Xtreme Toyota Part I
Swapping out the Toyota rear axle for a Chevy 10bolt
By Ryan Smith
Date Started: July 2003

It all started when I noticed some fluid leakage coming from my rear passenger side axle housing. Take a look : (

I figured that one of the bearing seals had just given up and I anticipated a quick and painless operation. I was actually looking forward to swapping out the bearings and seals since I had been expecting them to give out at one point or another. Then after a weekend playing around in the dunes of Pismo I was expecting to hear some noise from sand binding up in the rear drum brake housing, but I heard none. Upon closer inspection I discovered that the fluid wasn't coming from the outer axle seal but from a crack surrounding the spring perch. I did some investigating on the subject and I've been hearing more of the same problem happening to other Tacoma owners. I've heard of the axle housing being priced at $1000 and figured that with bearing and seals that the total cost would be way too much for a rear end that had the wrong gearing for 31"+ tires, an open diff and that would be prone to cracking in the future.

I'm not planning on slowing down and I plan on finding some more quality off-roading in the future so I've decided to do a proper job and do it right. I've contemplated re-inforcing a toyota rear end but the cost of just the parts alone had me disgusted. I have quite a bit of experience with the Ford 9" from an older drag F100 I used to cruise and what a great piece of machinery that was. Anything that can smoke fat tires all the way onto the freeway from the intersection and smile is A ok in my book. My Toyota can't quite smoke'em but I do want a bulletproof setup. Modding a 9" rear end starts getting expensive because it needs to be narrowed carefully. What next? Well a friend of mine suggested a Chevy 10 bolt out of the rear of an S-10 pickup. Have you ever heard of a rear axle like that failing? Not me. I found one in the bushes and started going to work.

One man's trash is another man's treasure!!

Now here is the interesting part. It just so happens that this rear end is outfitted with a positraction diff AND 4.10 gears...jackpot! Now all I need to do is get my 6 lug rims to mate to the 5-lug axles. It is possible to have them drilled out to fit BUT who wants to use drum brakes? I have resources enough to order up some custom calipers and have even found some adapters. But what about the master cylinder? No problem. It just so happens that the Toyota Landcruiser (FJ80) comes outfitted with four wheel disc brakes so naturally that is the answer. Do NOT use the stock master cylinder with rear disc brakes. Disc brakes require more pressure and also something called a residual valve. The FJ80 master cylinder is the answer. So after I get some custom axles machined up and my brake parts in it will just take some tinkering and adapters and I'll be in business.

There are a lot of specifics I've left out for the sake of boring you all and I don't want to post anything that might lead someone to putting together something that doesn't work perfectly. I am confident that what I am cooking up will work but please don't hold me to the information I have shared with you thus far. I'll let you in on it all once I have it all the loose ends tied up!! Here are some pictures of the progress made thus far: