A Few Pictures ...

Photos: Jack Alford and Jay Kopycinski

In The Beginning

It had smashed front and rear bumpers, but I knew I wanted to change those anyway for a front winch bumper and a rear receiver-hitch bumper, I also knew they would be good negative price negotiation points and they were. So, being the new owner of a Toyota truck I am proud of but not to happy that it has IFS(Independent Front Suspension). At the time, I had heard just a smattering of swapping in a solid front axle from an older 79-85 Toyota 4x4. I kept building on the truck, adding a Smittybilt front winch bumper, a Ramsey REP-8000, a set of Hella 500's (Driving), a custom 4" tube rear bumper with 2" receiver hitch and am currently working on installing a rear ARB.

The front end of my truck with IFS.

My rear bumper with receiver hitch being painted.

I also have a SteelHorse Jeep console that I modified to fit in between the bucket seats of my truck.

The Axle Swap

Here's a brief rundown of parts needed to complete this axle swap:

• Front axle from a 1979-1985 Toyota 4x4 (Complete with brakes, hubs, rotors, tie rod, tie rod ends, torque rod and steering knuckles, you'll need it all!)
• 79-85 front leaf springs - factory or after market, depending upon your desired lift and tire size
• Power steering box from a 79-85 Toyota 4x4 complete with pitman arm and draglink.

My axle was taken from an 83 model Toyota 4x4.

Before I go any further, let me add all the necessary disclaimers, this swap is NOT at all for the weak of technically challenged persons as much metal will be cut, grinded and parts custom fabricated. A few notes about the swap:

• There are two ways you can mount the rear spring hangers:
  • 1 - Drill a hole in the frame and weld in a tube and duplicate the factory method.
    (This is what I did, I found it easier.)
  • 2 - Take a rear spring mount from the rear springs of a Toyota 4x4 and either weld it to the bottom of the frame rail or fabricate a bracket to be welded and/or bolted to the frame, much like the pieces for a shackle swap kit for an FJ40, as the frame at the necessary mounting point is at an angle.

   

• Mounting the front spring hanger can also be approached a few different ways:
  • 1 - Purchase the front spring hangers for an 85 Toyota from the Toyota Parts Department
    (This is what I did, it's the easiest way)
  • 2 - Find a piece of 'C' channel that is the proper width and make it fit or fabricate your own.

Mounting the front spring hangers:

IMPORTANT NOTE: Don't forget to remove your front body mount rubber bushings before you weld on the front spring hangers and body mount supports or you'll melt them!!

Here is a picture of one of the front spring hangers welded in place before the body mount supports were welded on.

Once I had the spring hangers welded in place I could fabricate the pieces that would be welded to the body mounts and support the top of the spring hanger. The body mounts on a post-85 4x4 are a bit different than an earlier model Toyota. The body mounts on an earlier model Toyota 4x4 without IFS were designed to be a structural part of the spring hanger, were straight and came right down on top of the spring hanger. The body mounts on an IFS truck don't come down as far and the rear body mount piece is at an angle. I welded the front support on the outside of the body mount and the rear support on the inside of the body mount, so that it would make more contact with the spring hanger and be out of the steering arm and draglinks path of travel.

The factory body mounts look to be made out of 3/16" steel, I made mine out of 1/4". Here's a slightly out of focus picture of my spring hangers and the supports welded on from the side, so you can see how I placed the rear support inside the body mount.

This is a shot from the front of the truck of the front spring hangers to show the alignment of the braces welded to the front body mounts.

This is a picture of an 85 body mount and spring hanger for comparison. (Photo courtesy of Jay Kopycinski)

Mounting the rear spring hangers:

The first problem I encountered was how to get the holes parallel with the front of the truck. I solved this by measuring very carefully where the center of my holes would be on both sides of my truck and drilling a small 1/8" hole on each side and screwing a screw into the holes and tying a string to each screw and pulling it tight. Assuming my measurements were accurate this method should have given me a parallel line with the front crossmemeber of the truck which the spring hangers were mounted flush with.

Once I had the string tight, I crawled underneath the truck and held a level just against the string and drew a vertical line on the frame, using the bubble in the level to indicate the vertical position. I repeated this procedure for the opposite inside frame rail too. I then drilled a pilot hole for the hole saw on both inside frame rails. Then I was ready to cut the holes in the frame.

It really wasn't that bad drilling the holes in the frame, especially if I could have found the right size hole saw in time. The tubes that go in the frame are just a bit less than 1-5/8" O.D. So, a 1-5/8" bi-metal hole saw would have worked great since the frame at the necessary spot is on an angle and the hole would have to be a little larger to accomodate the tube on an angle.

Well, I couldn't find a 1-5/8" hole saw until I had already drilled 3 of the 4 holes in the frame (one on each side of each frame rail). So , I used a 1-1/2" bi-metal hole saw and enlarged the holes a bit with my die grinder. I've talked with others who have cut these holes with a torch but at the time I wasn't as skilled with the torch as I am now and was afraid to do it that way.

The factory tube holes in the frame are actually quite a good bit larger than the tube due to the method they used to weld the tubes to the frame. They took some BIG washers that were approximately 2-3/8" in diameter, slipped them over the tube, welded the washer to the tube then stuck the tube through the frame, welded the other washer in place and then welded the washers to the frame of the truck. Sounds easy Huh ??

Well, the problem is that the factory had a jig that held the tube at the proper angle so they could weld the first washer to the tube without it sticking in the frame. It's kind of hard for me to come up with a way to do that.

So, I took some BIG grade-5 washers and opened them up to where they just fit over the tube. Then I stuck the tubes in the frame and aligned it, then forced the washers down onto the tubes and tapped them all the way down against the frame with a hammer, checked for proper alignment of the tube sticking out both sides of the frame, and welded the washers in place. Then I welded the tubes to the washers.

This is a picture of the holes in my frame.

This is a picture of the tube inserted and welded in the holes with the BIG washers welded around them in the frame

This is a shot of Ashley Michael welding the tubes with washers into the frame.

Miscellaneous Other Stuff

A shot of my IFS-less front end !!

At this time I had to concern myself with front shock mounts, mounting the power steering box, longer brake lines and a front drive shaft.

The front shock mounts were made by welding a piece of 1/4" steel to the back side of the front shock mounts I got off a Ford F-350 4x4. The piece of 1/4" was added on to give the shock towers enough length to stick through the fenders to allow the use of Rancho 9000 shocks model 9012's, the long travel ones, approx. 14" of travel.

Once I had the old IFS box unhooked from it's lines and removed, a piece of 1/4" plate was welded to the inside of the frame rail to strengthen the frame. The 84-85 models had holes in the frame with tubes in them but I didn't feel like doing it that way so I welded a piece of 1/4" plate to the side and bottom of the frame rail and drilled it for mounting the power steering box mount.

The location of the steering box is important here. If you mount it too far forwards, the pitman arm will hit the spring hanger brace that is welded to the body mount. Careful measurement of an 84-85 model is recommended here.

Once I had the truck all put back together and reasonably moveable, I did some tests using my oil changing ramps with 5-6" of wood stacked on and below the ramps for about 10" of elevation. I placed one ramp front and one rear to simulate being fairly crossed up.

I jacked the truck up onto the ramps and extrapolated front wheel travel distances and had some heavy duty front brake lines made that are about 23" long.

At this same time I was measuring for front brake lines I was in contact with Tom Woods of Six States Drive Shafts about having a front drive shaft made. The drive shaft that was originally with my axle would have been able to be modified to work but it was already gone from the truck when I bought the axle. Six States made me an excellent heavy duty,long travel front drive shaft from the measurements I gave them.

At the same time I did the axle swap, I also added a Skyjacker Softride 5" lift and sold my cast aluminum rims with 31" mud tires in favor of stronger steel rims fitted with 33" BFG M/T's. As unbelievable as it may sound, my aluminum rims with 31" tires weighed 65 lbs. each and the bigger and wider 33x12.5" tires with steel rims weighed only 75lbs. each. Aluminum is "generally" lighter, but evidentally not in my rims' case ...

With the additional lift in the rear, new shock mounts were fabricated to accomadate Rancho 9012's. The upper rear shock mounts were torched off and new upper mounts fabricated.

The Finished Product

Many Thanks !

Update - 4/23/97

• Raised my custom rear tube bumper about 5" to where the top of it is just below the lower edge of the tailgate for a better exit angle. Moving the bumper higher blocked the view of the tag so I built a tag frame and recessed the tag frame into the tailgate
• Installed a Marlin Crawler 4.7:1 geared transfer case
• Swapped the solid front rotors for vented rotors, as detailed on this page. 
• Converted the truck's steering system to a cross-over style similar to most other 4x4. 
• Changed the trucks rear springs to a longer set, as detailed on this page by Jay Kopycinski. 
• Built a custom exhaust system utilizing 3" tube from the header collector on back with a high flow After-Burner muffler.
• At the present time I am swapping a 3.8L Buick V6 into my truck, see my progress

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  If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about my truck, email me !
  

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