Land Cruiser Axles

[mongoswede]

Anyone mounted Land Cruiser axles on their series truck? The FJ40 axles are both passenger side drop and I think the later ones might even be disc brake front. I do not know if the FJ60 axles are the same or if it is only the FJ40 axles.

[adkrover]

I have a pair of FJ60 axles that are waiting to be installed on my 109. The rear axle came from Australia where they were sold with a full floating 1 ton rear axle. The fronts are disk brake. The diffs are in the correct places but the spring perches need to be cut off and rewelded to line up with the Rover springs. Should make a really nice setup with a couple of ARB air lockers installed.

Now if I could just figure out where I left that extra $5K for parts and a few weeks of vacation time I'd be all set.

[galen216]

I know someone that did this. The gearing keeps the truck to a top speed of about 40 mph. I'm sure that can be fixed but his was strictly trail so it was never changed.

Didn't take him long to do it, rewelding the brackets was pretty straightforward as I recall from what he told me.

[yorker]

The gearing really shouldn't bother too much, People in the UK swap in 3.54s all the time and TLCs are usually 4.10s. If you had a crap engine you might have trouble withthe gearing but a good 2.25 or stronger swapped in engine would cope ok.

The FJ40 axles are roughly the same width and a pretty easy swap, later 70's FJ40s had nice big vented brakes too IIRC and rear disc swaps are a breeze and cheap. Lockers are cheaper and rings and pinions are cheaper than Rover stuff and in general more ratios are available. Axle shafts are beefier ~1.3" and 30 spline. No more railco bushings, no more 90wt leaking from the swivel balls, IMHO there is a lot going for the swap, $ for $.

It is a pretty straightforward swap when you have the axles in hand.

[mongoswede]

I was thinking of doing it on my 109 which is looking more like it is going to receive a Ford 302. I know I could just go to a center drop rear axle but then I am pretty sure I have to modify the frame. So the Land Cruiser axles seemed like a good possibility.

[adkrover]

Not sure why that one truck was limited to 40 mph. When I did my figures, I found it was going to raise my speed a bit and since I have a pretty strong Robert Davis 3L, I didn't think it would be any problem. Maybe his axles had already been modified from Toyota stock.

Either way, I agree that the 'yota axles are a far better way to go and there is a lot of aftermarket gearing and lockers to go with them. You can also upgrade to rear disks if you want but it would mean changing out the brake master cylinder. I am staying with the original disk up front and drum in the rear because as I understand it, the Rover master cylinder (on a 109) will work with a front disk conversion. It's been a few years since I did the research but I am pretty sure that was my conclusion.

[mongoswede]

Now to find some

[yorker]

If you are keeping the Land Rover t-case with its offset outputs for the drive shafts then yeah it makes a lot of sense. If done right most people would never realize the axles were swapped unless they counted the wheel studs.

Sometimes you can luck across some really good deals on built TLC axles- with all the goodies, check IH8MUD.com, and the pirate4X4 for sale forums. When the Toyota guys go over 37" tires they often upgrade to Dana 60s and 14 bolt axles etc, and sometimes you can score a set cheap. If you want to find a stock set you can ften get them for $100 an axle or even cheaper if you buy a whole truck like this one:

http://plattsburgh.craigslist.org/cto/1694085492.html

Fj60 axles will work too but are a tad wider, FJ80 axles could be made to work too but they are wider still, like 62" wide IIRC. FJ40/45/55 are more or less the same width as Series Rover axles.

[yorker]

Not sure why that one truck was limited to 40 mph. When I did my figures, I found it was going to raise my speed a bit and since I have a pretty strong Robert Davis 3L, I didn't think it would be any problem. Maybe his axles had already been modified from Toyota stock.

If we are talking about the same 88" I think I remember the build thread on Discoweb- I THINK he got the axles from a Toyota nut who had outgrown them- they may have had 4.88s in them or 5.29 ratio. With the series t case essentially being an underdrive(1.15) in high range that would be rather limiting on road.

[ignotus]

Already here!

Mongo et al,

Here is a guy offering conversions for Rover axles with Yota innards.

http://www.rovertracks.com/index.html

[mongoswede]

Mongo et al,

Here is a guy offering conversions for Rover axles with Yota innards.

http://www.rovertracks.com/index.html

yep I have seen those and they look nice but I'd prefer just to swap in the whole land cruiser axle for now. If I were worried about maintaining a completely stock looking truck the above conversion would be an option.

[msggunny]

Do a search for fj40 swap and use Florida land rover with it. There is a few pages on a guy who did a spring over on an 88 there.

I agree with you on the swap, its better to just swap the whole thing out.

I have a set of fj60 axles sitting in the garage waiting for me to get off my ass.

Went and bought a boat though, guess they will sit a bit longer.

Fwiw there is a ford mc that works with the series booster too.

[mongoswede]

Do a search for fj40 swap and use Florida land rover with it. There is a few pages on a guy who did a spring over on an 88 there.

I agree with you on the swap, its better to just swap the whole thing out.

I have a set of fj60 axles sitting in the garage waiting for me to get off my ass.

Went and bought a boat though, guess they will sit a bit longer.

Fwiw there is a ford mc that works with the series booster too.

great find. A ton of good info here:

http://www.floridalandroverclub.com/forums/v5/message.php?ForumID=5&startRecord=26&pkBBid=18012&kpo=&kpo=

[chefplw]

thinking fj60 axles

I got two questions 1- anyone know how much wider fj60 are compare to series? 2- I build from fla he cut the knuckles to correct the castor if he wasnt doing soa would this still be nessary? I am plan a build starting with 65 exmod 109 going for safety disc brake daliy driver beach buggy so dont really need any lift

[txffjim]

fj rover

I started my rebuild by putting fj55 (same as fj40) axles under my rover, but changed back when someone wanted to swap working rover axles for them. they had 4.10 gears. btw breakover year is mid 75 for "desireable"axles
the rear spring perches need to come inboard about 1.5" each (puts one perch part way on pumpkin. fronts work as they are.
need new shock mounts on axles.
the pinion yolk on the fj axles is longer requiring moving axles or customizing driveshafts
for driveshaft yolk I took a rover driveshaft yolk, cut the mounting holes out and welded in locking collars using the fj yolk as a template.
need metric brakeline adapter to rover brakelines.