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[samneil2000]

My friends all run Toyotas, either old pickups or 4runners or buggies built from Toy parts. They swear by the axles etc. I know Indy4x sells the solid axle kit. Has anyone purchased that thing? Would that work with the Toy solid axle?

My good friend has a rock-crawler/trail ride that is mostly a stock 4runner with SAS in the front with a couple of long travel leaf-spring kits. He has lockers front and rear and pretty low gears with 39 inch tires. The thing will go anywhere. My VX doesn't have anywhere near the capabilities of his ride. I know I need a locker in the back, and would like lower gears. I know a locker in the front is asking for broken CVs, where the solid axle can wheel with a locker no problem.

Would I have to go with the Jeep D44 for the front, or would the Toyota axle work as well? I know my friend has a spare front...

It sounds like a lot of money and work to get there. Would it be worth it? He says I would be better off selling the VX and buying an old Toyota to build. Parts etc... I just don't know how capable I really want to try to make the VX be. Perhaps just a locker in the back with lower gears would get me where I want to be.
I'm just rambling, but these are the things that I think about when I try to climb a dirt hill and one back tire is spinning along with one front tire, and I have to back down the hill because I can't make it...

[Ascinder]

I admittedly don't know a ton about toyota axles except that I've always heard good things about them being cheap, reliable, durable, and plentiful. Same with the D44. If toyotas are what all your friends run and that's who you tend to wheel with, then it's an advantage to have the same gear since there tends to be more knowledge and spare parts nearby. As for the Indy 4x4 kit, I think it still needs to be installed by an offroad fab shop, so if it was me, I'd talk to a shop first, they may offer you a better deal or options if all the parts and work are done in house. Like ZEUS mentioned in another post on here, a front locker only tends to blow out CVs if you are stomping on the throttle and then only usually if you are turning the wheels(more stress) or having intermittent traction like on rocks when the wheel catches. In normal situations, I'm sure a front locker is just fine. However if you are trying to go with bigger wheels, you may need the solid axles strength. Just out of curiosity, when you are going up these dirt hills, do you pull up on your parking brake at all? The limited slip in the rear will usually engage at that point and basically lock up the rear so you aren't spinning back there. The VX's limited slip is pretty good so it's worth a shot in the mean time. Good luck!!

[samneil2000]

Just out of curiosity, when you are going up these dirt hills, do you pull up on your parking brake at all? The limited slip in the rear will usually engage at that point and basically lock up the rear so you aren't spinning back there. The VX's limited slip is pretty good so it's worth a shot in the mean time. Good luck!!

I have read that on this site before, but forgot about it at the time. This was just a month or so ago at a small off-road area nearby. I was trying to climb some hills I hadn't attempted yet, and broke loose. The hill was pretty steep and I was pretty close to the top, and a bit nervous...
I might would have made it if I had let some air out of the tires too, but I needed to drive it back home when I was done playing and don't have onboard air.

As far as the fab goes, I would most likely do it myself (with friends). My friends are way more in to this stuff than I am, and have built full on tube frame rock-crawler buggies with Chevy 4.3 v6 besides just the Toyota truck based crawlers. Welding on some leaf-spring mounts etc seems like small potatoes.
I spent a good bit on the VX last year with the lift, maintainence, 33's etc. I'm not sure when I'll be ready to spend more money on it, but that SAS keeps popping up in my mind. I guess if I did a SAS, would I simply kill the TOD computer? Then I would have a rear wheel drive with Hubs unlocked, 4 high with hubs locked, and then 4 low with T-case engaged. Seems a bit of a waste of a handy all wheel drive vehicle too though. I know it's come in handy with the higher-than-normal snow amounts we've received here in west TN this year.