tocarunner

so if some of you remember, i broke my driveshaft a couple months ago. thankfully i found one a couple weeks ago.

well the problems still continue even though i thought my rig was going to be back on the road.

on the highway im getting a vibration, and noise. so like many others i thought there was a problem with the driveshaft that i got.

so today i got ready to remove the driveshaft, after going to my local driveshaft shop and speaking to them about my options. during my inital inspection, i noticed oil on my rear diff, starting from pinion and getting less to the back of the differential case. so i grabbed the pinion flange(keep in mind still attached to the driveshaft) and there was defiant play(side to side movement) and a oil drop formed.

so i removed the driveshaft from the pinion flange, oil spilled out(not suppose to happen)

any one know what the size of the nut that holds the pinion flange?

so what do y'all think:
did i just destroy the bearing and seal?
or did i bend the pinion?
should i buy a new diff, or can i just get a bearing and new seal?
is this a suitable time to upgrade(open diff now) can i grab one from a 4runner?will the gearing be the same?is it straight bolt in?

need some advise on how to get my daily back, safely on the road

here is a pick of what it looked like after cleaning the oil off the flange and removing the driveshaft

rattlewagon

Heres a link to tell gear codes before pulling the diff.

http://www.brian894x4.com/Gearratiosanddiffs.html

The new diff will need to be the same gear ratio to match the front. I believe 3rd gen 4runners still use a 8" diff. If yours is a taco, it will have the "8.4" diff.

Good luck!

millball

Try tightning the pinion nut first. You may not even need a bearing.

Remove the nut and flange, remove old seal and install new one, degrease the flange and pinion splines, apply loctite, and torque the nut up to 130 -140fp and re-stake the nut.

I just measured the pinion nut on a front IRS punkin- it was 24mm, think rear one is same.

You've got nothing to lose , but the price of the seal.

May well work well and last a long time.

Let us know what happens!

ZUK

iTrader: (1)

.......you're too far away for me to look at it probably.

tocarunner

well i removed the seal, and seated the bearing. this eliminated the wobble in the pinion.

i then used a impact gun with the nut to seat the flange to the pinion, and staked the nut into place with a little bit of red loctite to make sure it doesn't move.

now there is no movement in the flange. hopefully that fixed the problem for good.

tocarunner

Update:

so I've been driving the truck now for a week or so, I've taken some two hour drives(each way) and i have noticed that the vibration at 60-70mph is still there. the noise isn't as loud any more, but it still is there.

so by looking at the exploded view of the 3rd member, in the tsm(toyota service manual) it looks like there is a bearing spacer after the front bearing. maybe its been twisted or bent?

either way there is something making noise in that rear end, and i don't want to get stuck somewhere far from home, which i tend to do in my tacoma.

so here is the new questions

is there a cheap method of getting a lsd in this 3rd member since i will be removing it and having to pay someone to reshim it while repairing the parts that are broken. ex: can i get a 3rd member from a 4runner(lsd equipt) and swap over my ring gear and pinion?

i saw on rock auto a eaton lsd, but it was 500 bucks<-out of my price range.

I've been talking with some members on here, that say i should be able to find a 3rd member for 50 bucks<- if thats true, thats something i can afford.

but I'm willing to pay a little more if i can get a lsd in there.

any ideas or tips or tricks?