Pinion replacement
 

searched but could find anything solid on this topic, i'm leaking gear oil near my rear differential, and i'm told i need to replace my entire rear pinion for $885 cause it has some serious issues, is there anyway i can confirm this diagnostic and do it myself?

wheres it leaking from? pics? does it make any noises? you probably just need a new pinion seal, it should be like 10 bucks plus labor if you dont do it yourself.

Cost you 15 for the seal if you do it yourself
https://www.yotatech.com/search.php?searchid=8595121

Probally just need a new seal.

Wow 885 to fix the leak?...
it must be all labor charges. If the pinion seal is bad, remove the drive-shaft, becareful not to pull it apart, then remove the nut. replace the seal. put the nut back.

If it's the between the axle housing and the diff, you need to remove the two rear axle then drain the oil. clean off the old gasket, replace with new gasket and some sealant. put everything back...

Almost 900$ to fix a leaking seal in the rear end?? I'm in the wrong business. Do like others have said and fix it yourself. Toyota's are crazy easy to work on.

its not $885 to replace the seal, whoever gave him that price thinks there is serious issues and he needs a new pinion gear. they clearly know nothing, and he should replace his seal himself. its like an hour job, correct?

its making a noise, i dont have any pictures but its leaking where (i think its the drive shaft) connects to the axle. also been riding reallly rough lately, mainly at idle, just knocks around but i dont know if that has anything to do with the rear end or not. if its just the seal ill definitely replace it myself, but how will i be able to tell if theres anymore serious damage to the pinion?

Some people would just replace the seal...set the pinion pre-load light by tightening the nut just right...and see if the noise went away. If it's still noisy, then you have other issues....maybe the outer pinion bearing is chewed up. But do the easy thing first and see how it flies.

I had a crush sleeve collapse once causing the pinion to lose the preload. This allowed the pinion to wiggle around and ruin the seal. A new crush sleeve and seal fixed the problem, although a tiny torque wrench designed for setting the preload was mandatory to get the preload set properly. No problems for 6 years so far.

PS: ZUK, I did your spring mod last week and absolutely love it!

Cool, bugs :) if you have pics you can post them to one of the related links and let us know what coils you ended up with and how much lift....and what was different about the ride afterwards ;)

oops...offtopic

ZUK

One more off topic! I'm out of town for another 10 days or so but I'll do it when I get back to Anchorage. I used the 14", 100lb coils and they gave a bunch of lift. Went from a sag to a rake but that's ok with me. I'll crank the torsion bars some or get ball joint spacers one of these days. Great mod--thanks much!!

Bugs

Check your u-joint when you separate it from the diff. Make sure they move freely at all angles. Mine frooze up and it made a nasty grinding noise. Mark the slip yoke in case it slip out. You can also hang the d-shaft on the cross member with zip ties or rope...

Rough idle has nothing to do with the rear seal, you probably know that though. When you say rough is it missing? Choking out? Hesitation from a stop? You might need just a tune up. I had a rough idle on both rigs at one time or another and it can be anything from bad plugs to the TPS to a blown intake gasket.

hey got the seal replaced finally, but im still hearing a buzzing/ whirring sound that comes only when im accelerating once i hit around 20-25, any ideas what it could be?

still sounds like the bearings are worn. does the companion flange behind the nut move around and seem very sloppy? preload is one thing, but worn or chewed up bearings are another. my yota was doing the same thing for a while, and now the pinion moves around quite a bit as noted by the flange movement and makes a horrible noise when driven. i would look into replacing those bearings!

Man, used third members are a dime a dozen. I'd try to track one down and swap it out. 20 minute job. Even if it took all day it's better than paying almost a grand for a friggin third member. That's insane. You absolutely can rebuild the thing with a little know-how, but used thirds can be had for less than the cost of new pinion bearings and are practically zero headache! good luck bud!