I just took my tacoma to get inspected today for frame rust and they said it qualified. I'm still drivin it until corporate sends me the official offer in a few weeks.

Anyways, I want to fix my '85 before I get rid of the tacoma so I got somethin else to drive. The entire rear axle and the output shaft of the transfer case needs to be rebuilt. The rear axle is from a '87 4runner.

I am wondering if anyone has advice, comments, and or suggestions on how to go about this project. Like what to look out for, where to get parts, know of any good write-ups, etc... Thanks

Perhaps you should describe what sort of "rebuild" you are looking to do. Output shafts usually fail by breaking, so assuming that is not the case, then it is likely a worn output shaft bearing and seal. Or it may just have a loose nut on the output flange.

Same on the axle. There are bearings and seals on the ends for the axle shafts (replacement writeup in the Toyota/Maint section here) and there is the diff/3rd member.

Yep, I wasn't very specific, sorry.
The output shaft wobbles which I took as meaning it needs the bearing/seal replaced. I will check to make sure the nut is properly torqued first. If I do need to replace the bearing is there anything else that I should replace or inspect while I'm in the t-case. I've never torn down a t-case before so its all new to me.

As for the rear axle, I'd say everything is in need or repair. Each hub will wobble along with a lot of play on the pinion flange as well. You should hear this thing when I'm drivin down the road. It's not tire noise, just sounds like dry bearings, also there is like a rattling/jingling noise when I am coasting, coming from the axle.

Hope this helps to clear things up a bit. I think its safe to say that just about everything needs inspected and maybe replaced. Just lookin for some pointers since in all the years I've been workin on these things I've never tackled the driveline at all.

Thanks

Marlin Crawler's site has a great writeup with pictures on how to tear down the t-case. The crawler gear install instructions show how to tear down the entire thing. They rarely go bad though, so you probably just need a seal and/or a nut re-torque. Unless you bent the output or something.

The pinion play would have to do the differential. If its a stocker, its probably far cheaper and easier to find a used one, but there is also some differential setup info. As Roger said, the rear wheel bearing and seal replacement procedure is also here on this site.

I really appreciate the help!!!

The nut on the output flange for the t-case was loose, meaning that you could spin it by hand. However, you could only move it a little bit since the nut was crushed into the slot on the shaft. My question is why was it loose even though the sleeve on the nut was still crushed and in its slot. I'm guessing that the bearing has worn down and thus caused free-play allowing the nut to become loose. Or maybe a thrustwasher has worn down.
Sound correct?
While not as much, there is still freeplay in the output shaft with the flange off so i'd say the bearing definatly needs to be replaced.

I noticed a little rearenf blood on the ground other day. Got under there and wiggled the DS and it had about a 1/4 play side to side. I'm gonna pick me up a seal and try to tighten the nut. Those are tappered bearings? so if they are worn alittle they should tighten. unless they are completly gone.

Bearing wear in the t-case will not cause a loose nut. The nut tightens down on the race, it doesn't preload anything like a tapered bearing (pinion for example). T-case bearings very, VERY rarely go bad, and it is normal to have slight play in the flange. You can look up the spec in a factory manual if you're worried about it.