Remove Spindle cab with a small srewdriver or chisel, work around the edge slowly and don't beat it to death they damage easily, once separated use a prior bar to pop it off:

Remove Cotter pin and lock retainer:

Remove axle nut 36mm w/ impact gun my battery powered electric took these off, if they are stuck or don't have power tools have an assistant hold the brakes while you put a breaker bar on it, if no assistant is available the nut can be broken loose by setting the tires on the ground in park and using a breaker bar, this should be done early on obviously.

Remove Sway bar link nut and pull link away from spindle this free up more travel:

Remove lower ball joint Bolts: There are only 2 early trucks had 4 bolts

The spindle is now ready to be pulled away from the axle shaft giving you room to swing it out away from the CV, this allows for CV removal. The splines of the CV can be fairly seized in the internal hub splines. Screwing the axle nut back on shaft and popping the end of it, with a dead bow will free it up.

Getting the spindle away from the shaft is much easier with an assistant but possible by yourself, pull rotor spindle assembly away while pulling CV shaft back towards diff.

Position spindle to the rear and secure or have an assistant hold out of the way while shaft is being removed.

Remove CV shafts- use a pry bar to pop shaft out of tube and diff. Internal c-clip is holding shaft in. A big brass drift can also be placed where prior bar is placed and can be knocked out with a hammer. I actually used the drift method as there is a metal dust seal on inner side of shaft that slightly interferes with pry method.

Unplug ADD motor harness careful not to break the plastic securing clips after all this is a 05+ truck lets keep it NEW!

I like to go ahead and loosen the ADD tube retaining bolts, these are fairly tight and with the diff installed its a reasonable holding fixture. The tube can be fully removed now as well. But the tube serves as a useful place to grab when removing diff, and retains a bit of diff fluid that will surely drain all over you when you remove. I like to just break the bolts loose and leave it attached until its on the bench.

There is a 12mm bolt on top of the diff that holds the diff breather and vacuum line retainer bracket, go ahead and back this bolt out and disconnect the two lines. Hard to see in a picture so here they are after diff is removed.

Now time to remove the mounting bolts and drop the diff, remove the allen nut 17mm, and the other 2 bolts as pictured. Remove allen nut completely remove one bolt completely, and back out last bolt almost all the way out, so diff is still hanging, diff will be rotated forward/down.

Position self to support and remove diff, rotate diff back up and remove last bolt while supporting diff, allow diff to rotate down and raise up until rear allen mount stud is free and lower. The 05+ diffs have more room than the early truck to get the diff out so that is a plus. Diff can be removed by one person and only ways about 35-40lbs.

 

We did an ARB install on this one but did not take pictures, We have another one on monday so i will update for ARB tech install into diff as well.

 

Great work!
Thank you for posting!

 

great stuff thanks for the writeup. Give me an idea on whats going on with my hilux at the moment since its in the workshop getting an ARB front locker put in.

 

... and don't forget to unbolt the front drive shaft...

 

Great write up!

Even after over $7,000 in performance add-on's, choosing ECGS for my regear and ARB has been the best bang for the buck yet! :xrocker:

 

awesome writeup very informative!

i know this is off topic but I have a stupid question...is the truck still drivable when the cv's are removed from the spindle and front differential? i was thinking if i removed the cvs, got a set of prerunner spindles and capped off the hole in the differential i would be good to go or am i wrong? iam asking this because i will be purchasing a long travel kit soon and will not have money to buy some new $700 cv's/axles to accomidate the trucks new wider stance.

so essentially i want to know if this is possible
-remove cv's
-remove 4x4 spindle
-replace 4x4 spindle with prerunner spindle
-cap off the differential with some sort of plug
-drive

thanks

-Andrew

 

Good work this should be a sticky.

 

I just got me truck back with the frotn air locker fitted and it bloody leaks air!!!!

it works but the compressor is running constantly whilst working.

Suposedly the seals ARB supply are crap and leak air easily. so I have to reutrn it on Friday to get it pulled out again and inspected before my next trip the following weekend.

anyone else here end up with leaking seals from a brand new arb locker?

 

ARB's copper tubes are super delicate... one bump on the line when doing the install can mess it up pretty good! Good thing it wasn't leaking on the trail!

 

they are not that delicate and the seals are not junk we test ours before sending them out to insure this does not happen or before putting them back in. ill get some more pics up of the ARB stuff but it was a bit of a whirlwind lately around here and did not have alot of time to spend taking pictures of the ARB install. Before pulling the diff there is definetly some things to check for. If the fittings in the ARB compressor are overtightened the tank body will crack and leak air.

1. cut compressor on and spray soapy water around the pressure switch and soleniod fittings to insure they are not leaking.

2. the copper line can actually be seen on the 05+ diffs by removing the passenger side ADD tube. for seal housing design and placemnet the ARB 8 CS 05+ diff is one of the best designs in my opinion. if the seal housing or the copper line is leaking you could tell by just removing the pass side tube.

let me know if i can help you

 

To above post yes that is possible if you remove the CV's you might as well go ahead and drop the diff out, also that way you won't have to cap it off. its only 4 more bolt to drop the diff. you could run the 4wd spindles but the CV holds the wheel bearing together, if you were junking your cv's or did not want to spend the money on the 2wd spindles you could pull your cv's and seperate and just run the outer stub with the axle nut attached to it and all would be well. it will keep your bearings in place. Thanks, Chase

 

thanks so much that is exactly what i wanted to know.

 

I also have a semi off topic question for ECGS, does anyone make an upgraded CV for the 05+ tacoma, such as a cro-molly. And do the arb front air lockers cause broken diffs and CV's because i heard they did.

Thanks Matt

 

So far the stock CVs have held up to a lot of abuse. 35"s haven't broken them even with a front locker. Sarah's old truck from All Pro was setup with Walker Evans Beadlocks and 35"s with stock CVs.

 

By upgrading to an ARB you upgrade the the strength of the carrier 10 fold. The new 8" diffs are much stronger than the 7.5 diffs just do to ring gear size. Not to mention they are high pinion so the ring and pinion are ruinning on the correct strong side of the gear. The CV's have been upgraded also to 30 spline increasing strength. I believe 35's are very reasonable for these diffs escpecially with the NITRO ring and pinions they are of great quality which i think out performs the stock ring and pinions all day long.

Think how many straight axle 8" toyota are running around out there w/ 35's and up. the center section of this diff is stronger due to it it being HP reverse rotation. also stock toy 8 have 27 spline birfs, the upgrade for these are the 30 spline longfields, these are chromoly yes. Talking boby into making some chromoly CV's for these might be an option. But frankly i think the front ends will handle 35's in stock form. to run bigger tires than 35's i think you are just going past the limitations of IFS and a SAS is in order. Chase@ECGS

 

Seems everyone is comfortable pulling the rear diff.

I need help with the rear. Does anyone know where I can find step by step instructions?

(yes, I searched)

 

really?

http://www.tacomaterritory.com/wiki/index.php/Third_Member

http://www.tacomaterritory.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3609

 

RCV performance who makes Bobby's Dana60 CV's already makes a replacement outer joint for our trucks and the FJ Cruiser. They aren't cheap though...

 

Great write up Chase!

 

Right on! My Diff should be here next week with the ARB.

 

Thanks for the write up. Going to be removing my diffs to send to you this weekend

 

How about an Air locker install write up?

 

does anyone have install knowledge on the 2nd gen Tundra?

Is the procedure/components to removal similar for the Tundra 9" clam?

 

Pretty similar, although a couple of the bolts are bigger.

 

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