The aim of this thread is to trace my project from start to finish, as I put full width axles on my 1979 Toyota pickup, with as much pertinent information as possible and little else. I am creating this thread as I feel it is unique in what I am looking to do in it's specific details and have not been able to find an exact example elsewhere. Hopefully it will be able to help someone looking to do a very similar project.

Any correction of misinformation or technical advice and suggestions are welcome.

The goal (for now):
Cost: keeping it relatively cheap, but safe, meaning spending more money on parts that I feel will prevent headache later, while fabbing my own tabs and brackets etc. and using junkyard parts.
Axles: half-ton full-width axles for weight saving (mpg),off road stability, as well as ground clearance.
Gearing: the truck is my daily driver and it needs to be able to go on the freeway for long trips at a reasonable speed and rpm.
Tires: not planning on bigger than 35's. Why? From my point of view, there is less need for a tall lift, they are cheaper/easier to find, easier to turn with taller gears, and less likely to break axle and steering components than larger tires.
Lift: moderate lift: tall enough to get the job done without becoming unreasonable and too unstable.
Steering: for now, maintaining the factory push-pull system on the 79 Toyota. I know it's far from ideal, but it will get me rolling until I address it further.

A little background on this pickup: the Toyota was converted to a Chevy 350 small block with a mild cam and th350 transmission with a shift kit hooked to a Toyota transfer case sometime in the early 1980s when it supposedly had 31,000 miles. At the time of starting this project, the odometer now reads roughly 31,900 miles. It has a tom woods conversion driveshaft and narrowed ford 9" converted to toyota 6 lug pattern 6x5.5 the axles have 4.10s.


Narrowed Ford 9\"

In essence by the end of this project I plan to have a half ton Chevy running gear with a small, light Toyota body.
Beyond my choice of tires, gearing, lift, and axles, I feel this thread should be helpful to anyone looking to do a simple full width swap.
I will try to be as complete as possible and add many pictures as possible since I believe a picture is always worth a thousand words.

Before: 33's and 2\" wheel spacers

 

Here is the list of items I ordered to get started, with part numbers:

from skys offroad design:
full width swap front hanger, 2" drop
My Toyota has lift shackles on the rear of the front leaf springs that are longer than the offset shackles from skys. My headers have dents in them from hitting the differential and track bar brackets when flexing, so less lift is not an option. After calculating based off the dimensions of the front hangars and offset shackles lengths given on the Sky's website, I opted for the 2" drop front hanger, which should allow me to reuse my stock front leaf springs.
part # TOY-SASFW-HANGER-2"DROP $159.00

Dented headers



Lift shackle 6-1/2 eye to eye

Full width conversion shackle 5-1/2 eye to eye


Factory front hanger drop

Skys 2\" drop full width hanger(1" taller than usual) 4-3/4 inches mounting surface to center of eye


Full width offset shackles
part # TOY-SAFWS-001. $99.00

Full width offset shackles (side plates have been painted)

conversion front extended brake line set
Expensive, but in my mind worth it.
part # TOY-SASFWBL-001-Front $109.99

Metric to standard conversion brake lines


Dana 44/corporate 10 bolt u bolt flip kit
​​​One u bolt is longer and has a bigger radius than the other three. Rather than trying to explain to the truck shop how I wanted it made, I figured this kit was the right choice since it also came with the top plates which I need. (More technical data on this in a later post)
Part # DANA-44UBF-001 $79.00


Kit comes as bare steel. I painted the top plates here

From RuffStuff Specialties:
GM 2.5" Wide Spring Perch kit.
These perches match the width of my stock rear Toyota leaf springs. They also have 3 centering pin holes incase I decide to move the axle forward or back. With The Little nubs ground off, they fit the corporate 10 bolt rear axle tube, and are extra long which is important to me to try to limit axle wrap. Part #25-PERCH. $35.00 for the set

 

I picked up a set of corporate 10 bolt axles off a 1991 Chevy Blazer for $150. They were not far away, but because of the toyota's th350, 4.10s and 33" tires the trip took 3 hours at 55 mph.
I got a nice aftermarket differential cover for the rear axle in the deal, but I don't know what brand it is. I will post a picture and hopefully someone can identify it.



The guy had robbed the calipers and most of the rear brake parts including the rear brake line. The differentials are 3.73s and open carriers. The local junkyard sells complete axles for $160 a piece so I figure I came out alright


1991 Chevy Blazer corporate 10 bolt 3.73 open carrier

1991 Chevy Blazer corporate 10 bolt rear 3.73 open carrier

I know corporate 10 bolts are not the fav. Axles to swap and sometimes considered a waste of time. However, I consider these to be ideal at this point for my project based on the following: mainly price, and ease of finding readily available cheap parts. The rear corporate 10 bolt is supposedly 30lbs lighter than a Ford 9" (my initial plan), these axles have 3.73s in them which will hopefully help me achieve freeway speeds and which were likey mated to a 350/th350 in some factory configuration by Chevy, as far as strength, I figure there are plenty of old half ton square body Chevy's running around on 35s with these axles and gears and motor/tranny resulting in no major problems. Also, steering. The corporate 10 bolt front has a push-pull steering setup nearly identical to a 1979 Toyota, so the initial swap should be simple. Also, from what I understand, corporate 10 bolt and Dana 44 knuckles are entirely interchangable, so that opens up steering options down the road.
​

 

I got most of the Sky's stuff. It all looks to be of good quality, which I expected due to the prices. It shipped quick too, in spite of the coronavirus.

Everything is just bare metal, so in order to put a protective finish on, I utilized a method I have used with success on refurbishing vintage dirt bike and enduro parts:
Painting the parts with a gloss protective enamel and then curing them for several hours in a toaster oven I bought at a second hand store for a couple bucks gives the parts cheap but durable protective finish.I generally cook them for 2-3 hours at 200° in this particular oven. Don't use a toaster oven for food ever again after doing this! If you leave them in for too long at too hot of a temperature, the enamel may bubble off.

High quality enamel


Painted parts


Dedicated parts oven

​​​​​​Finished result
For a follow-up on the front u bolts, the kit has 3 u-bolts with a 3" radius and is 7-1/4 long.

3 front u-bolts length

3 front u-bolts radius

the 4th u-bolt has a radius of 3-1/2 and is 8-5/8 long

4th front u-bolts length


4th front u-bolts radius

 

I went to the local junkyard and found a mid 80s square body Chevy with relatively new brake hardware. I took pretty much everything except the pads and drums which came with my axles. I also got some diff cover bolts and other spare bolts. I could not get the curved push-pull steering arm off, even though I tried on several trucks. Finally I got the bolts loose on one but had left my hammer and pry bar at home. It was stuck fast, due to the rusty nature of pretty much anything in a Utah junkyard. I plan to go back with some pb blaster and a big hammer. I also got a rear brake line and a light. Everything cost $12.00

So I know where to put all the springs and adjusters

On the way home from the junkyard, I stopped at O'Reilly's and picked up two front calipers I had ordered in and two new wheel cylinders (the guy I bought the axles from said one had been leaking so I figured replace them both) the calipers were relatively cheap (thanks to the corporate 10 bolt) at $21.99 each. I did have to eat the $10.00 core charge per caliper though and with the $12.00 wheel cylinders the total came out to $90.00.

Caliper part #s 18-4208 and 18-4209
the wheel cylinders part # WC51081
(O'Reilly's part #s)

Another trip to the junkyard yielded a set of decent front brake pads and a gas cap for $6.00, while I forgot the PB blaster so still no steering arm.

Brake parts

The total on the axles is now $260.00 but I still need that steering arm.

 

Very thorough. Nice work so far!
Just curious what youre gearing is like for speed and rpms?

Also why did you decide to go from ford to chevy axles? Im assuming your previous setup was toy front axle and ford rear? Reading isnt my strong suit so im sorry if you explained this already.

Its funny you posted in the pre84 thread today, Id been fantasizing abt a full size axle swap

 

Thank you! Currently with 33s its reasonable top cruising speed is about 55 at 2400 rpm 60mph is 3000 rpm. Logically I should be putting a different transmission in, but that is out of the question for now and the th350( 3 speed auto) is in very good condition. Today I actually got some 35s and put on it to try to get a higher highway speed. I can now go 65 at 2500 rpm. It doesnt sound like much but it is a huge difference when everyone else is driving 70+. Around town It doesn't want to break the tires loose anymore however.

As far as axles go, I previously had put together a Chevy Dana 44 front with Ford outers and a Ford 9 inch with 4.10s I was going to swap into my 87 Toyota I had rolled. I was going to put a 70s Ford courier body on it, but blew up the 22r and needed a daily driver so I sold it all. Part of why I bought this Toyota was the 350 (more power) and it had a narrowed ford 9 inch so swapping a full width 9" would be super easy due to the brakes and driveline already set up. The Ford 9" has custom axle shafts and drilled drums to match the Toyota 6 lug front. But then I transitioned to using gm axles... I feel it would help retain value due to the rest of the Chevy drivetrain as far a uniformity goes. Also they are super cheap and easy to find, which is a factor as a college student. I can always wait for a good deal on a Chevy Dana 44, Ford knuckles and 9" to show up and switch them out. I decided against 1 tons because of mainly weight, as well as ground clearance since I don't really plan to run any thing larger than 35s.

 

Sky's full width front hanger came in the mail, it looks great.

in the picture, you can see the 9/16 bolts that are supplied with the hanger as well as the 18mm (major diameter) sleeves in order to work with the factory Toyota front leaf spring bushings.
I called Sky's and ordered another set of these bolts and sleeves ($25.00 plus $10.00 shipping) to use on the rear end of the leaf springs, rather than drilling out the lower end of the offset shackles (supplied from skys with a 1/2 inch holes and bolts) to 18mm (the factory Toyota bushing minor diameter). My choice to drill the holes to 9/16 and use the Sky's sleeves to get to the 18mm diameter was a personal preference and purely for uniformity's sake.
After getting things mapped out and ordering the hardware, I went up to the shop and drilled out the 1/2 inch holes to 9/16. (Note:t top shackle holes are 18mm and supplied from Sky's with 18mm bolts which will fit perfectly in unmodified factory frame tube bushings)



Also drilled the holes to spec for my shock mounting tabs and dual steering stabilizer brackets I had cut out a while ago on the plasma table from 1/4" thick steel


The lift shackles currently on the Toyota have SAE bolts, so I'm assuming the bushings were drilled out to fit the larger bolts. Seeing as the bushings are old and cracked anyways, I ordered a new set of factory spec (except poly instead of rubber) bushings for the leaf springs and the frame tubes. (Having ordered the extra bolts and 18mm sleeves ensures a perfect and uniform fitment)
Some bushing kits do not come with the frame tube bushings (I believe Pro Comp's kit is this way) so after some cross referencing on part numbers and inner/outer diameter specs, I went with
​​with Prothane "Front Leaf Spring Bushings -Toyota 4Runner"
part # 181004 (or 18-1004) $24.57

The specs from their website listed are:

• 1 of Super Grease - 19-1750-001
• 8 of Hat Bushings - 60269 (1.170OD X .705 ID X 1.315).

(Leaf spring bushings)

• 4 of Hat Bushings - 60405 (1.170OD X .705 ID X 2.025)

(Frame tube bushings)

(https://www.prothanesuspensionparts.com/181004)

They come in two color options, black or red.

 

Got the Toyota in the shop and measured the height before I took the wheels off and put it on blocks. It sits exactly 1 inch lower in the back.

Front

Rear

I took all the wheel spacers off and listed them for sale, they promptly sold for $75.00.

Took the rear axle off and cut the brake proportioning valve and brake line block mounts off the axle.



I guessed right: the rear brake block was a conversion piece with standard brake line fittings. So that saved me $100. The u-joint in the drive shaft is also the right size for the pinion on the 10 bolt rear.

I removed the front axle, including the brake lines
and listed them both for sale


On the rear, someone had added a spacer in the leaf pack, which made the centering pin not long enough. Rather than replacing it, they literally used epoxy, which surprisingly diddn't hold. The front u bolts were also not safe, they had tons of washers and bolts used as washers and weren't straight.
I took apart the front leaf packs and removed the shims that I assume we're used to compensate caster angle with the lift shackles on the rear of the front springs. My new setup should just be equally moving the front and rear of the springs down, so I shouldn't need the shims.

Front leaf pack

How I like to keep the leaf pack together while removing the centering pin and grabbing onto the bottom of the pin with vise grips

I removed the front lift shackles and bushings drilled out for them, and listed them for sale.



I removed the leaf springs and cut the front leaf spring hangars off. Past the point of no return now.
While I had the grinder going, I cut the spring perches off the corporate 10 bolt rear axle and cut off all the shock mounts on both axles.

At this point, the rear u bolts I had called pohl springs (great company) and ordered had been made so I went and picked them up. They gave me a set of used longer centering pin bolts too in good shape. The rear u bolts, washers and nuts were $50.00
I went to the junkyard to get a drag link and try to get a steering arm off again. At a different junkyard, I found a skyjacker drop steering arm and after an hour of pb blaster and pounding I gave up on what was my 4th attempt to get one of these dang things off.

I gave up decided to buy one. To get to this point on the truck it was only about 6 hours in the shop and I was definitely taking my time.

 

I have better luck with a ball joint separator on steering arms.

The trucks looking good. With the sale of all the parts youre pulling, this might turn out to be a really affordable project. Id buy the toy axle if I were near you.

 

I probably should have tried that, but I reached my threshold of wanting to keep beating on the steering arm. Thanks, selling parts to recoup cost is a big part of my funding plan.

 

The rest of the front hangers cut off (the worst part of the whole project)

the front hanger mocked up, before I tacked it on thankfully I noticed it would interfere with the pitman arm

notched it out with rounded radius to prevent potential for shearing


put the sleeves in the bushings in the leaf springs got the springs back on. One issue was the upper bolts for the full width shackles were to long and we're hitting the exhaust pipes so I trimmed them down, making sure that enough was left for the nylock nut to grab on.

Welded on the front hanger solidly

And put the front axle back on, after I ground all the axle mount remnants flush

Sold and delivered the Ford 9" for $300, and picked up a lift steering arm, 1" lift blocks from 4wp, and steering stabilizer kit for $160. The new front brake calipers and conversion brake likes went on like a breeze.

 

Got the pinion angle set and spring perches welded on the rear axle. I actually put it under the truck and set it how I wanted it, and then tacked the perches in place, then pulled the whole thing out and welded them up.

bolted the rear axle on with the 1" lift blocks, and pieced the brakes together. I used the following website as a guide for the brakes since all I had to go off of was a bucket full of brake parts from the junkyard.
This visual guide is perfect for putting together all the hardware and springs on a corporate 10 bolt rear axle:
http://www.gmtruckcentral.com/articles/Drums.html
​​​(Copy and paste in your browser)

now to hook up the rear brakelines and get some workable steering!

 

For the steering drag link, I combined the Toyota arm and a Chevy arm I got from the junkyard for $10. The aim is to make it so that it is serviceable and adjustable just like a stock drag link, with a Toyota ball joint on the pitman arm side, and a Chevy ball joint on the steering arm.
The picture will help it make sense.
For the sleeve I took a piece of pipe, and cut a slot so I could pry it big enough to fit over the two pieces. With this setup, the steering stops on the Toyota steering box math the stock steering stops on the corporate 10 bolt perfectly.

 

Today I got some help bleeding the brakes, and welded the track bar mount from the Toyota axle on, and welded my shock tabs on. I welded them to the spring perch top plates because that was about the only option without hitting the drag link on the driver's side. I made sure to locate them where I can still get to all the bolts.


Then I welded the brake proportioning valve to the differential cover

and relocated the rear brake line tab from here


to here,

since the Chevy brake lines centered the brake block on the differential. Getting a extension soft line for the rear was an option, but was $25 to have made at the hose place, and it wouldn't be available for another several days. I opted to bend the hard line and move the mount instead.
Also welded on the brake block mount mount

I went and bought a jug of 80-90 weight and a rear u joint for a 1991 Chevy Blazer and put it in, before I put the differential covers on I inspected the ring and pinion and counted the teeth and turns out I have 4.55s. so it will be slower than before on the highway!

 

why a 10 bolt?
the stock 79 axle you pulled is probably stronger

 

I wanted a wider stabile stance. 1/2 ton Chevy axles are a dime a dozen for availability and parts. Weight savings was also a huge factor, as well as differential ground clearance as apposed to 1-tons. It made the project very affordable. The axles I chose to use are off a 1991 Chevy Blazer. November 1989-1991 are the best years to use for the corporate 10 bolt since they have 30 spline axle shafts. (Higher spline count than earlier years)

Bounced it around a little off-road this morning to make sure everything is tight, and it has unbelievable power to the ground with the 4.55s

 

Since the tires stick out so much now, it needs mudflaps. But mudflaps don't look good and historically get ripped off wheeling. To solve this, I welded a small short section of pipe onto the bumper brackets, and found another piece of smaller square pipe that was almost an interference fit and drilled a hole for a hitch pin through both. Now it is easy to be mostly street legal quickly.

 

Ive seen cool mudflaps on Australian trucks, where they have a chain attached to the back holding the mudflap up kind of 45 degrees.