Noil

I am at a cross road on whether of not to continue putting money into my 97 4runner, I like the truck but it is just too hard and expensive to get parts here. I just replaced the front passenger side wheel bearing and that took 3.5 weeks to source parts and 2 different shops to press out the bearing because the local dealership didn't know how to do it. Has been a very expensive experience.

Current issue: Toyota dealership says everything in the rear end is shot including the housing and quoted me 10K on any repairs if they could get parts plus an additional 5K in labor plus taxes. I told them right out no.

Information: 97 4runner Ltd. with e-locker. New rear axle seals and bearings put in 15 months ago, used Toyota parts. Rear diff was rebuilt about 10 years ago, no idea if OEM or aftermarket as I didn't do it. No outside physical damage to the rear end no dents, no holes or rust. For some reason though the fill plug can not be removed, tried and can't break it and Toyota dealership could not break it free.

I routinely check for leaks on the back axles and there has been no further leaks with the new axle seals and I have no reason to believe they have failed. No oil anywhere on the rear end nothing around the diff or where the drive shaft connects and no oil on or around the brakes.

Problems: Getting loud groan and hum coming from the back and some clunk not loud or much but you can hear it. Sounds to me like it is the rear driver side wheel bearing. Toyota says yes but also said the whole rear end is also gone.
There are no junk yards within a 1000 miles that has a 3rd generation 4runner they are rare here, however the pick and pull has two mid to late 90's 4WD Tacoma's with complete rear ends not sure on the ratios or if they have lockers.

Question: Can I put a complete rear end assembly off one of those Tacoma's and put it on my 4runner with just simply swapping the whole assembly. At this point I am not concerned about loosing the locker in the back.

Thanks for any help on this as I am currently stranded in the Halifax, NS area.

fierohink

Yes and no on the Tacoma swap. The housings are nearly the same except for the suspension mounts. Your 4Runner uses coil springs and the Taco uses leaf springs, you can have a welder hack off the mounts and transfer them over. It wouldn't be much of an issue for a skilled welder, less than a days work.

Do you have an alternative vehicle? Can you do any of the work yourself? If you can't do the work yourself, I would shop around for a different mechanic. Your Toyota dealer is robbing you.

Axle housings don't really fail. They rust thru and leak, or are involved in an accident and get bent.

I think eBay is going to be your friend if you want to rebuild this. Here is a housing, if my settings are correct (I use BON 1Y0 for the postal code I found off google) they want $770 CAD for the housing, $125CAD to ship, and $110CAD for import fees, or $1000CAD for a good used housing at your door.

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/1996-2002-TO...a1O4J#shpCntId

And here is a locker 3rd, $900CAD for the unit, $25CAD to ship, and $125CAD for import fees.

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/96-97-98-99-...a~JRd#shpCntId

Or you can disassemble you axle and have the 3rd member rebuilt. I recently had mine rebuilt by Zuk, he's a member here and does a fantastic job on Toyotas.

http://www.gearinstalls.com/index.htm

I think he quoted $750 USD for a rebuild of my locker and that may have included return shipping. My price was a little different because I used corporate shipping labels, plus you'll have to contend with border fees.

Noil

That is actually somewhat good news, my brother is fairly skilled at wielding and a mechanic and I have fairly good mechanical skills so between the two of us we can do the work. If the only significant difference is the suspension I think I could over come that with some minor fabrication.

I was concerned there might be some weird difference in how the drive shaft splines into the diff. That gives me something to check out with the pick and pull on Monday and see how much I can get the rear end for.

Not sure where the Toyota dealer priced out the quote from, I think they don't want to work on it or want me to give up and buy a new vehicle. I didn't have much choice on where to go around here no local shops would look at the 4runner. As for alternate vehicle no I don't have one, right now I am depended upon my brother for transportation.

If the complete rear end is over what I can afford if I was to get just the differential from one of those late 90s Tacoma's from what I have read is that both the 4runner and Tacoma had 8 inch diff and both were 30 spline pinion so it should be just bolt up right? Unless I have missed something the gear ratio should be the same.

Thanks for the reply!

akwheeler

NO, You can't just swap a non-elocker 3rd member into an e-locker housing. before you do anything you need to know your gear ratio and you need to know why the housing is bad. If I were you I would pull both axles, pull the 3rd member and inspect the entire housing. then when you don't find anything wrong with that ship your 3rd member to Zuk and wait for the magic to happen while you get new wheel bearings pressed on the axles. You may even find that there is nothing wrong with the diff and you just have a bad wheel bearing. But first and foremost, check the door sticker for the axle code and see what the gear ratio is (if it is still original) and DO NOT buy a rear end without it being EXACTLY the same ratio.

Noil

Ok thanks for clearing that up. The 3rd member has already been rebuilt once already going to need to open it up and see what is in there and what condition it is in. Will be Tuesday before I can pick up the 4Runner. When I can get eyes on the diff will post pictures.

Thanks for the help!

fierohink

millball

Don't know why you couldn't weld a short, heavy bar to the gear oil filler plug and get it out.

Noil

Thanks, I appreciate the offer of the loan if I was closer. If it comes to replacing the housing will look into the conversion options. Hopefully it is just a wheel bearing and not the 3rd member and housing issues, will find out on Tuesday.

Noil

Actually didn't think about doing that but that is a great idea! Thanks!

fierohink

If you pull your axle shafts here is what you are looking for in "bad" wheel bearings vs good bearings.

BAD:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6f4...ature=youtu.be

GOOD:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDfh...ature=youtu.be

Noil

Thanks for the videos! Will be picking up the truck soon and will post back once know something more.

Noil

Pulled both axles and driver side bearing and outer seal definitely are gone. The passenger side inner seal was starting to leak and compromise the bearing. It was not as bad as the driver side but given a short amount of time it too would be howling and grinding too. Was no indication of seal leakage either on the brakes or behind the dust shield so I guess I managed to catch it before it went out completely. With both axles out hand turned the driveshaft (didn't want to risk breaking the nuts off the yoke) for about 6 minutes and did not feel any skipping or binding was very smooth rotation. When pulled the drain plug the oil was a dark brownish yellow with a little bit of very fine silverish oil on the drain plug but was well within reasonable wear and tear for the differential which was full of oil. No large shavings, no chunks of metal or anything to really indicate an issue and the drive shaft had hardly any play and no clunking when hand turning. Would seem to me at least that the differential is probably ok. Sending it off to be rebuilt would be nice but right now is not economically feasible for me.

Got OEM bearings and retaining rings kits as well as OEM inner & outer seals on order and should be here hopefully tomorrow (Thursday). With a bit of luck all the parts will come in and I'll have everything pressed off and back on before the weekend.

akwheeler

I think you should sever your relationship with the shop that quoted you for a complete rear axle. Don't you agree?

Noil

If I had more choices I wouldn't deal with them further. However giving my limited options on sourcing parts wasn't any choice.

Very long story short, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the third member. With the help of my brother and a big rig garage I got both rear wheel bearings, seals and a abs ring that was damaged replaced in the back. In the front got both front steering links, passenger side wheel and inner hub bearings replaced as well as the upper ball joint on passenger side that got wrecked by Toyota when they dropped out of the press on the first attempt to press the front bearings.

Overall I regret ever going to Toyota, my mistake was actually thinking the dealership whould be the best place to take it as they would be the most familiar with the assembly. It didn't help no other car repair garage would even look at it, if it is more than brakes or exhaust you're SOL for getting work done around here.

Anyway ... Truck is fixed took it out for a couple of miles at about 45 mph (speed limit) before couldn't go a couple of yards without noise now no noise other than normal ones. Tomorrow will get it up to highway speed I don't think there should be any additional issues now.

Thanks for everyones help!

fierohink

75w90mantraN

I've got nothing to add but great story and happy ending.