Hi all. Today i decided to do some of my fluids myself on my 2000Taco 4x4 TRD 3.4. while changing the rear diff lube i noticed small metal bits about the size of grains of rice not many but about 4 of them this did not raise much concern initially since the drain plug is magnetic and the bits would be expected gee i dont think i been beetin her since all my buds tell me i drive like grampa on the way to the local contry kitchen are the bits something to worry about or do i need to consider looking into this further thanx for the read. BTW the fluid in there was dino so i lubed her all up with some sexy synth M1 75w90GL-5 in both diffs and tranzfer case, Redline MT-90 75w90 in the manual tranny

 

I had the same thing in my recently regeared diffs when I changed out the break-in lube. Had you ever had the diff oil changed since new? If not, that is likely normal from the initial break-in. That's what I was told about mine.

 

well i did leave out that she got 63,000 original on her and i am guessing that the oil is factory unless the dealership changes it at 30,000 as a standard operating procedure which i do dought very much, unless i tell them to. then i hope that the bits were a result of the gears just breaking in.

 

Hi fellas,
I just picked up an E-locked rear end (drum to drum) from a 99 Tacoma to install on my non E-locked 99 Tacoma. It had about 18K miles on it when the truck was wrecked. Anyhow, I was prepping it for the swap tonight and changed the diff oil. I did notice a few , 3 actually, small metal particles. I don't think it was anything to be concerned about.
Cheers,
P

 

The small metal particles usually are "left-overs" from drilling and tapping the drain/fill plug holes. Some could be rather long and have a slight twist to the shavings - no fear, it's not the thrust bearing going out.

 

Sweet! thanx for the feedback.