It's finally here. How many times have you seen a bent Toyota front housing? Or a sheared trunion pin? Or broken steering studs? Or huge wheel spacers that create a huge scrub radius that make it hard to steer? Well I've seen it all, and the best solution to all these problems is to go with the Toyota axle that was designed for a vehicle twice the weight of the mini axle. Not to mention it's 8" wider, so no need for wheel spacers any more.
I have personally run a stock FJ80 axle under my truggy with full hydro, and it worked well. My problem was that my tie rod hit every rock in front of me and bent several times requiring straightening even though it was 1/4" wall chromolly. Another thing was that every trip out I had to tighten my steering studs that constantly came loose. I sold my truggy to a friend and his first trip out to the hammers with it he broke the stock knuckle. Not good.
I have designed an all new knuckle casting that has beef added all the way around, but most importantly up top where the steering arm attaches to it. This arm is attached by 6 studs, the same size studs as you see with Dana 60's. Have you ever had to fight those pesky cone washers that don't want to come off the stud? Me too, and I hate it. This is why I went with cone nuts, same as a lug nut. Nothing to fight with, nothing to fly off and get lost under a rock on the trail. These studs are also placed far apart to make them even stronger by placing a lot less leverage on them.
FJ80 axles have larger knuckle balls which place the trunnion bearings farther apart than mini axles, making them stronger. If that's not enough, the pins are 20mm as opposed to the mini axles 17mm pins. Want even more? Most mini axles are upgraded with IFS calipers and vented rotors. The FJ80 brakes are already much bigger and better than the upgraded mini axle brakes, so you dont have to spend more money on upgrades. Nitro Gear makes a great affordable chomolly birfield set.
So now what, weak ring and pinions you say? How about a fabricated housing from Diamond or Ruffstuff Specialties? Stronger than stock, nicer looking, and the option of running a Toyota 9.5" third member. All beef, all Toyota, and much lighter than a Dana 60.
What about re-using some of my mini axle steering components? Yes you can. The arms have a 6" throw at the tie rod holes, and an 8" throw at the drag link holes. Ackerman angle you say? Each arm has 2 holes. The first hole is for the tie rod and it gives you the right amount of ackerman angle for the average wheel base. Need more steering angle and full hydro with the common 8" ram? Use the forward holes that have no ackerman angle for the furthest possible steering in comp based rigs.
Leaf sprung rigs vs. linked rigs, and up travel.
Mount the tie rod and drag link on top of the arms for leaf springs, or mount them under the arms for linked suspension and maximum up travel. For this reason alone, these will only be heim joint style arms for now until we get enough demand for FJ80 TRE's.
These have been tested on the best trails at the Hammers numerous times, and flogged through the whoops harder than I've ever done before in any of my Toyotas. I have checked my knuckle studs like I always do, but unlike before where I had to tighten them more than once per trip, these have never loosened. You can forget about the shims to set your trunnion bearing pre-load too, because these have 3/4" set screws with jam nuts to make setting preload a snap without removing the arm several times.
Standard kit includes:
-Left and right knuckles
-Left and right arms
-Oversized 25mm upper trunnion pins with new bearings and races
-Sleeves to weld into arms by the consumer (for getting the tie rod height exactly where you want it)
-Studs, nuts, set screws and jam nuts for knuckle to arm connection.
Other things you will need- 3/4" heims, tie rod and drag link tube, and grade 8 5/8" bolts for the heims. I highly recommend Ruffstuff Specialties for heims and all other bracketry for your build. Great products that last, great prices, and great customer service.
For leaf springs I highly recommend Davez Offroad for a super nice front hanger with 2" wider spacing. This keeps your u-bolts out of where your diff is, and gives you stability while maintaining good flex. Shackles coming soon, but if you need to save money for now, do what I did and put both spacers on the inside rather than one on each side. Davez Offroad has awesome Toyota parts at awesome prices, and he's a super good dude who will help you out.
Lastly you'll need to cut down your stock arms into lower trunnion bearing caps. Band saw, chop saw, grinder with flap disc, and whalla, you have some caps that saved you some money. If you want nicer caps with bling, stay tuned for the big trunnion bearing kit that includes new lower caps and bigger pins for the arms.
Standard kit price: $975 plus shipping and sales tax for NM deliveries.
Patent pending.
We are Hellfire Fabworks and we are here to stay. So stay tuned for more upgrades to this kit, as well as other products. We will only sell what we are willing to run.
Please call me with any questions or to place an order
619 395-0665 -Billy
INSTALL NOTE: BIRFIELDS WILL NOT FIT THROUGH THE KNUCKLE AND WILL NEED TO BE IN THE KNUCKLE BALL PRIOR TO KNUCKLE INSTALLATION, THIS IS KOWN AS THE CAMO METHOD WHICH I HAVE ALWAYS USED IN THE PAST.