98 4runner solid axle swap and rear leaf conversion has begun....

[Droppedmytaco]

I bought the 4runner 10-18-08 for $4750 on ebay, flew to L.A. and drove it home. I found a great deal on a tacoma clip off craigslist for $260 My buddy painted the clip and blended my front doors for $400. I sold my original clip for $400. So the clip conversion cost me under $300 total.

The rear wheel seals have been leaking in my truck since May. I don't drive it much so I never felt the need to fix it since I knew I would some day be replacing the whole rear end. Well the wheel bearings went out and so i figured, since I have 95% of the parts to do my sas and leaf swap, now would be a good time to get it started. I pulled it into the garage last night and started unbolting. It will be kind of slow going. I am in no big hurry to get it done so I am going to take my time to make sure I get it right and to my liking. Here are a few shots of the tear down and some of my parts for the change over.

A lot of the parts came from a 1980 4x4 I was rebuilding but decided to get rid of that and use the suspension parts on my 4 runner to do a sas and leaf conversion.

[Droppedmytaco]

[Droppedmytaco]

Here are a couple pics I photoshopped to how it may look when I am done.

[Droppedmytaco]

I am a little rusty with the plasma cutter but I fired it up this evening and did a little cutting. There is no turning back now.



It was a very cool feeling when the ifs diff hit the floor. Man I can't wait to get this thing back on the road. The more I cut off the more excited I get about this project.

[Droppedmytaco]

Here is a run down of the parts and prices of all the parts I have for this swap. In case anyone is curious as to how much this conversion cost.

Parts:
1. Marlin Crawler's trail flex 4" sus kit for the 1979-85 mini trucks. = $1850
2. Front range off road tacoma sas hanger kit. = $325
3. 2002 Tacoma complete elocker rearend. = $500
4. 1983 FJ60 front axle. = $200
5. Marlin's front knuckle rebuild kit with bearings. = $140
6. Marlin's 23 spline dual case adapter. = $280
7. Marlin's 4.70 gear set for rear t-case = $350
8. Marlin's 23 spline input hear for front case. = $100
9. 4.88 yukon ring and pinion and install kits for both axles = $720
10. aussie locker (new from another guys project) = $170
11. FJ80 used steering box = $80
12. Sonoran Steel's custom built steering shaft = $250
13. Marlin's adapter to bolt the dual gear drive cases to my 3.4 auto = $350
14. Balistic fabs frame braces = $90

Below are parts I still need to get
15. High angle drivelines = $600
16. custom made power steering hoses = $150
17. Exhaust rework to make clearance around the converter = $100
18. Long fields birfields and axles for the front = $600
19. stronger rear axles = $3-400
20. Wheels. The ones I want are $600
21. Tires. I plan on running 35s. = $1000-1200
22. Front range off roads tacoma brake kit =$100