Swaps on Tacomas are a good starting point for gathering information. However, unlike the Tacoma the Tundra is wider and heavier so a few things need to be done differently. First off, I need a full width axle. This is a bonus as I wont have to deal with cutting down an axle to width. Second, the axle need to have the pumpkin on the drivers side. Thus an ideal donor vehicle is a late 70's F-250. Fate wound up sending me a on a slightly different track, and I ended up with a 1976.5 F-150 Dana 44 high pinion housing. Since I plan on running a standard single-cardan style driveshaft up front, placing the pinion level, the axle yokes came with about 6* of positive caster, so no need to cut off the knuckle to rotate them in order to achieve a proper caster angle (4-6* is just about right!). Small changes can be made if needed when it comes time to weld on the new spring perches. Here it is:

I acquired this sand blasted beaut from a Socal TTORA member (Thank you Jason!!!) and got the project started in August of 2003. The Dana 44 is a pretty good axle, but it certainly isn't the strongest axle out there, but for the price, its very attractive. Probably the weakest aspect of this axle are the axle shafts and the U joints, so, I decided that I would go with some high end components to help beef it up with the hope to keep trail repairs to a minimum.

However, the first task was breaking down the old components. This was easy enough, but there were some challenges. Getting the pinion nut off was one. They generally get torqued on with around 250 ft/lbs, so it takes a lot to get it off. I ended up fabricating a bar that I could bolt onto the flange that gave me the leverage to get the nut off. Good time to add air tools on the wish list.  Next was getting the old inner axle tube seals out. Trying to pry them out was a waste of time. What ended up being the ticket was getting a 5 foot length of 1.5" pipe with caps on both ends and knocking the seals into the pumpkin from inside the axle tubes. Then I gave everything the once over with some brake cleaner (smells nice!), paying special attention to get the axle tubes as clean as possible with a bottle neck brush attached to a broom stick (this helps down the road when it comes time to install the axle shafts so you don't scrape up gunk and jam it into the new gear set up or ruin the inner seals). Next it was time to take off the spring perches from the spring coil set up from the F-150. This meant a few hours with the angle grinder, a cut off wheel, and a 2lb sledge. Lots a sweat later, sore hands and back (and a few annoyed neighbors!), they were off. (Don't be like me and wear some good shoes if you have to do this!!!)

Some of the F-250 D44 axles have cast in spring perches. If you try to cut those out you will seriously weaken the axle tube and likely bend it out on the trail so don't use 'em! Of note there is a difference between cast in leaf spring and coil spring perches.  It is the cast in coil spring perches you want to avoid.

Another important issue was what lug nut pattern did I want to run?? Well, from the factory, the Tundra runs a 6 by 5.5 pattern, just like the old Chevy K5 Blazer (in fact there are a lot of similarities to the old chevys!!!). So I decided to go with a 6 lug Chevy knuckle, (which is completely compatible with the D44 axle housing off of the F-150) so that I did not have to get different wheels for the front and rear axles. A quick call to Parts Mike and my knuckles (w/ Hy-Steer arms), tie rod, Tie Rod ends, and drag link set up was on the way. The next decision was what style spindle to use. Since I was going with Chevy outers, I choose to use a '78 Blazer spindle. This was the first year that they offered the beefier 2" OD spindle. I started collecting parts and was lucky enough to find a majority of components from Bronco Mike at Complete off Road as these are the same ones used by Bronco owners to do disk brake conversions and 5 to 6 lug conversions on their rigs. Next I got Warn Alloy axle shafts and CTM U joints, Yukon 4.88 gears, and an ARB air locker; more $$, but worth it!! I had the new gears and ARB installed professionally, as I didn't have access to a press (in Socal, Hoopers Rear Ends rocks!!!). I also got some paint from POR 15 to help keep the rust off of the axle. Then with a little guidance on how to rebuild a Dana 44 axle, how to rebuild a D44 hub, and how set up CTM U joints, everything started to come together!

 

One little trick I learned for properly installing the lower ball joints is that you actually have to put a load on the joint so that the shaft does not spin when you try to torque the nut on. In the field, you could just lower the truck to achieve this or, you can tighten the upper ball joint without the adjusting sleeve in place. In the shop, I used my ball joint press.

For brakes, I felt that a stock Blazer set would probably work OK, but since My Tundra is a bit heavier that the old Blazers (and I drive down mountain roads often), I opted for a big brake upgrade kit from Stainless Steel Brakes.  Again, more $$, but some added peace of mind. I had the nice new slotted rotors pressed to the outer hubs at a local brake shop (I need a press!) and I was ready to proceed. To make the connection from the Chevy calipers to the Toyota brake lines, I got a set of custom made stainless steel braided brake lines that have banjo style connections at one end and Toyota ones at the other. Figuring the length was a guess- basically I just doubled the length of the stock line and went with a 20" length. The flexible hose on the rear axle is perfectly suited for doubling- it has male threads on one end and female on the other, so I just picked up a OEM replacement line to double the length.

It took awhile to get the correct wheel bearings as most parts stores sold me the old, smaller diameter inner bearings. I finally figured out the Timken part # and was ready to get greasy! The Warn premium hubs went on smoothly, but it took some prying on the yoke (or "ear") of the outer axle shaft to allow room for the axle snap ring to go on. Also, I did have to do some grinding to get the calipers to fit on the mounts, but they went on easy enough.

 

As it turns out, even "full" width axles are not quite wide enough! When the Toyota IFS power steering box gets mounted to the outside of the drives side frame, a full turn of the wheels to the right will cause the tires to hit the steering box and drastically limits your turning radius to that side. So I had to throw on a set of 1.5" wheel adapters to compensate and turn the 66" WMS to WMS into a 69". Turns out that this also will allow me to use metric lugs so that I don't have 2 kinds of lug nuts to worry about.

So, I ended up with 25+ year old housing completely revamped with new gears, axle shafts, U-joints, steering, brakes, and hubs. Now its "time to get to getting!!!"  For a complete list, including sticker shock, you can check out my parts page.