landcruiser axle info?

airmanwilliams

airmanwilliams

Well-Known Member
Location
Provo, Utah
ok I have a buddy that is willing to sell me early 70's landcruiser axles but has no idea what exact year or series they are just that they are early 70's and both have drum brakes.

Can anyone tell me or help me figure out what series these are so I can look up parts for them please? I want to eventually put these under my 87 samurai.
 
Doesn't matter what series they are, early 70's axle are all the same regardless if they came from a 40, 45 or 55. Drum brake (bad), small knuckle pattern (bad), course spline birfs (bad), course spline 4.11 ring & pinion (bad), small driveline pattern (bad), and dual wheel cylinders per axle end (bad).

More here:
http://cruiseroutfitters.com/tech_front_axle.html

While they 'could' work under a Sami by the time you update them to desirable components you'll easily be several hundred dollars or more into them. What are you looking to gain with the LC axles? Width?
 
airmanwilliams said:
thanks for the info. they are just $200 for the two versus $300 or so just for one of the regular axles is why im looking into them.
Click to expand...

I understand the pricing, but realize you'll need the $300 mini-truck axle in order to convert the $200 Cruiser axle to disc brakes. Your master cylinder is not going to work with the drums and it would be counter intuitive to go ack to drums anyway. However upgrade the drum LC axle to disc and in the end you have a stronger housing and differential, but you'll be stuck with a higher dollar axle that still has a course spline pinion gear. Planning to re-gear? That is a different story as the course spline pinion in the drum Cruiser axle will become a stronger fine spline, best of both worlds.

Rear axle makes sense, you get the offset you need and the c-clip Cruiser axles under a lightweight Sami will likely never be a problem and for that matter the course spline pinions might not either.
 
hey kurt do you guys carry the front disc brake conversion? and how can I find out what type of axles these are as far as being a 40 and whatnot? would it be worth it you think for me to buy these for the $200 and clean them up with paint and armor them up then sell them again so I can get mini truck axles?
 
A pair of old drum axles is not going to fetch more than $200, cleaned up and painted or not. Most (all) will likely just part them out and keep/use the parts you need. While you could convert the front to disc brakes, you need to start with a disc brake axle either 79-85' PU/4Runner or a 76-90' Land Cruiser. So if you have to start with a disc axle why convert that one ;)

For a Land Cruiser owner that has the drum axle installed on his rig, doing a disc brake swap makes a lot of sense. They don't have to mess with swapping the entire axle, they get a fresh overhauled axle (with discs) and driveline lengths, spring pads, etc all stay the same. But in your situation it doesn't make any sense. I personally wouldn't pay more than ~100-150 for a pair, depending on the vintage & condition.

As far as what axle they are, they only made one axle in the early 70's so its an FJ40 axle, or FJ45, or FJ55, etc... all the same. Course spline birfs, drums, course pinions, 4.10 3rd.
 
well ive decided that since i almost have them paid off I will pick them up this weekend and trade them for some stuff to help build my samurai. I just dumped a bunch of money into the axles I have now so I can run them for quite awhile. Im hoping I can trade them for a roof rack and all the mounting, yj swap kit, good but cheap paint job or something else maybe.

I appreciate the help and the info guys I might look into this later as i have another buddy with a pair of them just sitting at his place but I am going to hold off awhile.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top