How strong are stock toyota axle shafts?

[The Stranger]

It is time for me to get some new tires and obviously I want to go as large as possible without going through axle shafts left and right.

I have heard that 37's are about the limit for stock Toyota shafts, is this true? I am coming up from 33's and I will be happy going with 35's but I have found some tempting deals on 38's.

Anyway, sorry for the stupid question.

Thanks,

Brandon

 

[Paul R]

It is time for me to get some new tires and obviously I want to go as large as possible without going through axle shafts left and right.

I have heard that 37's are about the limit for stock Toyota shafts, is this true? I am coming up from 33's and I will be happy going with 35's but I have found some tempting deals on 38's.

Anyway, sorry for the stupid question.

Thanks,

Brandon

Are you asking about the birfields in the front end or just the rear? It obviously really depends on driving style but I don't think I would go with 35's without at least getting longfields for the front end. As for the rear I would think right around 37's would start causing issues unless you swap to chromally shafts. So I would plan on upgrading everything if you go to 37 or bigger.

Also another thing to consider, are you driving this on the street at all? Because if you have 35's or bigger the first thing you are going to want to do is lower gears trust me it makes a world of difference.

 

[The Stranger]

Yeah I do drive on the street a bit. I have 5.29's in the axles and 5.0:1 transfercase gears. Oh man, this is the first weekend with the new T-case gears and they have been the best mod I have done so far.

I plan on going with chromoly axles next year, but I'm going to get new tires in about a week.

 

[Floppy Hat]

If you are talking front shafts, the birfield is going to be the weak link and you get into the questionable area with 35" tires.

On the rear, there are several examples of people running 37" to 38" tires on the stock shafts. In my opinion, this is getting into the questionable area.

 

[The Stranger]

Excellent, thank you for the responses.

Stupid Birfield.

Well this makes my Tire selection simple for now.

 

[SAMI]

In two years of beating the hell out of my previous 4runner(37's, chromo front/superbirf combo & stock rear shafts) and I only broke one rear shaft in the time i owned it. I'm sure that it was due to age, because I wasn't doning anything very out of the ordinary. I think i was on the main "obstacle" on Rattlesnake... The shaft was probably 22 years old and ready to give up the ghost. I was not easy on that rig by any means. I sheered both sides of the frame up front i beat it so hard...

Anyways, i'd keep it to 35"ers and expect to replace a birf or three until you can upgrade to something like chromo front components.

 

[The Stranger]

Well it sounds like the rears are as strong as can be. If all I need are fronts maybe I'll drop the boss a few christmas hints starting today.

 

[SAMI]

There's quite abit of cool stuff available for the toyota front axle that'll drain your funds fast. 6 shooter knuckles from Marlin as pretty BA... While i never had issues with my knuckles, everyone i wheeled with had issues sheering the studs that hold the steering arm to the knuckle. This clearly had something to do with hi-steer setups, seeing as how i had a custom home-brew crossover steering, and never had a stud issue. So the six shooters correct or ease the problem by gving you six studs over the stock four... IIRC the stronger studs out there that are worth the money are ARP? studs?? Again, i don't know from experience with this, more or less from my inexperience since i did not run into this issue... But it is a common one when going to hi-steer.

 

[waynehartwig]

I was out with a guy this weekend running 42" IROK stickies on his Toy axles... He did break an OEM 4.10 (23 year old gear?) R&P though....

...I'm not sure what he's running for shafts, though I could find out by asking...

 

[leorn]

I run the stock rear shafts on 39s. My birfields were cracked when I replaced them with longs. They cracked with 35s and a light foot.

I don't shy from a full throttle climb, but I pay attention not to bind. Most of the breakage I see with appropriately built axles is due to binding or repeated failures on an obstacle that lead to stupid driving.

If the above describes your typical driving style, there is not an axle that won't break.