Toyota 4x4 enthusiasts have something to celebrate. After years of battling through factory axle deficiencies brought on by the use of larger, heavier tires and heavy trail use, owners of Toyota trucks and 4Runners are now offered the option of upgrading their vehicle's factory axle assemblies while maintaining its Toyota bloodline. Not surprisingly, Toyota specialist All Pro Off Road in Hemet, California, is the purveyor of this new means of bulletproofing the Toyota driveline.
The all-new All Pro heavy-duty, chrome-moly axlehousing is designed to accept Toyota four-cylinder, V-6, and high-pinion FJ80 third members, making it a direct replacement housing for most Toyota 4x4s. The housing is constructed from 0.188-inch wall, 4130 chrome-moly plate and offers a center section thickness of 3/16-inch. Seams are MIG-welded, and an oversized fluid fill is incorporated into the top of the housing. Aside from its increased strength, one of the key attributes of All Pro's chrome-moly housing is that it allows you to swap their entire driveline over to the new housing to create an extremely durable axle assembly, without the cost of buying new internals. Furthermore, the housing creates an extra 3/4-inch ground clearance compared with the factory unit and weighs within 1 pound of it.
We installed the new axle housing in the rear of an '85 4Runner, using the beefier Toyota V-6 drop-out and the axleshafts and brake components from the axle we removed. All Pro offers its chrome-moly housings as complete assemblies ready to bolt up to a vehicle or as bare product, with or without axle tubes, for those who wish to create their own assembly. Along with the new housing, which we installed at the rear of the vehicle, we opted to upgrade the front with All Pro's Dana 60/Toyota Hybrid axle. This assembly came complete with gussets along the center section and uses Ford F-450 knuckles, bearings, U-joints, and hubs mated to Toyota inner axles and the differential. This setup also offers the luxury of using any Toyota 8-inch third member, though we selected the high-pinion version for its versatility and strength.
No matter how you slice it, the new All Pro chrome-moly axle housing is as good as it gets for Toyota owners. Not only are owners offered the ability to maintain their stock driveline, but they also get the solid construction and superior strength from a previously vulnerable component. Check out the photos for all the details.