E-locker swap compatability. 2003 into 2000?

[slomatt]

Hey guys, I'm possibly buying an e-locker from a 2003 Tacoma to retrofit into my 2000 4runner and wanted to make sure its compatible. I'm aware that the housing needs to be modified, but wanted to make sure Toyota didn't do anything tricky like change the axles, bolt pattern, or something like that. Any input is much appreciated, thanks.

- Matt

[slosurfer]

Should be the same. You should contact mike4x4 and see if he still has his extra axle housing from his swap. I think he got Bob's old housing and rotrofit that one and then just swapped the whole housing into his 4runner. Much less down time doing it that way.....

[4x4mike]

Should be the same. You should contact mike4x4 and see if he still has his extra axle housing from his swap. I think he got Bob's old housing and rotrofit that one and then just swapped the whole housing into his 4runner. Much less down time doing it that way.....


SLOMatt has my old housing already, I even did the welding and grinding.

Matt, like Chris said it should work. The elocker I swapped was from a Tacoma that was newer than my 4runner. The Tacomas with the elocker should have the 8" ring gear and the non locker equipped ones have something like an 8.4" (too big). I think all the tacomas with an e locker have a v6 as well so the pinion flange is the same as well. If in doubt take that copy of the gasket I gave you and line it up just remember there is a front and backside of the gasket and I don't think I marked it.

Nice thing about finding a Tacoma 3rd is that you may luck out like I did and get one that had a 5 speed. Good luck on the deal.

[slosurfer]

:thumbup:Well, damn, he better get going! You already did the hard part. :)

[Scuba]

95.5-04 Tacoma's have the same rear E-Locker diff as the 96-02 4Runners.
Not all TRD's are V6, Mike. Just sayin.

The differential will fit for your swap, Matt.

[Crinale]

The Tacomas with the elocker should have the 8" ring gear and the non locker equipped ones have something like an 8.4" (too big).


just wanted to clear this misinfo up - the newer taco axles are not actually a bigger ring gear, they are also 8". But they are incompatible with the old 8" axles (on which the elocker axles are based), hence the reason people call them the 8.4 just to make it clear which axle they are talking about

[4x4mike]

Ok thanks for the clarification.

[slomatt]

Thanks for all the input. As Mike mentioned I have his old axle housing sitting around while I look for a 3rd member, and he went above and beyond and welded up the flange. My sincere appreciation goes out to him. Once I have this axle under my T4R mine will be available for someone else who wants to do a swap.

It sounds like the 2003 Tacoma differential should be compatible with my truck. It's got the 4.10 gears to match my front diff, and only ~30k miles on the diff. Supposedly there is still setup grease on the teeth. The only issue is that it's in the LA area and the owner doesn't want to ship, I'm trying to see if I can talk my brother who lives down there into picking it up for me.
Thanks again for the help.

- Matt

[Scuba]

the only issue is that it's in the LA area and the owner doesn't want to ship, I'm trying to see if I can talk my brother who lives down there into picking it up for me.
- Matt


Let me know if I can be of assistance with that.

[slomatt]

Scuba, I appreciate the offer. Any chance you are near San Clemente? My brother can pick up the locker and bring it up next time he visits the Bay Area, but he knows pretty much nothing about cars and if somebody local could take a quick look to make sure it's in good condition I'd feel much better. I don't want to impose, so it would only make sense if you were really close.

- Matt

[Scuba]

I'm about half hour from San Clemente ;). If it's still got the setup paint on them it would be easy to spot a decent setup.

[Crinale]

iv got a 2nd gen full axle with stock 4.30 gears available if anyone is interested

[slomatt]

Ok, the owner sent me some photos of the diff and I'd greatly appreciate if you guys could take a quick look. :) From what I can see everything looks to be in good order, but a 2nd opinion is always helpful.

I left the pictures in the original size (click to open) so there's as much detail as possible.

http://www.blankwhitepage.com/gallery/t4r_elocker

Thanks.

- Matt

[4x4mike]

Looks good I suppose but I'm not an expert at gear setups. It does look like it's been sitting on the floor of the guys shop though. The loaded thirds are quite heavy and it looks like it's been drug around and a little dirty. If you're serious about getting it I'd order the wire harness pigtail that plugs into the diff motor. With that you can use the wire diagram and put certain wires to power to see if the motor will spin and slide the collar.

Oh and if the pics are too big you can hold down the Ctrl key and roll your mouse wheel up and down or hold the Ctrl key and press the - key until it gets to the size you want. To get your screen back you press the Ctrl key and + until you're there.

[Scuba]

I still see the gear paint, but not the actual pattern...

[slomatt]

I still see the gear paint, but not the actual pattern...



I agree, it looks like the paint is still on the ends of the teeth but the pattern is no longer showing.

- Matt

[Robinhood4x4]

That's interesting, it looks like it has a factory motor guard. I've never seen that.

I don't see anything that wrong with it but as you know, it's hard to say just from pictures.

[Seanz0rz]

the plugs look very different from my elocker. positive its not from a LC?

[4x4mike]

Seans right. The plugs do look a little different. I'd have to dig up my pictures unless you want to find my thread for a comparison. My tacoma 3rd had the motor guard as well. I had to leave it off because it came in contact with my sway bar. My gears had the paint and a little pattern.

[4x4mike]

Actually the plug looks right. Only one is showing in your pic. Here is what I dug up on mine.

Picture of the Toyota harness that plugs into the diff.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e13/mezamichael82/4Runner%20Axle/DSC07773.jpg

Here is the harness. The 2 plugs plug into the diff and the one big plug gets cut off.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e13/mezamichael82/4Runner%20Axle/DSC07779.jpg

For reference. This is what my gears looked liked. They run fine and quiet.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e13/mezamichael82/4Runner%20Axle/DSC07715.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e13/mezamichael82/4Runner%20Axle/DSC07716.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e13/mezamichael82/4Runner%20Axle/DSC07717.jpg

[slomatt]

Mike,

Thanks for the pictures, the gear pattern on yours looks about the same so that's good to hear. What's strange is that in the first photo it looks like the 2nd plug is visible, but from what I can see there are just to terminals and no case around them.

I'm still on the fence about buying this. The price is pretty high (asking $500) and I'm not able to check it out in person. Part of me wants to see if one shows up locally in the Bay Area or Sacramento, but I'd also like to get it installed before we get too far into summer. Arg.

- Matt

[4x4mike]

I didn't realize the price was so high. The second plug is probably stuffed down in the little skid plate. Let me know if there is anything this way you want me to check out for you.

[slomatt]

I didn't realize the price was so high. The second plug is probably stuffed down in the little skid plate. Let me know if there is anything this way you want me to check out for you.


Thanks, I appreciate the offer. Will let you know if I see something up in Sacto.

- Matt

[slomatt]

Man, who new finding an elocker would be such a pain. This morning I called a BayArea auto recycler about a 3rd member they had listed online as a 4.10 elocker diff from a 2000 4runner. The confirmed that was the part and said I could have the wiring, ecu, and switch for no extra cost. Of course once I got there it turned out that they had somehow confused the rear differential locker with the front axle vacuum disconnect and in fact it was just a basic 4.10 open diff. So, I took 3 hours off of work for no reason. Arg.

- Matt

[4x4mike]

Good things come to those that wait.

[Robinhood4x4]

Bummer