ok, so my 1988 toyota pickup (22re) has been making a whirring noise. brought it into the local transmission place, and they said it was most likely the pinion bearings. now i dont have the money to get people that know what there doing to do it. so i figured i'd do it in class (im training to become a mechanic). but i cant figure out what to do. or what to buy to rebuild or what kind of diff i have. i can confidently get the axles out and the cover plate on the diff removed, but that is about the extent of my knowledge. ive tried searching google, yota tech, toyota nation. and I've found a number of people with problems similar to mine but no one that has asked and received all the answers im looking for. any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Evan

 

Sometimes that can be as simple to fix as tighting up the pinion nut on the third member. It should take about 90lbs...the nut is staked by the way.

Then check the oil level and see if that helps.

If you have to rebuild the diff, check out zuk's site...gearinstals.com. Lots of good info and photos.

It sounds like you would benefit from reading your eye's out on the topic. I know there is a lot of good threads on here about your topic. Do a bit more searching. Diffs are one thing you need good tools and weired ones for.

 

I just recently had my third member rebuilt and sent it to Zuk. I figured since I was going to work on it might as well install locker and upgrade the gears. Zuk is definitely the right person for this job.

I'm not saying that you cannot do it but I think it's better to have a professional do this because if it's done wrong, it can end up costing you a lot more. Lots of specialty tools are needed to get the job done right.

 

On a scale from one to ten, brake pads would be a two and gear work is a strong nine. First of all, you need hundreds of dollars in fancy tools, such as a shop press, dial gauge, pullers, etc. This is definitely something you'd only want to attempt with some time and guidance. If your pinion bearing is indeed shot, it may just be easier to yank one from a junkyard. Good luck.

 

lawn dart, thankfully im doing it in class at my college auto shop so tools wont be a problem
Thanks, Evan

 

I thought Zuk retired from doing diffs.

 

He just did mine, and did a very good job with it. Perfect paint patterns. His turn around time was 2 - 3 days. Best part though is that he kept in contact with e during the process and sent me pictures of everything. Awesome service. Send him a message through his website.

 

if your doing this at school. the teacher should know how to do it and be able to help you. i just finished regearing, rebuiding a elocker and never again lol if your just gonna be replacing bearings. its not hard but having certain tools help. i had a few techs help me but they also never done a full rebuild like i did. i had to use the service manual and looked at alot of pictures on zuks website. even asked him a few questions.

btw zuk is still doing regears but only during certain times of the year from what he told me