First off, let me start by saying I've been all over this site and it's amazing! A plethora of knowledge. I'll doubt I'll even have to post much, just b/c there are so many questions that have already been answered. I've been a member of T4R.org for over 6mons now and love that site as well. (Just trying to broaden my horizons by jumping over here.) In the last 8yrs, I've owned 5 4Runners, each time upgrading. All the way back to my first 4R, an '86 locked and lifted, to a '95, to a '99, to a '00 and now on to my new project, an '02, a daily driver w/ soon to be greater off road capabilities. Love these suvs, and doubt I'll ever drive anything else.

I know this will sound stupid, but I'll ask anyway. I've used other diff breathers in the past when doing the Diff breather mod, but this time I thought I'd go w/ Toy factory breathers. My question is, should the breather cap itself be as tight as mine is? I can turn the cap, but it won't just pop up? Seems like it would take a lot of force to open this cap. Ones I've used in the past have more play in the cap. Just trying to find out if I got a bad breather or they are really just that tight.

 

Where in Alabama?

Just put a union w/ a barb on the end sticking out in the diff hole and extend it w/ some fuel line hose/tranny hose and put a little air filter on the end of it up out of hte way inside the cab/engine bay and you are good.

Not sure what you mean by the cap, but IIRC they are spring loaded and not a complicated mechanishm.

Look on www.watrd.com under mods and he has some pics of the OEM diff breather guts.

 

The Salty Ham or course! (Birmingham, AL)

Here is a link to a site where I got my info on the breather mod.

http://www.sonoransteel.com/breather.html

These are same parts I got. Notice the pic of the breather itself w/ the silver cap. That is the part I'm talking about. That silver cap will not just pop up.

I'll check www.watrd.com out.

 

Oh yeah, I'm trying to do this mod on the rear of the truck and wanted to run it up through my gas tank fill line by the gas cap.

I checked that site out, and my breather looks nothing like what I got. That one appears to "breathe" better.

Think I should go that route instead?

 

welcome to yotatech im a no0b myself, but have found endless amount of great info as well as useless but entertaining banter as well!

not sure why youre wanting the cap to pop up? if its difficult or requires alot of force to pop up...then most likely it isnt supposed to. i did the extended breather and just attached that breather end to the fuel line...didnt worry to much about the breather end as im sure its similar to the one on the diff housing...

 

Here's another writeup:

http://www.4runners.org/articles/typerdiff/

 

I don't think it really matters...the cap is spring loaded so pressure opens it and then keeps it closed when not needed (by the spring). As long as you get it done.

I ran my rear diff breather right up by my filler cap on my 2000, easy. Next trip to T-town, bring your junk by my shop and we'll get r done.

 

Well, as long as y'all think it'll be okay, I'll keep it. Thanks for the other link Crux.

waskillywabbit, thanks for the offer, but I probably won't be in T-town 'til the Iron Bowl. Sorry, but I bleed orange and blue. Fear the thumb! (haha, I'm just kidding.)

On a side note, if you're up to it, I'd like to get a custom rear bumper made. I can't find anyone around here who knows what they're doing. Not anytime soon, but I do plan to do one down the road.

Thanks for the help!

 

When I replaced the front breather on mine, I just ran a 5' length of fuel hose from the front breather up into the engine bay. I suspected the old cap was junk, so I chucked it. The end is currently tucked into an empty Mountain Dew bottle. I doubt I'll change a thing, I haven't had any front diff problems since I replaced the hose. (Whereas before, it was blowing oil all over my engine compartment at random. Everything else checked out okay and not a single problem experienced since replacing the hose.)

 

Well, I was just curious about that breather. I've done this mod before on other vehicles and have used everything from lawn mower air filters to car fuel filters to cap the end off. This time I just wanted a cleaner look and wanted to run it up to the gas cap.

 

Just got through talking to Lars Dennert from http://www.sonoransteel.com/, about his diff breather install, http://www.sonoransteel.com/breather.html, and this is what he's said:

The silver cap is simply a dust cap. It's not the valve though it can obstruct the air flow a bit. The plastic breathers didn't have a valve as I recall; just the cap. The caps are usually one way valves. You should be able to blow out but not suck in if it has the one way valve. Some don't have a one way valve and vent both ways. You shouldn't worry about the dust cap going up and down.

Thanks Lars for helping me clear up this matter!

 

Who were you talking to? Sounds like someone is pulling a fast one on you or you are confused.

 

Whatcha mean? Is it an inside joke and I'm just not in the loop?

 

um, sonoran steel is Steve Schaefer

Lars Dennert can be found at, you guessed it www.larsdennert.com

 

Yeah, that's how I got a hold of Lars was at: www.larsdennert.com

Sorry, I didn't mean mean to imply that Sonoran Steel is his company, that's just where the article can be found: http://www.sonoransteel.com/breather.html. It says: "Text and pictures by Lars Dennert"

 

Just wanted to post an UPDATE:

Did the diff breather mod last night, and only took me 40mins from start to finish. Thanks for all the help, mod went smooth as butter.

 

Which one, the rear?

I haven't touched the rear on my truck, but the one up front was a pain in the ass.