rock assault vs diamond vs home-made

im going to be sas-ing soon. heres my 3 choices. what would you choose for a daily driver, weekend wheeler, 35-37" tires. i know the prices i listed are low and thats not for complete sas, just housing and shafts. will probably end up with leaves for now and i'll get the steering figured out later. i have a parts mini truck axle and a stock tacoma non e-locker rear laying around here. i know diamond would be the best route but i also like the challenge of building my own

- home brew combining mini truck axle with a tacoma rear, 8.4 diff, tacoma width, rcv custom length shafts, mini truck knuckle balls and on out. im not worried about the fab work. i can get an alignment jig to keep it straight. $1300ish

- rock assault 8" tacoma width. $1300ish

- diamond housing, 8.4 diff, stock mini knuckle balls and on out. rcv's. $2000ish

 

Diamond FTW!
Runner up: RuffStuff

68" wms, that's it!

 

Out of those options listed, diamond for sure.

 

Option 1: Diamond axle - However the wait on it is quite looonng.....mine took 5-6months so just be mindful of that.

Option 2: Buy a Ruffstuff housing (does not come with knuckle balls) cut your knuckle balls off your front mini truck axle and build on that. @malburg114 did this, I think it took him 6-8 weeks to recieve his axle housing. Can have it made with similar specs to diamond.

 

Ruff stuffs site says sold out. Can you still get them?

 

Might have to call and see when the next time they will make a batch, which probably would still be shorter than waiting for a Diamond.

Thought about this too, TG makes a custom DIY length 8" housing and 8.4" housing

8" https://trail-gear.com/axles/rock-a...front-axle-housings/fabricated-8-housing.html

8.4" https://trail-gear.com/axles/rock-a...ont-axle-housings/fabricated-8-4-housing.html

the Rockassualt housings are not really desired....perches already prewelded, knuckle balls set at less than ideal caster, tubes crack the welds at the center section.

 

i thought i read some bad about the rock assault. thanks for the info, i'll check it out

 

Diamond for sure! For the love of god don't get a cubic zirconia axle

 

People can say all they want but I personally have rock assault housings and have beat the hell out of them with no issues. I trussed mine and the truck is linked so the caster is easily adjustable. Lots of pics in my build tread

 

I have Diamonds, they are 62 3/4" wms to wms. I went high pinion in the front and V6 3rd in the rear. It didn't take too long to get mine. I think around 6 weeks +/-.

 

Every Toyota guy will tell you diamonds but wait times are ridiculous from them and I had some pretty bad experiences with them. Both trying to order and at off road shows/vendor shows at crawling events. I’m biased but have been extremely happy with my ruffstuff housings. Best bet is to call and talk to someone. They walked me through the ordering and gave me shaft measurements while they finished it so I could order shafts a head of time.

The new trail gear 8 in housings look nice as well and if you have a way to keep it straight I wouldn’t hesitate to go that route. they’re 9 in housings have a great reputation in the comp crawlers and ultra 4 scene.
Some axle porn for you.


If I wasn’t so desperate to wheel and over building I’d consider selling my 8 in mini truck front but it wouldn’t be cheap.

 

well, to make things interesting, i was offered a free waggy 44. what you guys think?

 

If your planning on going bigger than 37s even if there’s the slightest chance take it and resell it for a 60. 44s are good till 37s and a light foot typically

 

what that guy said, not worth it if going over 35s.

 

My goal is 37 but prob do 35. I tend to have a heavy foot though.

 

I had a j10 Dana 44 (identical axle, just a lil wider than the waggy) on only 35s and I broke 3 of the 4 factory axle shafts rather quickly. Chromos fixed that issue and other than bearings and a couple ball joints, the axle held up well

 

take it and sell it to a jeep guy. they love 44s lol
get a 60 for cheap. if you got some money a built 9 is nice. my next font axle will be a 14bolt with 60 outers.

 

This could be you just saying.
Ground clearance with custom axles is awesome.

 

Thinking DIAMOND front on my 2nd gen

 

For the front pickup an fj62 axle, 9.5" diff, wider than a mini truck and use the same outers as a mini truck. You would have to drop in a gear drive case to get the pax side pinion to work. I flipped mine but would not do that again, got the tshirt I'm good, my build thread has all the trials and tribulations of that. I'm running 37s with leafs on mine and it's all good. Runner up would be a ruff stuff only because I have gotten nothing but shit products from FROR. Little shit like brake lines are total garbage and their taco brake kit has some BS hardware. If they cant get that right I dont know what else they are messing up.