Toyota rear axle help

I have an 01 Tacoma Prerunner that is equipped with the factory e locker. I'm not an off road type so this really doesn't serve much purpose for me. The truck is on really good mechanical shape and shows no signs of giving up the ghost.

My end goal is to ditch the locker and go to an Eaton True Trac Torsen type differential that would be more advantageous in everyday use.  I'm seeing the Toyota differentials have a removable third member. My question for anyone in the know is can I simply remove the original third member and swap it for a non e locker third member. Eaton only sells True Trac differential for open differential Toyota axles.

Most liikely, it will just swap out.  If you really want to be sure, spend some time going through the parts fiche electronic equivalent and compare the 2 systems for the stuff that bolts up to it, axles, driveshaft, etc.  If they are all the same part number for both types, that would pretty much confirm it.  The electronic parts manuals are available at some dealer web pages.

you have to notch the housing for an elocker in a non elocker housing and weld up and tap new bolt holes so a non elocker 3rd will not fit an elocker housing.

edit: just looked the housings and 3rd members are different. The 3rd had different mounting holes between the 2.

this shows the housing differences

So I need to do a whole rear end swap from a similar year Tacoma that doesn't have the e locker.  Are the 4 cylinder 4x4 and Prerunner rears the same as the 6 cylinder?

bigbrainonbrad said:

So I need to do a whole rear end swap from a similar year Tacoma that doesn't have the e locker.  Are the 4 cylinder 4x4 and Prerunner rears the same as the 6 cylinder?

4cyl vs 6cyl diffs dont matter after 96.  Your elocker diff is actually a smaller size than the open dif axles, but any 96+ open dif axle should work, of course the gearing is dependent on 4x4 vs 2wd vs manual vs auto, etc.

All 2wd and 4wd T100's, '00-06 Tundra's, and ?? Sequoia's use a newer/stronger 8" 2-pinion diff. Tacoma 4x4's and Tacoma PreRunner's that don't come with the electric locker (aka "non-TRD), as well as V6 Tacoma 4x2's also came with this diff.
This diff commonly and mistakenly called an 8.4" or 8.25" diff, possibly to imply its extra strength. 

from this page http://209.250.0.61/LCTechPages/DIFFERENTIALTOYOTATECH.html

in the rear dif section

The E-lockers are in serious demand by people who don't have them. You can most likely sell your entire rear axle to somebody without one and take their rear axle as part of the sale. 

Those lockers are rugged as anything. I used mine on tarmac for drift in the locked mode many times and it was fine with a lot of tire. 

You could easily find someone that would be willing to trade your rear e-locker rear axle assembly for their open diff rear axle assembly plus give you some $$$. As Patrick said, lots of off-road guys want the e-locker rear. 

That third member is like $4-600 around here (north east). 

Appreciate all the guidance, guess I'll try to scope the junkyards and put out some feelers for possible trades.