Having completed the lift and suspension, it was time to move on to the drive train. I had hoped to accomplish several goals with the drive train upgrades. First off, I wanted things to be strong. Secondly, I wanted much lower gears. Finally, I wanted a significantly wider track. After looking at all of the options out there for Samurai axles, transfer cases, and transmissions, I didn't feel any of them were up to a week long thrash fest in Johnson Valley with 35 inch rubber. I decided to look at other sources for the parts I needed.

Axles

When it came to axles, I really wanted a bullet proof set up. While changing an axle on the trail isn't the end of the world, I'd rather not deal with it when I could be wheeling. I also wanted to be able to push Samyota to its limits without having to walk home. Basically, I wanted the Samurai equivalent of Dana 60's.

While there are a lot of terrific upgrades available for the Samurai axle, I was concerned about any Samurai axle's long-term strength with 35's. Upgrading Sami axles also didn't give me the increase in track width I was hoping for. After looking at other swaps people had done, I looked into the increasingly popular Toyota truck axles.

The Toyota 8 inch axle has been around quite a while, and has a well deserved reputation for reliability and strength. Depending on the year and model, they are between 3-6 inches wider than a Sami axle, which is about the width I had in mind. There is also an amazing amount of factory and aftermarket options for these axles. There are regular and high pinion models, several lockers available (Detroit, Lockright, ARB, OEM electric), lots of gear ratios, and plenty of steering options available. The only thing I didn't really like about the Toyota axles was the fact that the design had a Birfield joint similar to that of the Suzuki axles. While Birfields aren't the kiss of death, they have a reputation for failing just when you need them the most.

Here's the beef! The Modified full-size Chevy inner axle dwarfs the stock Sami axle.

After doing a little research, I found the solution at All Pro Off Road. All Pro offered a "hybrid" Toyota. The hybrid was a Toyota axle housing modified to accept Dana 44 axles and knuckles, which eliminated the dreaded Birfield joints. It also would allow me to use much bigger, ?-ton Chevy full-size brakes, and beefy internal splined hubs. While the housing was pricey, it was a lot less expensive than some custom made axles.

The high pinion installed in Project Samyota. You can see that the pinion flange is almost above the leaf springs! This greatly reduces the opportunities for rock rash on the drive shaft and makes u-joints happy.

After securing the housing, I found a bargain-priced high pinion differential out of an FJ-80 on a Suzuki BBS. The high pinion raises the pinion flange almost 4 inches over a standard Toyota diff, which gives much better clearance and greatly improves u-joint angles. The FJ-80 diff had major bearing problems, but with everything getting lockers and gears, this was not an issue. My good friend Mike Papola, at Papola Off-Road, installed 5.29s, a Detroit Locker, and new bearings and the high pinion was ready for action.

These knuckles were so pretty I had a hard time painting them black!

Next I obtained some Dana 44 steering knuckles and arms from Parts Mike. Parts Mike has recently begun offering custom cast D44 knuckles designed to run with both the tie rod and drag link over the springs. While numerous companies have offered steering arms and modified knuckles for some time, Parts Mike is the first company to make a set-up intended for this use from scratch. The quality of these knuckles was amazing! I pressed in new ball joint and installed the knuckles.

The complete outer set-up. The new Chevy brakes and hubs look giant. Stopping power and durability have been significantly improved.

Finally I obtained some bone-yard parts to complete the "outers" which included the spindle, hub, rotor, and caliper bracket. I turned the rotors, installed new bearings, rebuilt calipers, and topped it off with a set of Warn premium hubs.

The rear axle was a lot simpler. The All Pro front axle is design to used with an 86 or later rear axle, which is around 3 inches wider than 85 and earlier axles. These later rear housings are in high demand, but a managed to find an inexpensive one on a BBS after a little looking around. The rear diff also went to Papola Off-Road for installation of a Detroit, 5.29s and new bearings. I then cleaned the housing, cut off the spring perches, and removed any brackets that were no longer needed.

Clean parts are happy parts. While this might seem excessive, there is no better way to carefully inspect used parts you will be the foundation of years of wheeling fun.

Since the rear axle looked as though it hadn't seen a lot of love in its past life I replaced all of the axle bearings, seals, and wheel cylinders with genuine Toyota parts. Like most dealers, the factory bearings and seals were not cheap. However, I wanted maximum reliability. The factory parts are extremely high quality. When was the last time you saw a dead Camry on the side of the road? My buddy Bob Dresser bead blasted everything and pressed on the new bearings and seals. Everything was ready for paint and assembly.

I hung everything under the rig using a u-bolt flip from Advance Offroad Research (AOR) based out of Colorado. The u-bolts and plates are designed for Toyota axles. Everything was zinc plated and extra beefy. I also drilled an offset hole in the rear spring perches to compensate for the longer springs and drop shackles. I left the rear perches un-welded until the drive train was complete so the pinion angle could be precisely set. I also left the shock mounts off both axles until later when everything was in place to avoid interference and binding problems.

The Toyota axle swap definitely accomplished everything I was hoping for and then some! I now have increased strength and a wider track, but I also got better front driveshaft angles and stronger brakes as a bonus.

Wider is better! I have obtained the stability of full-size axles in a compact package. The combination of wide toy axles, 3 inch backspacing and 12.50s, increased overall track width almost 18 inches over stock. Got sidehills?

Next month I'll be putting even more Toyota in Samyota by installing a Toyota transmission and dual Toyota transfer cases behind my Zuk 1.6 with a new Zuk to Toyota adapter.