for testing in the next month and will put those thru an abuse run as well.

However, I'm not gonna keep swapping joints on one trail to give each one a fair shake at destruction...hehehe
 
Hear that!
 
i'm just wondering why disc conversions are usually so expensive (well, for the kits anyways) and if you just go out and get a minitruck axle you can do it and get all the extra parts for cheaper? sorry to hijack a thread here
 
assembling parts, researching the process, company profits, etc all takes $$. I also believe that these disc kits use different NEW castings than the used-conversions that most of us perform. Anytime something "new" is offered into the mix, prices add up.

Kinda like suspensions....you can mix-match various springs from a junkyard, or you can buy a finished kit you can bolt on and be done, KNOWING all the components are there and finished. The fact that you don't spend time running for stuff you forgot or stuff you didn't realize was needed is another advantage to kits.
 
You could put the whole axle under the rig if you wanted, and would be a good start on SOA. Yes the differential is smaller (pinion and ring gear) but the stock 4.10 are strong.

The pros would be better clearance, more available inner axles when you bust em, SOA already. Would work good matched up to the rear axle from the same truck to get rid of c-clips, but again smaller diff, but would have complete SOA.

The cons are if only adding the front the diffs are no longer interchangeable, slightly weaker ring gears.

Just mentioning, because I don't think this swap should be totally ruled out. :D
 
there is a mini axle for sale on ebay right now for around 100.00 bux. It is for pick up only in the denver area.
 
could you tell me the search string for that axle?
i can't find it anywhere, at least not one for $100.00
 

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