I recently purchased a 95, 4wd V6 SR5 4Runner with 158k miles on it. I got it really cheap because the front end was wrecked, so far I've replaced the entire front end, radiator fan, all belts, spark plugs. Did an electric fan conversion with a Mark VIII fan (awesome) and got it all running pretty good. Only issue right now is the differential whines crazy loud at 65/70.

Last weekend I took apart the differential and replaced the pinion seal since it was leaking, at that same time I tightened the main bolt (the one that holds the flange on that bolts to the driveshaft). It was pretty loose and had some wobble. Checked the bearings, the seem perfect, all teeth on the pinion/ring gear is fine. Checked the mesh it was a little loose. I didn't have any paint to check how it engages though so that could be off.

After I put it all back together... still whines. So here are my options.

Take it apart again and try to get ahold of some shims, and shim the pinion to fix the mesh with the ring, assuming thats the problem. The backlash is a little out of spec for the ring gear though, so I might not be able to fix it...

Buy a rebuild kit for 300~ (unless anyone knows of a cheaper one) and rebuild it..

Or the junkyard down the road has the exact same axle (G144) for 125 if I help pull it, but that car has 190K miles so I don't know if its gonna be perfect or not.

I'd really like to find a G145 axle, not sure where I can find that though.

Advice?

 

Complete rebuild or replace.

 

x2 and if you go with rebuild take to a place to set it up!!! so it right and have no issues..could take yours to one now but if you end up rebuilding then you will have to pay them twice!!

 

I'm probably going to do any work myself if I do end up rebuilding it, I don't really like taking my stuff to other people, and I have pretty much all the tools I need to do it... First toyota I've owned and I didn't know if there was a cheap place to find LSD rear ends or differentials etc...

 

so I assume that you have done this before.. Sounds like you are a pro at this kinda thing.. I do most of the work on my vehicles and this and an alignment are the two things that I will absolutely take to a shop that is specialized in because the hum you are hearing is most likely due to it not being aligned correctly

In the case that you do know what you are doing in this specific job I would suggest just aligning the parts properly and seeing if this would fix it in the first place, if not then either find new parts and rebuild or get a junk yard rear end..

I have searched ring and pinion before and cheap was not any part of what I saw or found.. less expensive than Toyota then yeah very easy to find by the second page of "ring and pinion toyota tacoma" or "quality ring and pinion"
I guess my only question now is do you know how to decipher your gear code on your truck??

reading back I see you do know how to find if the wear is even meaning you do understand but like an alignment it can be a real pain and take multiple attempts to get it perfect..