The front right axle on my 1998 Tacoma popped out of the axle/differential housing. I caught it fairly quickly and went back to 2WD and probably drove it 300 feet or so. Of course it lost gear oil but I am not sure how much. Has anyone had this happen before? What are the chances the entire differential will need replacement or should it be just an axle repair? I have attached some photos. If any one has had this happen or can offer suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.V6 Manual trans, ADD. Thanks. 2 pics attached. you will definitely need to zoom in to get a good look.unfortunately, due to picture size limits this is the best I could do. i reposted pic 30d at the best I could. the yellow part in the foreground is the shock. the green axle is laying on top of the A-arm. the axle housing is right above the cv boot. If anyone would be willing to accept an email and take a look at a better picture, that would be great. Thank you everyone for your input so far. greatly appreciated. thanks

in answer to the questions from members:
1) it only separated on the right inner housing. the cv joint is still attached to the axle.
2) it happened while in reverse on a hill

revised info:
I added a picture titled Tulip. Truck has a 6 inch lift and as far as I can tell diff was not dropped ( purchased used awhile back.) bumpstops are fine. As far as I can tell from all of your help the CV popped out of the tulip and all that was lost was CV grease. Please let me know if that is accurate and if anyone has a good link for a repair and about how much should this cost for a shop to do? THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR INPUT AND HELP. SINCERELY APPRECIATED......gary

 

how the hell did you do that?

I would drain and refill the diff, pics would definitely help. Maybe the clip ring on the end of the cv came off. Are you add or manual hubs?

It takes me a crowbar and a hell of kick to get mine to pop out.

 

Do you have any bigger pictures?

From the photo, it looks like your inner cv joint broke, the inner splined end of the cv is still in the differential tube. If this is the case, nothing sould be wrong with your diff.

You will just need new cv axels

Did it happen to both sides?

It is not that difficult to replace the cv axels, if you have some mechanical skills.

 

Ditto, from the pics it looks like you blew an inner cv joint.

 

If i'm not mistaken, you will need to get new BJ's after you separate them to get the cv out. Maybe somebody else knows for sure...

 

No, tacoma's have four bolts that hold the lower ball joint to the steering knuckle, and all you have to do is remove those. Then you can move the knuckle around enough to get the axel out and in.

 

You said you leaked gear oil... are you sure, or was it just CV grease? As others have said, unless the inner portion of your CV tulip joint actually popped out of the diff, you shouldn't have lost any gear oil, and your diff would be perfectly fine. Did anything on your inner tulip joint actually break (it's hidden in your pictures by the inner CV boot), or did it just pop out?

Do you have a lift on the truck? If so, how many inches and has your differential also been lowered to compensate for the lift? Are your bumpstops (the ones that control how far your front wheels droop when you flex) still there and in good shape?

 

I added a picture titled Tulip. Truck has a 6 inch lift and as far as I can tell diff was not dropped ( purchased used awhile back.) bumpstops are fine. As far as I can tell from all of your help the CV popped out of the tulip and all that was lost was CV grease. Please let me know if that is accurate and if anyone has a good link for a repair and about how much should this cost for a shop to do? THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR INPUT AND HELP. SINCERELY APPRECIATED......gary

 

o yea....for some reason i was thinking you had to remove the whole ball joint, cuz that was the last thing i did to my suspension. my bad

 

Well... the 6 inch lift might not have helped your issue... depending on what kind of lift is on there.

It's hard to tell if there's damage to the tulip bearings from your picture. You should host your pictures at a site like flickr.com or photobucket.com and just post the links here. That way, you can post full size, high resolution photos that make it easier to see.

Anyways, the first thing to do is figure out whether you're going to do the maintenance yourself, or get it done somewhere else. You can't drive it the way it is (unless you have manual hubs that you can unlock), and you can't remove the axle and drive the truck with the axle removed (on your truck... some Toyotas you can), so you either should get it towed someplace to get it fixed, or dive in there yourself.

Removal and installation of a CV axle is not too bad, so if you're buying a new one, it's only a couple hours of work to install it (your first time). Rebuilding one (cleaning, repacking with grease and installing new boots) takes approximately 1 hour (if you've done it before), but it is a bit messy.

Regardless of what you choose, the old axle will have to be removed, so if you're comfortable doing that, you might as well remove it, and clean out the three needle bearings and the cup in the tulip joint so that you can inspect it and decide whether it needs replacing.

 

I am having the same problem with my Taco.
I have a '00 4x4 with ADD, 4" procomp lift with lowered crossmembers. My passengers cv axle popped out of the tulip while turning right in 4Lo. Changed the cv axle and while on jackstands noticed drivers cv would turn but passengers wouldn't. Took for test drive in 4Lo and as soon as turned right new cv axle popped out of tulip. Mechanic thinks it's broken diff gears. Looking for 3rd member rather than do teardown/rebuild. Wondering if LockRight locker would also require new ring/pinion gears if they are broken?

 

whenever you put a big lift on these rigs, if you do not have the diff dropped to maintain its stock geometry you will have cv's popping apart left and right.

 

Forgot to mention, I do have a diff drop as well, so my cv angles are pretty much stock. I am going to drain my diff and see if I get any metal chunks then I'll know for sure.