Topic: Questions about building a hybrid axle

[moroza]

I recently bought an '81 4x4 Pickup with a wider '86-95 rear axle and 3.90 gears. I want to buy the e-locker out of an '05 Tacoma and install it with the gears I have. I've done some searching but haven't found conclusive answers about whether that will work.

First question: are all e-lockers the same; that is, will one from a 2nd-gen '05+ Taco fit an '86-'95 housing with the same mods as for the more common '96-'04 e-locker?

Second question: without tearing the diff apart, is there a way to tell whether my newer axle also has a newer diff with long-pinion-head gears, or if the previous owner reused the original diff with short-pinion gears?

Third question: this post and others like it imply that 86-95 gears are all the same, whether V6 or I4. So just to confirm, if I do have newer LPH gears, can I use them in the e-locker carrier? What about if I still have the old SPH gears, is there some mix-n-match game I can play with bearings and shims to fit them in the e-locker?

Thanks all

[E YOTA]

 yes all e lockers are the same but the hp e locker uses reverse cut  gears....e locker diff are v6 thirds and only v6 gears n bearings will fit in them...no on that second and third question...the v6 will have bigger bearing and be stronger than the 4 cylinder differentials....not a good idea to mix n match i would perfer going with a new installl kit

[moroza [OP]]

Thanks for confirming the diff compatibility. As for my third question: I know the bearings and housing are different, but the more people I ask (just called Inchworm, for one), the more it's looking like I can use my existing gears in the elocker housing. I don't know if I have the SPH or LPH gears. If it's the latter, they should fit the elocker natively. If it's the former, I just stack shims, it looks like:

From that Pirate post: "SPH gears will fit V6 housings [including the e-locker] if you add a lot of inner pinion bearing shims."

I'm not going to mix-n-match bearings - e-locker diff gets e-locker bearings no matter what gears are in it - only gears, and it looks like that'll work. Does this all sound right to you?