Why you ask? Well, I was (emphasis on "was") driving out to Colorado next week to pick up my Rockware rear bumper/tire carrier. So I figured now would be a good time to change my fluids and do a good maintenance check to make sure my 4Runner was in shape for the drive. I decided to change all my fluids to synthetic (just bought all Amsoil fluids), figured this was as good a time as any. I do the front diff and transfer case; good to go, no problems. Nothing out of the ordinary on the magnet. I get to the rear diff, pull the drain plug, check the magnet and what do I see? A chunk of metal the size of the iceberg that sunk the Titanic!! Okay, maybe not that big but not normal. :cry:

The local dealership (I say dealership, not stealership, because these guys are squared away) think it's a chunk from one of the gear teeth. They don't think, and I agree, I should attempt a drive to CO with a potential gear failure. On Monday they will order me a new third to replace my bad one. So no trip to CO. Hopefully Rockware doesn't have a problem holding my bumper for a while longer.

Has this happened to anybody else? What could cause this? Just a bad gear set from the factory?

Sorry, just had to whine a bit. I need a

 

Thats a real bummer that happened, at least you caught it. Also, I see you have 33" tires, this might be a good time to regear to 4.88. I can't imagine installing gears at the dealer is going to be cheap. Are they covering it under a warranty? If they aren't, how much are they charging you?

 

Moral of the story: get a e-locker third, you fool! This way you can rationalize it to your S.A.!!!

 

Nolan: I thought about that but the cash reserves won't allow it yet. They are replacing it under warranty. Seeing as how this is my daily driver, I can't have my 4Runner down until I can afford to re-gear to 4.88s.

Gatos: Already thought about that. They will only replace what actually came off the vehicle. Anything other than that comes out of my own pocket. Not the price difference, the entire cost of the E-locker third, wiring and everything else involved. For the most part I have written off the E-locker. If a locker is in my future, however distant, it will be the ARB.

To be honest, I am glad it was caught when it was instead of by way of a catastrophic failure on a trail somewhere.

 

back in 89 I was just arriving to my first duty station with the Army. It was central California (fort hunter ligget)
I lived in Florida.... I went back to florida on leave and bought a79 toyota pickup (4weel drive) for $800.
on the drive back to Cali, the read dif decided to leave its heart in Texas ( I had 0 tools with) so i had to hike it about 5 miles to the nearest gas station where i found a group of "good ol' boys" and convinced them to disconnect the rear drive shaft for $50. with all of them driving good old fords and chevys the laughed when they heard the idea of me driving another 1900 miles in "front wheel drive" the outcome.... made it to Cali and drove around there for another 3 months untill I found a new dif... (about 3000 miles in "front wheel drive")
take your trip and trust that your rig will bring you home...
David

 

haha...thats funny David!!!