I’m also doing an 8.8 swap in my 94 Toyota pickup. Stock 22 re. Does the axle have to be shortened? The driveshaft is off to the right a bit but seems to be working fine. I haven’t drivin it yet. Im still working on my 4 link. I’ve read some guys shorten and some leave it stock. Do you have pics of your brake line set up for the 8.8? Nice work by the way!! Thanks

 

I think he covers this in post #54. The trick being that you narrow the driver side to the length of the passenger, then purchase 2 right side axles! Neat trick if you ask me.

 

Hmmmmm... are you sure this is really a good idea? I thought axles are supposed to only be loaded in one direction, like torsion bars...

 

Could very much be, in stock form. If your buying aftermarket tho it might depend on brand. I'm sure OP/someone will chime in with xperience to the topic.

 

The stock 8.8 does not have to be shortened to fit, but if not, it does create some other things to deal with. The center pumpkin on the 8.8 if offset to the passenger side. If you're running a stock fuel tank, the right hand side of the pumpkin may come into contact with the tank. How you deal with that can be up to you, either by fuel cell or something similar, or if you're a 5lb mallet kind of guy, have at it.

The other thing about keeping the factory width 8.8 is that since it's wider than the Toyota axle, if you are wanting to run the same rims, the rears will now stick out further than before. For the first few years I had the 8.8 axle, and before I narrowed it, I ended up having to run seperate rims sets up front and out back, because I needed an offset that would clear my bed without rubbing. The visual looks of different rims always bothered me.

When you do the easier job of narrowing just one side, like I did, it fixes the issue of the pumpkin being offset to the passenger side and it centers it in the vehicle. It also allows you to run the same rims as before as the final measurement is very close to the factory Toyota width. I don't have specs of measurements off the top of my head, sorry.

I don't have pics of the brake lines at the moment, but I'm happy to take some and upload them in the next few days. I fabricated my own lines from the Toyota proportioning valve to the rear calipers of the 8.8. One thing to note is that you will have to make your own lines/adapters one way or another, as neither the Toyota lines nor the 8.8 lines from whatever you pull it from will be a direct fit.

 

I can't speak from an engineering side of things about torsional load, although I can say that I've never heard of this being an issue. What I can speak from is first hand experience with this setup, and that I have not had any issues with axles as of yet. The 8.8 has been paired with my V8 setup for about 10 years, and the past couple of years since it's been narrowed, and I've found no issues.

 

We've finished the paint job and the truck is 95% back together. Just have some final touch up work to do, like install battery, engine bay wiring covers, door speakers, etc. Small, tidy-up things. We took her for her first 15 mile drive last night to start the motor break in.

 

So I have a 4 link setup on my truck. I bought it like that. The previous owner had set it up. Totally wrong. With airbags. Im in the process of redoing the 4 link now. Took the airbags off to run coil overs. I’ll post pics of the 4 link soon. Here’s what I did so far. That’s the 8.8. With wide wheels. Your truck is Awsome man. Very nice and clean.

 

Took it to my first car show (as a participant) and won top 10!

As of now, she's always turn key ready but is mostly just a play vehicle these days, I think I only put about 500 miles on it last year. Running on 110 race fuel at 9-10mpg does add up quick!

The update from 2024 was a triple fan setup that is run by a Dakota Digital controller. 1 pusher, 2 puller. I should of done this years ago! With this motor in there, heat has always been a battle. Wrapped headers, heat wrap everywhere you can think, expensive heat and sound deadeners, you name it, she has it. But these three fans and now being controlled automatically (I used to have a single pusher on a manual switch, basically always on lol), it's turned this into a true cruiser as well. We can now run it around for errands, rip the track, cruise around, never worry about heat. It was obviously an airflow issue at low speeds (she never got hot when moving). It's the little things like this that make it so enjoyable to just get her out for a cruise.

Update from this past 2025 winter (I suppose it's still winter) was a new driveshaft. I had another custom shaft made with 1350 joints and Sonnax chromoly slip and end yokes. In 4", up from 3.5". I was battling vibrations that grew with speed, but weren't related to wheels, engine rpm, gear, only vehicle speed. The original driveshaft turned out to be warped 55 thousandths. New driveshaft in, problem solved.

See ya in another couple of years! Lol