Outer Limits 4x4 Board

G'day fellas, just wondering how much abuse a 4 cylinder 3rd member can handle. What are the real differences with a V6 style 3rd? I'm putting a v6, auto and 4.7 t/c gears in my YN65 and plan to run 35-37" Tyres. Is that asking too much of a built 4 cyl?

I'm not having any luck finding a v6 3rd and I've got a couple of 4's laying around.

sounds like your from the states.
have a read through http://www.gearinstalls.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
i think the 4cyls diffs are 2 pinion and the v6 ones are 4 pinion.

just looking through the site myself, i suspect you wil find the stock toyota gears will fail first.
a good set of aftermarket gears, a solid collar, crank the carrier bearings up nice and tight and it will survive quite well.

tweak'e wrote:i think the 4cyls diffs are 2 PIN and the v6 ones are 4 PIN.

A diff only has one pinion gear..

This is the Third member ("3rd")

bah, sorry got my words all muddled.

seeif i can hot link these pics.


v6 third


4cyl 3rd

Your top pic in that post is a thrird.

The other two are dismantled centres.

Some may say "who cares". Well, if youre going to talk techinical about individual parts you may as well use the right words so everyone is on the same page.

quite correct. just trying to show the differences between the two. couldn't get a pic of the 4cyl third complete quickly. but i think he will get the idea.

tweak'e wrote:quite correct. just trying to show the differences between the two. couldn't get a pic of the 4cyl third complete quickly. but i think he will get the idea.

It would seem you didn't read the original post. The question is how strong can a 4 cyl 3rd be built - with good gears, ARB, solid pinion spacer and good mesh & bearing preload.

On YOUR side note, cross pins in the hemisphere can correctly be called pinion shafts but could then be confused with the pinion gear. The v6 3rd's have bigger bearings and different gears and this was what I was asking about.

I'm from Australia. We have v6 runners here too. Just no 22Re turbos like the US

a little suprised you can't find a v6 third as they are also in diesel surfs which are usually not hard to find. otherwise try a NZ wrecker a few ship to aussie and broken surfs are dime a dozen here.

zuks site (link i posted) shows quiet a number of hiluxs and 4runners with 35-37" tires with the 4cyl diffs. send him an email hes very good to talk to.

I've had my Lux now for a fair while and have broken 3 sets of crown wheel and pinions and one arb airlocker and that was with 32's and 33's (2 factory Toyota gears and 1 set of Yukon gears). V6 diffs are not really much different if you are going to load them right up.

As said the v6 3rd members (carriers) have a slightly stronger housing, slightly bigger carrier bearings and bigger pinion bearings.

Aftermarket gears are stronger and will last longer, and ideally being set up new (properly) with a v6 3rd member is about as good as you will get with lux centres. Diff locks will help making them last longer due to generally being able to crawl things without flogging the truck to get over it.

But if you drive responsibly it should last a while on 35's but I doubt it for too long on 37's.

Keep in Mind you will pay extra for a second hand v6 centres but you are getting something second hand with gears and bearings that are worn. In my opinion, don't buy a Toyota setup diff, but one someone has rebuilt with lockers and aftermarket gears, it's not cheap to build yourself. Should cost about $800-1000 for a 2nd hand rebuilt centre with a airlocker in there.

I now have a freshly rebuilt rear 4cyl diff with Yukon gears brand new arb air locker and solid pinion spacer, and on 35's I have managed to break a chromo rear axle with no damage to gears or locker.. They really arnt all bad.

If you are worried put in 60 series cruiser diffs

Brad