Offroad-Express

Hi Guys,

I know very little about Toyota running gear but would like to explore the idea of using Toyota 8" centers in Land Rover housings. Not ground breaking stuff but as always we each have our own application in mind.

I want to change my current ring and pinion ratio from stock 3.54 to something like 4.1, I also want to run lockers which means upgrading CVs and axles up front. If I'm going to all this trouble then maybe I could get some extra strength with minimal extra cost by running the hypoid toyota 8" centers. I'm not planning loads of hp or torque so probably don't need to go mad on the strength front so maybe some standard kit will be ok.

Firstly diffs, I want to use a hi pinion reverse rotation front and a normal rotation rear, I'm looking for 4.1 ratio. I also understand that the standard 8" comes with two different carrier bearing sizes.

Axles, rear I have to have some custom axles and flanges made. Up front I have a couple of choices, I can run with early LR 110 CV with custom inner axles or can go to custom 30 spline inners and Toyota 30 spline CVs with custom drive flanges.

So here are the questions.

1, Are 4.1 ratio HP reverse rotation and normal rotation Diffs common in NZ?
2, What model/year of vehicles should I be looking at to pick these up and any idea of cost?
3, What models/years of normal rotation 8" diffs have the larger carrier bearings?
4, Are standard Hilux CVs up to 35" tyres + locker + 2.5lt Diesel?
5, From what I've read the strongest stock Toyota CVs are Prado/Late Land Cruiser, is this true, do they run 35 inch tyres ok??
6, I assume genuine Prado CV's are stronger then the likes of Ripco ones, any idea of what a second hand or new genuine CV might cost?

I've done some searching so know a little but it would be a great help if those toyota experts out there might be able to help out with some info.

Cheers

Don't want to knock your plan and the 8" yota diff is pretty good for all sorts of reasons, but in reality Hilux size cvs with 35s are going to struggle unless you go Longfields etc. Custom axles could become a pain in the ar$e when you start breaking stuff. Have you considered just swaping a set of Cruiser of Trol diffs under it?

Like I say don't want to knock your plan and I'm all for doing it different but also know that custom stuff can be a pain later down the track

answer a couple of your ?s
The CVs will be Ok if you are nice to it, but I blew one in my Hilux axled 413 running 33s and a 1800 supercharged motor.

The later 80series and prado ones have a longer splined scetion that goes into the drive flange as the original shorter ones tended to shag the spline, the actual cv is the same.

If you want strong CVs as I said above go with dirty 30s or longfields.

The later model ones (post about 90ish) have the larger bearings. Although if you are going to put ARB lockers in they all take the larger bearing now.

have you considered getting the axles from ozzy, they specially make them for this conversion - pretty common there.

Seems like alot of effort when you could just put complete lux or cruiser diff under it then you can easily replace broken parts an get stronger aftermarket parts off the shelf

Not really, the toyota centre swap is real easy.

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your thoughts. I agree on the custom axle front if I break something so I am thinking down a slightly different line at the minute.

What if I could run 24 spline rover side gears in the toy ARB? Get some side gears for an RD128 and slip them into the RD132 Toy locker. Agree if I blow a diff it would be a problem, but most likely it would be an R&P and not the locker so shouldn't be too much of a problem, plus all the axles could be swapped out for stock rover items if required.

Any body know if if such a side gear swap is possible?

Just a note, I'm not building a machine that will bet every thing off road or will stand up to extreme abuse, it's a multipurpose vehicle after all. I'm fairly sympathetic to the old girl but think this should be sufficiently strong to take some reasonable abuse. I basically ran this drive train in my old Disco but with Rover 4 pin diffs and never broke anything so should be happy with this if it is possible.

Any thoughts welcomed.

Cheers
Mike

Mr Offraoder fitted safari diffs to a disco he built a few years ago. If I remember correctly he said it was almost a straight bolt in conversion. Safari running gear will take the abuse of running 35" tyres easily. And lots of spare parts floating around. Rear Safari diffs had a factory locker option too.

Ask him about it.

Having a toy that is not going to get abused is an even better reason to stick with some thing standard. Rover CV's aren't that strong so dont really thing you gain anyuthing by doing what you are looking at. You can get aftermarket ratios for the disco centres that would be a simlpler and just as strong with a rub block mod to take the flex out of the crown wheel carrier.

If you want indestructable (for your power), put up with the larger diff head and bilt a set of nissan diffs under it.

save your self the hassle, just buy a pair of complete diffs (axles if your british), cut all the suspension mounts off your old ones, weld them onto the new ones (make some jigs up befor you strip them of the brackets) and throw the whole lot under the landy.

back in the UK we used 80 series diffs (axles) with e-lockers and changed the cvs to longfields from the US. problem solved, lockers and the strength to run 35s.