Howdy! I'm researching which was to go on my best friend's '03 V8 4x4 4Runner. His rear differential is on the way out after 637k miles. I know I could rebuild it, but this truck is needed as he's on the road daily selling for his business and travels over 1000 miles per week on average. Being this rear has over 600k on it, I'd like to get my hands on a used rear, rebuild it and then swap the two rears out in a few hours as he lives down by Nashville and I'll be flying down to replace his rear either way, which is why I'm not looking to rebuild his. I'll simply get my hands on a used rear locally, rebuild it, ship it and then fly down and swap it as that will be the fastest way to accomplish this task with the least amount of downtime for this truck. He is able to drive it right now, but not for much longer as he ran it low on gear lube thanks to a pinion seal leak and now the rear is getting noisy. His description makes it sound as if the pinion bearings are noisy but not horrific...I've warned him about driving it but he is going to gamble.
I thank everyone for any information you may provide me....I'm awaiting him to call me with the gear ratio and then I'll start my differential search once I know what other rear differentials will work for this application. This truck is in surprisingly very good condition yet...I just did the timing belt/water pump/timing belt tensioner, all front engine oil seals, radiator, alternator, valve cover gaskets, tune-up, O2 sensors, fan clutch along with fresh fluid changes last summer, 41k miles ago already....so the truck has been maintained incredibly well and has many miles left in it...the engine has zero noise and consumes zero oil...have to LOVE Toyotas!
I can likely be of tremendous help to anyone here as I've been a professional, certified master tech for 30 years now....so feel free to ask me anything and if I know how to proceed I'll help you out.

Thanks again,
Kirk Bonanny

 

I don't know what vehicles\years of 4Runner or Tacoma will interchange because I really don't know what year Toyota 4Runner moved to that 4th Gen design, maybe 2003 might have been the first year. Here is a diff refresh on a 2006 4Runner http://gearinstalls.com/Jason2006Runner.htm

So just from looking at that picture, since the 2006 looks like same design as 2003, I would guess that any 2003 to 2006 would be interchangeable. Good luck and post pics and progress of the differential rebuild.

 

[QUOTE=kbonanny;52440104]Howdy! I'm researching which was to go on my best friend's '03 V8 4x4 4Runner. His rear differential is on the way out after 637k miles. I know I could rebuild it, but this truck is needed as he's on the road daily selling for his business and travels over 1000 miles per week on average. Being this rear has over 600k on it, I'd like to get my hands on a used rear, rebuild it and then swap the two rears out in a few hours as he lives down by Nashville and I'll be flying down to replace his rear either way, which is why I'm not looking to rebuild his. I'll simply get my hands on a used rear locally, rebuild it, ship it and then fly down and swap it as that will be the fastest way to accomplish this task with the least amount of downtime for this truck. He is able to drive it right now, but not for much longer as he ran it low on gear lube thanks to a pinion seal leak and now the rear is getting noisy. His description makes it sound as if the pinion bearings are noisy but not horrific...I've warned him about driving it but he is going to gamble.
I thank everyone for any information you may provide me....I'm awaiting him to call me with the gear ratio and then I'll start my differential search once I know what other rear differentials will work for this application. This truck is in surprisingly very good condition yet...I just did the timing belt/water pump/timing belt tensioner, all front engine oil seals, radiator, alternator, valve cover gaskets, tune-up, O2 sensors, fan clutch along with fresh fluid changes last summer, 41k miles ago already....so the truck has been maintained incredibly well and has many miles left in it...the engine has zero noise and consumes zero oil...have to LOVE Toyotas!
I can likely be of tremendous help to anyone here as I've been a professional, certified master tech for 30 years now....so feel free to ask me anything and if I know how to proceed I'll help you out.

Thanks again,
Kirk Bonanny[/QUOTE

Did you find out what other toyota rear axel's interchanged with the 4th gen 4runners? mine went out a few days ago