try trd e-lockers, avaliable at your local toyota dealership or junkyard

 

There are online shops (like marlincrawler.com, trail-gear.com) that offer complete build 3rd members with lockers. Expect to pay out the nose for them.

I would find a local gear shop (that is reputable) to set them up for you.

 

post some pics here for us and let us know how it goes. would like to do something similar with my 94 2wd. thanks

 

2WD Upgrade - CANCELLED



Sorry, but I've decided not to move forward on this project and have dedicated those funds for outfitting a new truck when I retire my 2WD in 2014 (I figure 20 years is a good run).

The 1994-era 2WD body with a Downey Pro-Desert suspension can only accommodate 30 x 9.50" tires which combined will give me about 3.5" of additional ground clearance. It will also result in a 13% power decrease and significant speedometer error until the ring and pinion gears are replaced (at which time I'd also install the TrueTrac).

Yes, the upgrades would make for some fun dirt road play, but the entire project would cost around $2000 and I don't think the incremental performance is really worth the cost.

So boring as it may be, I'll keep rolling along in my stock 2WD with 3.56 gear ratio and sipping fuel at 27 mpg. If you move forward with your project, let me know and send some pics too.

 

thank you. you seem very knowledgable on lifting 2wd's, what about a slight lift for a higher ride height and may be 15's? any info would be apreciated.

 

Actually, I'm mostly clueless, but I had several good conversations with the guys at Downey off-road on the technical details.

My stock tires (205 / 75 R 14) are 26.1" tall. A 30 x 9.50" tire (R15) is 29.5" tall and requires more power to push down the road - about 13% more - which can be achieved by changing to a "lower" ring and pinion gear size (actually a higher number e.g. from 3.56 to 4.11)

If you went with a smaller tire diameter, the performance hit would be less and you could get away w/o the gearing change. Alternatively, if you don't mind losing some power (and with only 112 hp on the 22RE I sure would be) you can skip the gears and fix your speedometer with a Truspeed recalibrator.

The bottom line though is what are you trying to accomplish? Believe me, I would SO go for 33" tires and an LSD on my truck to go play in the dirt. But those tires won't fit unless I either install a body lift (a whole new set of problems) or rip off the front fenders and the sidewalls of the bed!

While it's certainly possible to make a great desert rat out of a 2WD yota, the "barrier to entry" - meaning what it would cost to get what you (or at least me from my point of view) really want is just too high, IMHO.