Who is it that makes the full floater conversion for FJ axles? Just checked Specter, couldn't find em.

Any of you have expierence with this conversion, and how do you like it?

Thanks:beer:

I know that TPI has em. But they are listed as Warn conversions and I thought that warn stopped doing them....hhmmm

http://www.tpi4x4.com/lcinp10_1.html

I think that Specter has the complete(minus 3rd) FF toyota FJ40 axles on sale for about $380...

Get a later one with 4 bolts holding on the backing plate. the early ones are a pain to convert to discs.

-Brett

Why??????

:confused:

Originally posted by Jason M
Why??????

:confused:

I'm gettin a little worried that my new crawl ratio, V8, and 40s (maybe), will start blowing up shafts. There aren't too many trees at the Hammers to use for holding a c-plipped wheel in place.;)

Originally posted by Mustard Dog


I'm gettin a little worried that my new crawl ratio, V8, and 40s (maybe), will start blowing up shafts. There aren't too many trees at the Hammers to use for holding a c-plipped wheel in place.;)

From what I have seen the FF's break easier than the semifloaters do.. I doubt that you will have any problems. I think your tcase will go first.

Personally I would get a good RDB setup and bring a spare axle with you. That way you can limp along until there is room to fix the bad boy...

I like Mace's thinking. Plus, you can pick up rear semi floater shafts pretty cheaply. If you :nuke: your full floater, good luck trying to find a shaft for it. Transfer case deff is what I would be worring about.

Cool, I think you guys just saved me some cash:D I have an extra set of shafts that will be stayin in the RV;)

Eric:

Yup, save your money for, er, other goodies :) The only advantages I can see for the FF is superior weight carrying capability, and no C clips (easier to change a third, etc.). Both axles are likely to fail the same way rock crawling, i. e. torsional twist shearing the axle just outside the side gears. Go with a RDB, and fergedaboudit.

Andy

Andy, you forgot about the suitability of Toyota lockers. :flipoff2: That's an expensive option, though, even if the coolness factor must be real high ... ;)

Bye,

I've been thinking of improving rear axle strength & safety this winter with a full floater, too. But not a cruiser full-floater, a 14-bolt.

I've got a 4.56 cab & chassis 14-bolt in my garage. If I narrow one side aggressively, shave the big-ass rib off the bottom, add rear disc brakes and a detroit I could have a cruiser-width (I hope) rear axle that was indestructible. Big problem are lug patterns and the center hole. Do you know if the hub of a 14-bolt ff will fit through the center hole of a 6-on-5.5 wheel?

I'd also have to re-gear it.

Or I leave things be until I can afford a Dana 60 front and the ORD 203-205 adapter, then go 14-bolt and leave it 63" wms-wms.

Reasons I'm considering doing the cruiser-width 6-lug 14-bolt this winter are:

I can't leave well enough alone.
I recently weighed the pig, loaded for the trail and it is close to 7000lbs.

I've already worn my friends out with this conversation. Andy says to just go 1-ton. I need to win the lottery or something.

Morgan

Originally posted by Stupid frnch jackasS
Andy, you forgot about the suitability of Toyota lockers. :flipoff2: That's an expensive option, though, even if the coolness factor must be real high ... ;)

Bye,

Mon amis, Denis, pardonez moi! I forgot the "tres chic" factor of le magnifique Toyota lockers:D My francs ('scuze me, euros) go on the most cost effective stuff; Toyota lockers are not in the bugdet. Sacra bleu!

Andre

Sorry if I butchered your language:D I'm allowed to - I'm English:D

Originally posted by morgan

I recently weighed the pig, loaded for the trail and it is close to 7000lbs.

I've already worn my friends out with this conversation. Andy says to just go 1-ton. I need to win the lottery or something.

Morgan

Morgan - don't weigh your truck with me in it next time:D If you narrow the 14 bolt, only narrow the long side so you have equal length axle shafts (only need to carry one spare). Andy

Originally posted by KrustyKruiser


Morgan - don't weigh your truck with me in it next time:D If you narrow the 14 bolt, only narrow the long side so you have equal length axle shafts (only need to carry one spare). Andy

I thought the 14 bolt was a centered rear? Are the cab and chassis version not centered?

For my FF Toyota rear I have moser axleshafts that use the drive flanges(or locking hubs if you want) from the front axle. From what I have heard while I was in AUS was that the axle shafts and the hubs were not the weak spot, rather the 6 smallish studs and conewashers that held the pair together were.

-Brett

in theory the FF should not break as easy as a SF, due to the axle not having any weight on it

that said minitrucks are all SF, and have the same size axles as FJ40s, and dont seem to have many problems

although personally i think with low gearing, V8, and 40s and lockers, you need to pony up and get some beef

you need 2 D60 fronts, one for me and one for you and a $150 14bolt with 1.5" axles out back!!:flipoff2:

Originally posted by BJ On Roids

you need 2 D60 fronts, one for me and one for you and a $150 14bolt with 1.5" axles out back!!:flipoff2:

I'm gonna try to resist the D60 as long as possible:D I want to be a Toyota hold out,(yeah I know I have a 350/420 combo, but the rest is Toy).

Originally posted by cruiserbrett


I thought the 14 bolt was a centered rear? Are the cab and chassis version not centered?



Centered - well sort of - the drivers side is slightly shorter (by 4") than the passenger side - the reason being that the pinion is not central in the diff. If you cut down the long side to equal the short side the pinion become slightly off-center, but no biggie - better to reduce the number of spares you carry, and 4" off the C&C vesion would fit nicely under a piggie, IMHO

Andy

The problem that remains is lug-pattern on the 14-bolt.

I thought I'd seen a pic of a 6-bolt conversion to a 14-bolt ff, but now I can't find it. Anyone know if it can be done?

Weld the holes and drill new ones?

Morgan

Originally posted by morgan
The problem that remains is lug-pattern on the 14-bolt.

I thought I'd seen a pic of a 6-bolt conversion to a 14-bolt ff, but now I can't find it. Anyone know if it can be done?

Weld the holes and drill new ones?

Morgan

I saw one like that in a blazer once the guy also ground out the center of the wheels to fit the rear :eek: not much meat left but it worked

Originally posted by KrustyKruiser


Centered - well sort of - the drivers side is slightly shorter (by 4") than the passenger side - the reason being that the pinion is not central in the diff. If you cut down the long side to equal the short side the pinion become slightly off-center, but no biggie - better to reduce the number of spares you carry, and 4" off the C&C vesion would fit nicely under a piggie, IMHO

Andy

Cool! Sounds like an good idea!

As for the lug problem MAYBE(just thought of it) take the full floater rear hubs on the toyota 1 ton pickups(not LC) with the large six lug pattern and machine down the outer portion and redrill the six holes for thestuds for the locking hub and the two dowel pins. Then redrill the 8 lug pattern and figure some way to mount the rotor by bolting it to a spacer ring or something. use these in the front and you might have the same pattern..

Well, forget it that is way too much work...

Originally posted by KrustyKruiser


Mon amis, Denis, pardonez moi! I forgot the "tres chic" factor of le magnifique Toyota lockers:D My francs ('scuze me, euros) go on the most cost effective stuff; Toyota lockers are not in the bugdet. Sacra bleu!

Andre

Sorry if I butchered your language:D I'm allowed to - I'm English:D

Hey, you aren't allowed to do so ! Actually you don't even do so ; then it's no problem as far as I'm concerned :D
Your french is en fait plutôt élégant, et je vous en félicite ;) ...

I almost 100% agree with the euro placement for the rear axle, I'm going the lincoln way myself, but up front I'll try to lay my hands on a factory cable that I'd thrown in my not-bought-yet HJ60 axle...

Thanks for your post :)

Bye,

Originally posted by morgan
I thought I'd seen a pic of a 6-bolt conversion to a 14-bolt ff, but now I can't find it. Anyone know if it can be done?

Answering my own question:

http://www.rustbucket.rockcrawler.com/photo.html

That's 'Donovan' on this bbs. Sent him a PM asking some more questions. ("How much width does it add?" "I send you $150 and some parts, what do you do?" etc.)

Morgan

Good info with the search button ;)


http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=82804&highlight=14bolt+six+lug


:flipoff2:

Morgan,

Just change out the centers of your wheels to 8 lug from 6 lug. WAY less expensive than a 6 lug 14 bolt conversion.

i wouldn't do the warn conversion again. originally i did it because i flat tow and it's nice to just unlock the hubs and go, but it uses that crappy american spindle nut setup (washer with the pins that always break), is a bitch to seal up (i'm running oil), and those dana shafts are so dinky compared to my stock cruiser shafts. on the positive side, i have yet to find another company with the customer service that warn has given me.

Morgan,

I plan on keeping the 55 (hehe).

Too many radical mods to mess with my wife's 80. You can read this as "she said no".

I plan on putting coil over 80 axles under my piggy at some point. Should be fun AND expensive.

Who knows...coil over D60s? hehehehe.

I know these two things:
1. I need to get wider and lower the gearing.
2. I think I want a fork lift for those driveway poser pics :flipoff2:

weeeeee

Originally posted by wngrog
Morgan,

Just change out the centers of your wheels to 8 lug from 6 lug. WAY less expensive than a 6 lug 14 bolt conversion.

I was thinking about keeping the cruiser front for a while longer...

There is a guy - Gordon Pritchard - who put 8-lug hubs on a cruiser front axle.

Morgan

Originally posted by DanKunz
I plan on keeping the 55 (hehe).

Right on!

I plan on putting coil over 80 axles under my piggy at some point. Should be fun AND expensive

I thought about doing that, too. But I am not confident that the front is really strong enough. One friend with an 80 of mine broke the ring gear, in reverse under load. Another friend doesn't yet know if he broke the ring gear or a drive flange, again backing up under load.

I know these two things:
1. I need to get wider and lower the gearing.


Yep.

I'm probably going to wheel next season on stock axles. I'm not really convinced wider is better, but stronger is better. I wouldn't want full-width axles under my 55, for instance.

Morgan

Morgan, I might be wrong, but I thought that during the late eighties, early nineties, chevy was using a six lug 14 bolt under their 3/4 ton 2wd pickups. This would be perfect for your application. I bet if you look hard you can find them. I could be wrong and they were all 12 bolts, but you never know.

Good luck
-Darius

Originally posted by trd55
Morgan, I might be wrong, but I thought that during the late eighties, early nineties, chevy was using a six lug 14 bolt under their 3/4 ton 2wd pickups. This would be perfect for your application. I bet if you look hard you can find them. I could be wrong and they were all 12 bolts, but you never know.

Hey Darius, thanks.

I did some research and I think the 6-lug 14-bolt was a semi-floater. Probably strong enough, but I'm holding out for the ff.

I think I'm gonna shelve the idea of a 6-lug 14-bolt for now and just keep saving for a front D60.

Morgan

Morgan,

Do you know what gearing the 80 axles had in front that broke?

I heard anything more than 4.56s can get a little brittle depending on the source since they are reverse cut....could be?

I want wider, but not by much (hence the 80 width)....the 80 is stronger, you just need to rig up the correct control arms, etc to make sure you don't axle wrap and make the R&P go pop.

I bet axle bouncy bouncy with lower gears resulted in the failures you heard of.

Anywhooo....it is still too cool to think of my 55 coiled over with 38s =)

Now I just have to find the time, funding, and parts! hehe

my 80 had a 4:88RC factory toyota ring gear in the front when it went boom$$$ on the Rubicon with Morgan. I now know of 5 80's that have broken a front ring gear. I now consider it the weakest link in the front drivetrain and can not wait until the day I have enough coin to throw in a dana 60.
nick

Dan-- I think the idea of a coil sprung 55 with 80 axles sounds very cool-- but also very complicated. The steering is reversed-- I don't know how you deal with all that. Someone probably has.

I wonder if it wouldn't be better just to swap an FJ55 body onto a complete FJ80 frame and axles. You would obviously have to do a bunch of work fabbing body mounts. And something to accomodate the extra six inches of wheelbase-- maybe lengthen the rear wheel well-- but maybe it would work.

This sort of assumes you could find 80 rolling frame.

Again, I have no idea if this could actually by done, but it sounds like it would be fun to try.

Jared

Originally posted by spalding
my 80 had a 4:88RC factory toyota ring gear in the front when it went boom$$$ on the Rubicon with Morgan. I now know of 5 80's that have broken a front ring gear. I now consider it the weakest link in the front drivetrain and can not wait until the day I have enough coin to throw in a dana 60.
nick

What size tires were on your rig when the failure occured? locked/unlocked? etc.

I did the 80 front axle/suspension swap on my 4-Runner, and like it. There's another guy around who used one for a leaf spring swap.

Brian

I thought I'd seen a pic of a 6-bolt conversion to a 14-bolt ff, but now I can't find it. Anyone know if it can be done?

I've got a narrowed FF D60 rear on my '73 40 & a narrowed 14 bolt on my '72 FJ55. Here's what I did:

- cut out the center of my 6 lug spare
- find an 8 lug wheel at the boneyard & do the same
- weld 1x2 attaching squares (6 ea.) to both 6 & 8 lug centers
- mate up your centers to the wheel & drill them out
- I used (6) 1/2" grade 8 thru bolts to attach the centers to the wheel

So, essentially I have two dropout centersections on my spare & I keep my eight lug rear wheels too :p

Oh yeah, if you've thought about welding up your 6 lug hubs & redrill them for 8 lug, I've looked at that too, but there's not enough "meat" around the 6 lug hub to hold all the 8 lug wheel studs IMO. :p

Originally posted by SJPitts
Dan-- I think the idea of a coil sprung 55 with 80 axles sounds very cool-- but also very complicated. The steering is reversed-- I don't know how you deal with all that. Someone probably has.

I wonder if it wouldn't be better just to swap an FJ55 body onto a complete FJ80 frame and axles. You would obviously have to do a bunch of work fabbing body mounts. And something to accomodate the extra six inches of wheelbase-- maybe lengthen the rear wheel well-- but maybe it would work.

This sort of assumes you could find 80 rolling frame.

Again, I have no idea if this could actually by done, but it sounds like it would be fun to try.

Jared

Actually I know a guy who's got a complete running driving 80 that has the roof minorly caved in from a roll. Could cut it off and leave it be or just use the chassis. I think he wants $3500 for it, it's in SLC. Mid 90s but no lockers.

and those dana shafts are so dinky compared to my stock cruiser shafts. on the positive side, i have yet to find another company with the customer service that warn has given me.

You're running Dana shafts in a Warn FF conversion? :confused:
I've also had a VERY positive experience from the Warn customer service dept. Besides the phone conversations, free stickers & tshirts & sometimes free replacement parts, you gotta try ARB! No, I obviously don't work in Seattle :flipoff2:

Originally posted by LC Hamma


I've got a narrowed FF D60 rear on my '73 40 & a narrowed 14 bolt on my '72 FJ55. Here's what I did:

- cut out the center of my 6 lug spare
- find an 8 lug wheel at the boneyard & do the same
- weld 1x2 attaching squares (6 ea.) to both 6 & 8 lug centers
- mate up your centers to the wheel & drill them out
- I used (6) 1/2" grade 8 thru bolts to attach the centers to the wheel

So, essentially I have two dropout centersections on my spare & I keep my eight lug rear wheels too :p

Chuck Stewart, I remember you from the LCML.

Let me see if I understand you right. You run 6-lug wheels in front and 8-lug wheels in back, on both your 40 and your 55. In either case you have some sort of spare wheel that can be used on either a 6-lug or 8-lug wheel.

Is that right?

Tell me more about your axles. Are you using cruiser fronts for both vehicles? Why keep the cruiser front? What width are the narrowed axles, and how did you do it? Is the 14-bolt a ff or semi-floater axle?

Morgan

Chuck Stewart, I remember you from the LCML.

Let me see if I understand you right. You run 6-lug wheels in front and 8-lug wheels in back, on both your 40 and your 55. In either case you have some sort of spare wheel that can be used on either a 6-lug or 8-lug wheel.

Is that right?

Tell me more about your axles. Are you using cruiser fronts for both vehicles? Why keep the cruiser front? What width are the narrowed axles, and how did you do it? Is the 14-bolt a ff or semi-floater axle?

Never heard of him :flipoff2: Hehe ;) Correct on the first question.
The only reason I kept the LC fronts was bcuz I already invested 4.88's, ARB's & hysteer parts. I'd lose my arse if I sold 'em :p Both axles are FF - that was the main reason for the conversion. Non USA LC FF scared me off :eek: IIRC, I had ~6" cut from the GM axles on the short cruiser side. Ordered a Moser shaft for each too. My 55 has a rear disk conversion too using 3/4 ton GM parts & has a backing plate so rocks do not break my rotors :p Both GM rears have Detroits & are shaved for clearance. I upgraded my D60 pinion yolk to 1350 size with ubolts. I'll learn to live with the birfields on these two trucks, but I do have a 35 spline D60 slated for my '78. I'll be happy to answer any other ?'s for 'ya :)