Solid Axle Swap? Read This First

This is the most common reason people land here, and it catches everyone at the same point.

When you fit a solid axle swap kit to a 1995-2004 Tacoma, the stock oil pan hits the new axle. The pan is a front sump; the axle now occupies that space. People usually discover this with the axle already under the truck.

The high capacity oil pan clears a solid axle and does more besides:

  • Windage tray — keeps the crank out of the oil, which costs real horsepower at rpm
  • Trap doors — keep oil at the pickup on side slopes, climbs and descents
  • Custom pickup tube, anti-rust coating, drain plug and washer included

For a crawler the trap doors are the argument. A stock pan lets oil run away from the pickup on a steep angle, and a moment of pickup starvation is how rod bearings die.

Building a race engine? The dry sump pan is made custom per application — talk to us about the whole system rather than ordering blind.

Standard Pan

Not doing a swap? The 2WD Tacoma oil pan is the standard replacement, with the matching 2WD pickup tube.

Note both are 2WD specific. The 2RZ was predominantly a two-wheel-drive engine, so that is what we stock — check yours before ordering.

The Oil Pump

The pump is serviceable rather than a throwaway assembly, which keeps the cost of doing it properly low:

  • Cover and rotor kit — cover, rotors and O-ring together. The sensible choice during a rebuild.
  • Rotor set — if the cover is good and the rotors are worn.
  • Cover — replace it after any event that sent debris through the engine. A scored cover face will not hold pressure however good the rotors are.
  • Oil pump O-ring.

The eighteen-dollar upgrade worth doing every time

The factory oil pump cover is held on with Phillips screws, and they strip. They are usually tight and corroded, and removing them without an impact driver ruins them.

The Allen head hardware kit replaces them properly. Fit it every time the cover comes off — there is no reason to put stripped screws back into a fresh engine.

Pickup and Filter Housing

Rebuilding and reusing the factory pan? Replace the pickup tube. The factory tube collects debris over decades and transferring that into a fresh engine is not a risk worth taking. The pickup tube gasket seals it to the block — without it, oil leaks back into the pan instead of reaching the pump.

The oil filter housing seal kit is worth understanding: a leak here can contaminate the system and affect oil pressure, as well as making a mess. Replace the seals any time the housing comes off.

Race Oiling

Serious engines often run something other than the factory filter arrangement. The oil filter adapter inlet plate blocks off where the factory adapter goes, with a CNC-machined plate and O-ring.

Tell us what the engine is for and we will tell you what is worth doing.

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