It seems as if the Toyota axle swap has become as common as a SPOA lift these days. So in an attempt to help anyone who may be thinking of doing this mod I will attempt to compile as much info as possible to assist anyone who should want to do the swap. Feel free to add info and I will go back and modify the original post. A lot of this info has been pulled from various sites to include the Pirate BBS and
www.azrockcrawler.com .
Over the past 4 years I have seen quite a few axle swaps but the Toyota seems the most popular by far. By no means is Toyota the only axle that will work. Actually, I think that certain year Dana 44 Wagoneer axles work better as they have a more correct offset that closely matches the Samurai t-case outputs. That is another topic of discussion though. I won't even go into hybrid or custom axles as you can have anything you want made if you have the cash. Here are some of the reasons people choose Toyota axles:
Cost: I have found it to pretty common to find a complete pair of Toyota axles for 300 dollars or less. Of course they usually need at least a new seal kit installed and may require bearings, but what do you expect from a 20 year old set of axles. A seal kit generally runs 40-50 bucks if you include the inner axle seals.
Availability: Although some will argue this, you can find a set of Toyota axles pretty easily and much more easily than a set of passenger side offset D 44's. Most often people who who say they can't find them are really saying "I can't find them for under 300 bucks."
Aftermarket Support: The aftermarket for Toyota axles is huge! You can buy steering, lockers, seals, bearings, spools, and numerous ring and pinion ratios. There are many more Toyota aftermarket vendors than Suzuki vendors so finding a great deal is pretty easy.
Removable third member: Just like the Samurai. This makes it real easy to install gears/lockers.
Brakes: The front and rear toyota axles have the same thread size as the rear Samurai axle. That means you need 4 rear Sammi brakelines or four Toyota brakelines to install your Toyota axles into your Samurai. Very simple!
Flat top knuckles: With the stock knuckles you can easily make or buy a steering setup that puts the tie rod and drag link above the springs. This is the same type of knuckle that the stock Samurai axle has. Unfortunately, Samurai steering will not fit onto Toyota axles. Aftermarket steering is not cheap but home made steering is usually dangerously made.
What year Toyota Axle to use: 79-85 Toyota truck axles are all the same width. Front axles are 55.5 inches wide while rear axles are 55 inches wide.
Axle width vs. a Samurai axle: Toy Axles are about 5 inches wider than stock Samurai axles. Samurai builders often use 2.5 inch backspace wheels to widen their stance. If you use a Toy axle with standard 3.75 inch backspaced rims you will add about another inch to your total width than you had with stock axles and 2.5 bs rims.
Driveshafts: You can use the drive shafts that you currently have. You can either have your pinion flange redrlled to meet the Zuk driveshaft bolt hole pattern or you can buy a set of Rat Adapters from Rock 4X Fabrication and bolt them right up. I chose the adapters.
Spring Perches: The front perches are probably the biggest pain in the butt part of this. You either have to move the perches in toward the center about 1/4 inch on each side or move your springs out. Norzuki moved his perches in and he did a pretty good job at it too. Because the passenger side perch is so close to the pumpkin he had to use square u-bolts and run them around the bottom spring perch instead of the axle tube. I have seen quite a few this way though and haven't seen any problems. Also you need to keep the perches/pinion angle the same as are stock on the front axle so that you don't affect the steering angles. The rears are easy. Just set the pinion angle to the same angle you currently have on your sammi rear axle.
