nice carnage. howd you break the front diff? did it just go all of a sudden? was that the front diff fluid or the rear? wonder how all that water got in there...as the breather is extended from the factory already.

as they say...wait till it breaks then upgrade. time for a gear change & a front arb perhaps hmmm?

 

ooooh! best of luck in repairs. thanks for sharing!!!

 

4.88s will be coming a lot sooner than planned

That was the front diff fluid. The rear is fine, I extended the breather up into the gas tank/cap/fill area. I checked it when i got home and there was no water in it.

It pretty much let go all of a sudden. There were no shock loads or anything. I was high centered on a large chunk of ice. Both front wheels were fully drooped, just hanging out in the water. The wheels were spinning slowly in reverse while I was trying to get a grip on something in the rear. While they were spinning, I cut the wheel to the left and it sounded like a ratchet, or that noise a car makes when you put it in park and its still moving. Thats when it happened, I guess.

After that I tried driving up the trail and it was binding horribly. The front wheels would lock up every 10-15 feet, slide for about a foot, then release and do it all over again. It took about 5 minutes for me to get it out of 4wd. Once it was out, everything felt and sounded normal. It drove fine for the ride home.

I would never have expected this to be the weak point in my front drivetrain.

 

That's insane, did your trac bar just slam against that ice block? is that how it got bent?

 

Hmm, thats weird that the ring would blow like that. Usually its CV's that go. But if you were in reverse, arent you running on the weak side of the ring teeth? Might have something to do with it.

If your going to go 4.88's, might as well go all out and have them cryo'ed by Bobby Long.

Could be a good time to add manual hubs if you dont already have them. But if you have a '01 or '02, I dont think you can.

 

that's some pretty impressive damage...

 

Rock The Frick On Brotha!!!!! No Pain No Gain!

 

i would like to know too

 

I dont get it. Why is this water crossing so insane that none of you would have tried it? It is a normal thing to come across water like that around here. Ive actually been across this spot many times in summer and its only a couple feet deep with a pretty solid bottom. On this trail ride we would have gone through 10 or so of these water crossings. This one shouldnt have been anything special, but we just had some freak weather that happened to create this ice shelf thing that I hadnt seen before.

I really didnt think that the ring gear would have gone. I thought I busted a CV until I got it out and started looking at things. It really suprised me that my ring gear was the weak link in my front drivetrain.

My best guess is that the trac bar got bent by a block of ice caught under it when the back of the truck came down off the shelf. Rammed the ice into the bottom of the crossing and all of the weight of the rear was resting on the trac bar. Thats just a guess, but I dont have any damage to any small brackets back there or my axle or anything. Just the exhaust (which doesnt take much to bend) and the trac bar.

 

Sorry to see the damage... could have been a lot worse!

 

Great 'stuck'! At least you took pics. I got 'stuck' yesterday and failed to take pics. oops. If I had a winch or better tires it would have been a non-issue though.

 

Sucks that you busted up your very nice 4runner...but atleast you are getting out and wheeling it. Water is not my thing, but to each his own. That ice looks pretty nasty!!

 

I got stuck like that in a mud/water hole about a month ago. My front differential was filled with water and my cab had about 2 inches of water in it. But it still runs as good as it ever has.

 

my truck aint gonna see that mess. i might sling some mud or go stump jumpin before i tackle an ice pond.. ice= bad news as you just showed us... thanks for taking one for the team!!!

 

ice doesnt seem friendly

 

im originally from maine and makes me miss the winters and the wonder of them, onc im out f the army ill enjoy them again or not if i get stuck like you

 

holy dead thread Batman...

 

x2 haha 3 pointless revival posts in a row woohoo