Chances of making it to 310,000 miles? Read further and get my hopes up!

[cape43cod]

New to the forum... Proud owner of a '97 4Runner SR5. As of this second, 308,992 miles. Just inherited this beast from my Dad in early winter. Body is in close to perfect condition. Just failed MD state inspection due to rust on the under carriage/frame. I can still drive it for a few more weeks.

Yesterday, I noticed an active drip coming from the rear end. Crawled under, poked around, and the rear diff case has a rust hole in it... Lost about 1/4 cup of fluid overnight, which I am assumingm is a good bit of it. It's not directly at the bottom of the case, so I'm betting it is still picking up some oil.

I want to get this to 310,000 before I HAVE to junk it! The last 1000+ miles should only take me about 2 weeks. Think I can make it?

 

[Hepar]

I would say that if your rear diff is dropping that much fluid, then no, you wouldn't make it another 1,000 miles. You might though.

 

[tbst]

For bragging rights? What's the point? You don't need to junk it just replace the rear axle.

 

[cape43cod]

I could definitely replace the rear axle, but it failed the safety inspection due to rust, so I don't want to put money into it since I can't drive it legally after a few more weeks.

 

[KidVermicious]

If the body is really that nice, get a new axle housing, have the frame repaired, dunk the damn thing in POR15 and put another 300k on it.

 

[JohnsD90]

Breather may be clogged, get a new one, find the hole on the axle, scrap the rust off and patch it with JB Weld, should be about $10 total to do.

 

[JohnsD90]

Go to a different inspection shop too. Not all of them care.

 

[PitbullRescuer]

I wouldn't junk it. Do the JB Weld repair to the rear diff for now. If the body is as clean as you say it is, I doubt the frame rust is too bad. Might be a really easy fix and then just keep her and drive the hell out of it.

 

[Kung]

Can't you just put it up on a jack stand and set a brick on the accelerator, a la Cameron in Ferris Bueller's Day Off?

 

[Nelsonmd]

Do a search on the rust issue, you don't have to junk it, and you don't have to replace the axle. You can patch it for $5, and $5 in paint and you are good to go for 30k miles. Did it fail inspection because of the rust on the axle, or is there penetrating rust on the frame too?

 

[steezemcqueen]

If you really are going to junk it, just drive it and don't worry about the diff. When i moved to CO, my previous 4Runner with 240k sprung a leak in the diff cover and i lost all the oil about halfway through my 2000 mile trip. Needless to say, the diff started howling and was pretty much gone. I still drove it the rest of the way to Colorado and for a month after that until i sold the truck.

All you are going to do by driving it is kill the diff. But if you are going to junk it, who cares?