Topic: 1991 IFS Swap

[jessejms55]

Ok so I'm looking into buying a 1991 Toyota 4x4 with IFS.  I was wondering how much work would be involved in doing a straight axle swap?

[Travis H]

bout a weeks worth of work if you work on it everyday.

[jessejms55 [OP]]

Is that using the marlin crawler kit?

[axled89]

yes.  there is lots of grinding and weld involved with it.   and measurements to.

[OOPS]

Not really that hard if you are good with your hands and have grinder and welding skills along with hand tools. With the kits now days they are a piece of cake, not like when I did mine and had to piece-meal it and make a lot of phone calls to All-Pro. Read this so you can see what you are in for.

http://www.marlincrawler.com/tech/guide/solid-axle-swap

[NorCalToy]

Ok so I'm looking into buying a 1991 Toyota 4x4 with IFS.  I was wondering how much work would be involved in doing a straight axle swap?

did mine in a weekend used pre-fab'd spring and shackle hangers but did all the measuring to run rear springs up front. cut it all off with a torch and then used a flap disc to smooth it all out

[Joey88RUNR]

Did mine in 3 full days of work, would never do it again, give yourself some time, do it in 2 weekends or something

[Dingman.]

Honestly..

I think its pretty simple, just tedious work.  It was really nerve racking doing mine, but that was the first real fab work i ever did.

I would say the longest part was getting the axle rebuilt, and cleaned up to go under the truck.. Especially when its your first axle rebuild.

Depending on what tools you have available you can get the ifs cut off pretty fast.  When we did mine it took forever, but we did my buddy johnnys and used a sawzall (again) and we had the main points of the ifs cut off within an hour and just had to clean the frame up a bit.

I would recommend reading the install instructions from marlin to get an idea of what is involved, and 4crawler has a great writeup on rebuilding the axle.

You can get it done in a weekend if your really motivated.

I would highly suggest having the axle COMPLETELY built and ready to go under the truck before you cut off the ifs.  Just makes it go that much smoother/quicker.

[46&2]

Honestly..

I think its pretty simple, just tedious work.  It was really nerve racking doing mine, but that was the first real fab work i ever did.

I would say the longest part was getting the axle rebuilt, and cleaned up to go under the truck.. Especially when its your first axle rebuild.

Depending on what tools you have available you can get the ifs cut off pretty fast.  When we did mine it took forever, but we did my buddy johnnys and used a sawzall (again) and we had the main points of the ifs cut off within an hour and just had to clean the frame up a bit.

I would recommend reading the install instructions from marlin to get an idea of what is involved, and 4crawler has a great writeup on rebuilding the axle.

You can get it done in a weekend if your really motivated.

I would highly suggest having the axle COMPLETELY built and ready to go under the truck before you cut off the ifs.  Just makes it go that much smoother/quicker.

Good advice.

[madmax886]

Did mine in 3 full days of work, would never do it again, give yourself some time, do it in 2 weekends or something

ya deffinetly give yourself a spare time cause you'll run into dumb tedious problems, like for me the pitman arm, and the cone washers on the hub

[46&2]

ya deffinetly give yourself a spare time cause you'll run into dumb tedious problems, like for me the pitman arm, and the cone washers on the hub

Also it gets stressful. Better to take your time and do it right the first time.

[madmax886]

Also it gets stressful. Better to take your time and do it right the first time.

and dont be like me, measure twice weld once!

[86bobbedtoy]

hell
measure 10 times
tach weld
test it
then finish weld
you only have one chance without alot more work


I can cut all the crap off the frame in 1 hour with a sawzall
then use a cut off wheel to cut off the rest
then grind-flap disk the rest smooth

[zippo]

Come one people. Its not that hard. I don't even find it tedious or stressful. Just take your time and check everything.  If you are good with your hands/and have done work like this somewhat before, you could, cut the IFS off/weld everything on day 1. Days 2 put everything together. Day 3 would be for fine tuning, odds and ins and taking her around town to show your friends.

And if you really need the truck DD, the SAS parts don't interfere with the IFS. So you could weld the front hanger on/Frame tubes on and then focus on the Axel. Then when your ready, Cut the IFS off, simply bolt the axle up and weld the shock hoops and PS box on.

[Dingman.]

And if you really need the truck DD, the SAS parts don't interfere with the IFS. So you could weld the front hanger on/Frame tubes on and then focus on the Axel. Then when your ready, Cut the IFS off, simply bolt the axle up and weld the shock hoops and PS box on.

People do that, but a lot of people want to put the hangar where they want it and have the weight of the vehicle on the springs to determine the shackle angle.

[bigarms23]

it took me and a buddy to do my full width sas 12hours but i did have my axles built and ready to go before that

[86bobbedtoy]

People do that, but a lot of people want to put the hangar where they want it and have the weight of the vehicle on the springs to determine the shackle angle.

x me

[TacoRunner]

Come one people. Its not that hard. I don't even find it tedious or stressful. Just take your time and check everything.  If you are good with your hands/and have done work like this somewhat before, you could, cut the IFS off/weld everything on day 1. Days 2 put everything together. Day 3 would be for fine tuning, odds and ins and taking her around town to show your friends.

And if you really need the truck DD, the SAS parts don't interfere with the IFS. So you could weld the front hanger on/Frame tubes on and then focus on the Axel. Then when your ready, Cut the IFS off, simply bolt the axle up and weld the shock hoops and PS box on.

I think the difference here is, you can take two different approaches to doing a SAS. You can cut off only what is not needed, which makes the job faster, but leaves alot of excessive stock  behind. Or you can take your time and start eliminating all that stuff and end up with much cleaner looking truck. Like the torsion bar brackets. Most people dont cut them off, and to do so you have to move lines around and out of the way, so its a pain in the butt. But in the end you are probably happier with it being gone and out of the way, plus it make future mods much easier.

[Travis H]

agreed, id rather take my time and do everything nice and clean. rather than rush it and still have brackets and crap from the ifs.

I think the difference here is, you can take two different approaches to doing a SAS. You can cut off only what is not needed, which makes the job faster, but leaves alot of excessive stock  behind. Or you can take your time and start eliminating all that stuff and end up with much cleaner looking truck. Like the torsion bar brackets. Most people dont cut them off, and to do so you have to move lines around and out of the way, so its a pain in the butt. But in the end you are probably happier with it being gone and out of the way, plus it make future mods much easier.