RA40/60 diff conversion

[xsoarerx]

I've been looking into the RA40/60 recently because I haven't been able to find any
T-18 diffs as of yet. From what I've read so far there

*1410mm disk to disk, the wider track also reduces the need for wheel spacers.

*Need a Celica adjustable panhard rod with extra adjustment (for lowering)

*The upper lateral mounts need to come in 15mm (I think that's each side, 30mm total???) but it doesn't matter if you don't move them?

*The RA60 comes with sway bar mounts but the RA40 doesn't but with both you have to re mount them in the correct position.

*And you need the t-18 end of the tail shaft because the RA40/60 is 10mm short or too large or something?

My questions are, can an adaptor plate be made to span the gap between the S series tail shaft and the RA40/60 t series? Are they completely different or similar? Can ether the S series tail shaft end or T series be lengthened/ shortened to fit?

And secondly if I was to use the RA60 diff with sway bar mounts (from what I've read they do) rather than repositioning them, can I just run a RA60 sway bar or an adjustable RA60 sway bar? Would doing this change the handling by much, im sure if I use an adjustable sway bar I can fix that but not sure on the stock RA one

Im planning on tomorrow or Saturday going to find some RA diffs to look at and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[xsoarerx]

Oh yeah, and if I go ahead with this ill do a full write up

There seams to be much talk about this conversion but not much confirmation that this set up works well

In all honesty hoping to spend under $500 all up, that's my aim.

If I could design an adapter plate for the difference between the S tail shaft and T diff it could end the need for a t-18, because most people seam to get adjustable panhard rods and upgraded sway bars anyway.

And I know t-18 is much easier but there getting hard to find (that's the reason for my rant) but for every t-18 there's probably 30 RA's so it makes sense.

[Hen is a total nutcase]

My cousin tried to fit an RA60 diff into a T18 and ran into a few problems and I don't know if he ever finished it. It was a couple of years ago, but I remember that some of the mounting bolt holes were the wrong size. Not too hard to drill them out though.

S and T tailshafts have the same bolt pattern, its just that the S is about 10mm longer. I have heard of them being used in place of a proper T one, however I wouldn't recommend it myself. You could shorten the factory S series tailshaft, but if you are going to go to the effort, get a one piece while you're at it.

Hen

[xsoarerx]

yeah ive read people using s serise on a t18 rear end but it shortens the life of the gearbox.

what do you mean by one peice? is it a machined part?

[bahnugget]

no, he means get a custom 1 piece tailshaft.. funny enough, most tailshaft places will make them and balance them for you, for a price.

[slydar]

ra40 diffs DO have sway bar mounts. ra60 and ra40s are completely differant cars.

you cant space the tailshaft, it needs to be shorter. with a little bit of messing you can make an s series tail shaft fit a T series. but its not a good idea.

bottom mounts on the ra40 diff are the same spacing as 86. tops arent. spring seats on the ra40 diff are differant (for small diametre springs) i guess the spring will sit on there. but thats dodgy.

ra40 use larger diametre bolts to secure the arms to the brackets. dont know how your going to solve that problem in a satisfactory way.

i know all this because i have had a t18 diff sitting next to a ra40 diff. i bought it for the axles and ratio. its not worth the effort. its still a t series. buy a t18 diff, once you have the housing (t18) your set.

you would considering it if you owned/had acess to a mig welder. otherwise forget it.

oh the ra40 sway bar is exactly the same shape and ae86.

as has been mentioned, the ra40 diff will fit, but its dodgy.

[CAE86]

If you were going to go to the effort of modifying mounts and such, wouldn't it be better to get a hilux diff? I'm sure there are plenty of them floating around at wreckers, and lsd's/ratio's are a lot easier to come by for these diffs.

[slydar]

there is definately not plenty of suitable hilux diffs floating around at the wreckers. plus theyre all 5/6 stud. plus theyre heavy and theyre overkill.