Toyota Tacoma Forum banner

How wide is a 91 pre-taco 5lug rear end?

11K views 74 replies 18 participants last post by  671taco 
#1 · (Edited)
I founda 91 pretaco 5lug rear end complete drum/drum for sale locally but wasn't sure how wide it is compared to a tacoma rear end.
Anyone know if they have the same hub diametor for wheels? 67.1 tacoma?
Will all the taco hardware/3rd swap right over?
Thanks,
 
#4 · (Edited)
I remember there being a pretaco rear end thread with specs per year but cant find em.
If it turns out to be 3" narrower, thats another 1 1/2" more drag radial that I can stuff back there. :)

Need more tire and tuck, planning on pulling my bedsides out another inch..
 
#8 ·
With aftermarket axles and a locker (Ochizon)

Just wondering why the shorter axle, why dont you just get a different offset set of wheels? Or are you shooting for the deep dish wheel look that requires a shorter axle length?
I need to do something before I turbo the V8, even now if I stab the throttle it lights em up, that torque from the LS1 is pretty good. Gonna need some 10"+ wheels back there.
 
#9 ·
With aftermarket axles and a locker (Ochizon)

Just wondering why the shorter axle, why dont you just get a different offset set of wheels? Or are you shooting for the deep dish wheel look that requires a shorter axle length?
I need to do something before I turbo the V8, even now if I stab the throttle it lights em up, that torque from the LS1 is pretty good. Gonna need some 10"+ wheels back there.
I'm getting a narrower housing for 2 reasons..

Tacoma 2wd 5 lug rear ends never come up for sale, 2wd is just not popular in the snow belt.

Also, I talked to strange a month ago and they make a direct fit axle setup for the 94 and older rear ends.. I have the Richmond Lockright in there now.

I also found a few disk brake rear ends for the pretaco axles, no need for c clip eliminators if you have disk brakes ;)

I dont want to buy another set of wheels and Im limited to offsets/widths with the style I have..
 
#11 · (Edited)
Tacoma axles are wide. You have room to run wide wheels and meat, but it's all on the inside and not the outside where it needs to be. Especially if you're dropped to the point you need the tire to tuck up into the body, even if it's just when you go into or out of a driveway. My 99 uses a 89 axle that's roughly 2" narrower per side, total of 4" or somewhere in that range. Pictured below is a 275/35/18 on a 18x9 +36. Eventually all four tires on my 99 will be 265/35/18 so I can have meat but still rotate unlike with a staggered setup that I'm currently using. It'll also be a good height (diameter) for being as low as I am. (5/7)

My advice to you Chris is to locate a pretaco axle, and look for a 8" instead of the 7.5". They're in abundance in most salvage yards. You don't see dragsters running wide axles and super high offset wheels, they have narrow axles and wide wheels and a ton of meat. Narrow on the axle and wide on the meat will allow precious tuckage and a better look than running some +50 wheels that look like they came off some bagged truck from the 80's. :) Seems everyone is getting away from high offset wheels these days and going for more of a flushed out low offset look. But, they have to tuck if you're low factor needs them to. (see thread in post #13 below)
 

Attachments

#12 · (Edited)
holy crap Brian, I've never seen that pic before.. :loveeyes:

Your setup is where I need to be + locker :D:waytogo:

What model/year range is that rear end out of? I didn't know there were 8" 5 lug axles.
Did you have to mod the rear end any to fit?
 
#13 · (Edited)
SD TACO used to have a 8" in his pretaco. They're noticeably beefier and have one long stud for the 3rd member that defines them. At 7 o-clock when looking at the axle from the drive shaft side.

Direct bolt in. Axle pads are the same width. The only difference between the PT axle and the Taco one is the T bracket that's welded to the housing for the hard lines (brake lines) is on the opposite side (the right on the PT and has to be welded onto the left for the Taco) and the bracket for the LSPV where it attaches to the housing is on the left on the PT and can be moved to the right for the Taco, or in my case, eliminated. You can use your stock brake lines and everything will bolt right up, ebrake cables and all. It's a beautiful swap. Buried in my old threads in my profile is my pretaco axle install. It may be confusing as I wrote it a long time ago, and have since tried to simplify my writings.

Check out this thread...has good low offset and tucking info...you have a PM bro. :waytogo:

http://www.customtacos.com/forum/showthread.php?t=156714
 
#16 ·
I'm not worried about tire width to leaf spring atm with the 4-link in progress..
I've been dead hooking on 8.5" MT drag radials with the lockright locker for a long time with no issues..

If my buddy Danny can dead hook on a 7.5 rear end with 580hp and pull the tires up a few inches, I'm not going to worry about mine till I have to.. ;)
 
#27 ·
All the 4 banger rear ends look to be a 7.5" rear end unless you got one from one of the extended cab factory turbo trucks? I haven't seen much in the way of aftermarket support for the 8" turbo rear ends..

Not sure if this is what you ended up with? Eh? :)
 
#28 ·
Not only turbo models got the 8" rear. All older toys from I think the 7*-8* model toys got 8" axles. That's what we ran back in the islands for racing! You just have to look around at some junk yards. ;)

I know a of a few places near me that have them if I wanted to do the swap. But, that's my little secret! hehehe
 
#33 · (Edited)
So ALL pre-taco rear ends are 8" and our taco 7.5 3rd members pop right into them?
Is there any difference in widths for the different years/body styles of pre-taco 5 lug rear ends?

I can't find much info on any website that specified 8" + 5 lug pre taco info..
 
#36 ·
They're different units, but they're both around 8" diameter.

I don't know whether a 7.5 will "pop right into" a V6 / Turbo carrier. I just know that parts are interchangeable between the two without modifying the carrier. I'm not sure why anyone would want to transplant the lighter differential into the stronger carrier.
 
#35 ·
The 1-ton (?) commercial cab / chassis that Toyota used to sell would have had the 'V6 / Turbo' rear end with a V6. I'm not sure which rear end they used on the 4-cylinder commercial chassis.
 
#37 ·
To my knowledge a 7.5" won't simply pop into a 8" housing. The 8" rear end is identified by one long stud that the 7.5" doesn't have. This long stud can be seen on the housing protruding through the 3rd member at the 7 o-clock position when looking at the 3rd member from the front of it, where the u-joint flange is. (red circle on 3rd member) the other red circle was to show the guy that some 90's pretaco axle have wide axle pads which require using the u-bolt plates that came with it because if you don't your ubolts will be at a funky angle. Leaf spring setups obviously.
 

Attachments

#38 ·
I'm so confused now because I remember reading where people were runnin pretaco axles and just swapping in their taco 3rd members..

So ALL pretaco rear ends are 8" ??

I just don't want to pick up the wrong thing and find out it has no aftermarket stuff for it..
 
#39 · (Edited)
Pre 95 5 lug axles came in 7.5" and 8".

My 89 axle is a 7.5". I used my 99 7.5" 3rd member and sold the 89 3rd to mjbtaco for $65 when he blew his 95. I used my 99 because I knew it was in good shape with less miles than the 89. I also used my 99 brake hardware, drums, ebrake cables, and hard lines on the axle for the brakes. I had to cut the little T bracket for the hard lines off the right side of the 89 axle and weld it to the left side so I could use my 99 hard lines.

I got my 7.5" on CL for $50 drum to drum. Other than a jug of oil, this is how much I have into the swap. It's part of the reason I love these trucks so much, parts can be found dirt cheap. It was a one day swap.

And these axle are pretty amazing for the most part. You see guys running 44's on the 4x4's and the street guys welding them up for DD on asphalt and they hold up for years and years. But in cases like Firdady and others, they obviously aren't bullet proof. But my guess is they'd have had better luck beating on a 8" rather than 7.5". They're noticeably beefier.
 
#43 ·
Look at this link: home.4x4wire.com/erik/diffs/

Don't tell me you guys never googled this stuff...lol
Isn't there a difference between 2wd 5 lug vs the 4x4 stuff on there?
I assume thats all for 4x4 info.. Never once saw 5 lug, era/year spans or housing widths..
 
#42 ·
Yep - I've been referring people to Erik's differentials webpage for years ... :waytogo:
 
#44 ·
The '7.5' was originally used on all the pickups.
 
#45 · (Edited)
I snapped some pics for you the other day Chris, to give you an idea of how much narrower this 89 axle is visually with my spare mounted. Stock wheel with something like 195/75/14...I drove the old used 245/40/18 into the ground and replaced it with my new size 265/35/18 on a 18x9+36.

I know you're waiting on a reply from me regarding the 4 link I'm working on it all, it's just been organized chaos lately.
 

Attachments

#46 ·
I'm seriously going to have to bite your style Brian..

I like the color of those wheels too, I think they'll look sick on my silver taco..
I know you've trimmed the bedside lips, but did you pull the bedsides out any?

What wheel spec/tire combo are ya running up front?
Do you have the model # or part # for those wheels?

I found this site, is this where ya got em?
http://www.americanmuscle.com/replicawheels.html

Are they heavy?

I'm on the pretaco rear end hunt now :)
Will that rear end still work with the 4-link?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top