Elocker Axle Swap - rear end noise

K

kissmybass

New member
Hi all, i just did an elocker axle/3rd swap (from a 97 Limited 180k salvage yard) in my 1999 4wd SR5 ABS 155k. Everything went fairly smooth and it locks well but I noticed I have a noise coming from the rear end. I suspended the tires and put the car in drive/reverse and the noise is present in both directions.

I can only suspect the 3rd member I got from the 97 had a bearing problem. Everything was perfect prior to the swap with my 99 open diff.

Anyone else confirm what this noise is? Everything says it's the pinion bearing? I greased the driveshaft and made sure it didn't go out of balance also. Oil is topped off with lucas heavy duty 80w90.

Here's 3 videos:
driver side (louder): https://youtu.be/BmEXf2WXdnY
passenger side: https://youtu.be/I5LODX52I34
passenger faster spinning: https://youtu.be/hBOxp6vr5r4

Any help appreciated...
 
Last edited:
Register to hide this ad
I'm completing an e-locker axle swap & I brought my (new to me) 3rd member to the trans/diff shop for all new bearings & seals just so I wouldn't have any surprises after install.
 
I would start by grabbing each wheel and see if you can move it up and down then grab the pinion and see if you can get movement out of that. If no movement take to drums off and see if a shoe is not sitting straight.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
dozerfrelich said:
I would start by grabbing each wheel and see if you can move it up and down then grab the pinion and see if you can get movement out of that. If no movement take to drums off and see if a shoe is not sitting straight.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

No movement up and down on the wheels. I just had the bearings replaced when I did the infamous rear axle seal job :). All new toyota parts for each axle side.

The pinion companion flange has no movement either. I took off the driveshaft and tried moving it in and out and up and down.

Appreciate all the responses!
 
Scramble said:
I'm completing an e-locker axle swap & I brought my (new to me) 3rd member to the trans/diff shop for all new bearings & seals just so I wouldn't have any surprises after install.
Click to expand...

smart man! I love your story on how you got your 4runner.

How much did the rebuild cost you?
 
Could be pinion bearing. Happened to me.

Put the truck on the lift. Put it in gear and see if noise comes from the rear diff. If so probably bad bearing. Check the gear oil to.

If it is pinion bearing. Might as well change all the bearings while in it

Is it under load ?
 
Same here,I did a complete elocker axle swap on my 02 and soon heard a "muffled whirring." Pinion seal then started leaking so I just ordered a fresh setup from ECGS
 
Mauzer said:
Same here,I did a complete elocker axle swap on my 02 and soon heard a "muffled whirring." Pinion seal then started leaking so I just ordered a fresh setup from ECGS
Click to expand...

You got a link? I might order the parts and send it to a shop to do the work. There seems to be a lot of tools for this job :).
 
Doesn't sound like wheel to wheel grinding. Do you get the same sound while the axle locked?
Check the drain plug magnet and the oil.

At one point I felt like the dust shield at pinion oil seal is touching the housing?

Try going 4Low and 1st gear (IMPORTANT disconnect the front drive shaft from the transfer case). See the frequency of sound to the turns of the drive shaft and wheel. Based on this we can say it is the pinion or the ring gear related.
 
nissanh said:
Doesn't sound like wheel to wheel grinding. Do you get the same sound while the axle locked?
Check the drain plug magnet and the oil.

At one point I felt like the dust shield at pinion oil seal is touching the housing?

Try going 4Low and 1st gear (IMPORTANT disconnect the front drive shaft from the transfer case). See the frequency of sound to the turns of the drive shaft and wheel. Based on this we can say it is the pinion or the ring gear related.
Click to expand...

I have the blue wire mod (can lock in 2wd) and it makes the same noise when locked.

The drain magnet looked fine and I just did a fluid swap. It's full.

I did "paint" the flange area.... but i don't see how paint could make this noise (lol). I was hammering that flange quite a bit to remove it from the drive shaft at the salvage yard.... but not anymore than anyone else would to remove the shaft from the flange. Think I could have ruin the preload? The nut does seem fine and smashed down.

I will remove front drive shaft (last resort). Trying not to touch anything that was working fine before.

One more thing, I did disconnect the rear driveshaft and manually turned the wheels to turn the pinion/flange to see if i could get the noise but i couldn't spin it fast enough to hear anything.
 
Last edited:
kissmybass said:
smart man! I love your story on how you got your 4runner.

How much did the rebuild cost you?
Click to expand...

Thank You!

$325 for the Koyo bearing rebuild kit & & $475 labor. Not cheap but I had my factory 4.56 gears installed into the new e-locker carrier.

You could get the bearing kit online for around $250. Next time I'll buy the tools & do it myself. I "need" a 20 ton press anyway. :-)
 
kissmybass said:
Hi all, i just did an elocker axle/3rd swap (from a 97 Limited 180k salvage yard) in my 1999 4wd SR5 ABS 155k. Everything went fairly smooth and it locks well but I noticed I have a noise coming from the rear end. I suspended the tires and put the car in drive/reverse and the noise is present in both directions.

I can only suspect the 3rd member I got from the 97 had a bearing problem. Everything was perfect prior to the swap with my 99 open diff.

Anyone else confirm what this noise is? Everything says it's the pinion bearing? I greased the driveshaft and made sure it didn't go out of balance also. Oil is topped off with lucas heavy duty 80w90.

Here's 3 videos:
driver side (louder): https://youtu.be/BmEXf2WXdnY
passenger side: https://youtu.be/I5LODX52I34
passenger faster spinning: https://youtu.be/hBOxp6vr5r4

Any help appreciated...
Click to expand...

Probably the 3rd member. LOL I just did the same as you but I had the opposite "problem". I went from a 4.1 non-locker axle with a bad pinion bearing, to a 4.3 locked axle with good bearings!!! I lucked out!!!!

here is how you can tell: remove the rear drive shaft from the 3rd member flange and tie it to the frame so it doesn't fall down. Remove the wheels so it is easy to spin the 4rd member. Now spin it with your hands. If bad it will make some noise and not feel perfectly smooth. Compare this to your old axle which should feel different. My 2 axles felt totally different, it was obvious.

I also took it to a rear end shop and they hoisted it up and listened to it and said it sounded really bad.

I still don't know if the locker works though... the assembly is on the other axle at my mom's house.
 
Mark_BC said:
Probably the 3rd member. LOL I just did the same as you but I had the opposite "problem". I went from a 4.1 non-locker axle with a bad pinion bearing, to a 4.3 locked axle with good bearings!!! I lucked out!!!!

here is how you can tell: remove the rear drive shaft from the 3rd member flange and tie it to the frame so it doesn't fall down. Remove the wheels so it is easy to spin the 4rd member. Now spin it with your hands. If bad it will make some noise and not feel perfectly smooth. Compare this to your old axle which should feel different. My 2 axles felt totally different, it was obvious.

I also took it to a rear end shop and they hoisted it up and listened to it and said it sounded really bad.

I still don't know if the locker works though... the assembly is on the other axle at my mom's house.
Click to expand...

Congrats on the new axle :). I actually did compare the 2 and they felt the same. Both were solid as a rock and turned about the same. I'm going to try one more thing..... stay tuned!
 
So my noise seems to have calmed down a bit. I can't really hear it anymore while driving unless i'm under the car listening to it. Perhaps it just needed some lube break in time. I did clean her out with break clean prior so maybe she was just a little too dry. Guess I'll drive her til she blows or starts howling. It's my 3rd car/fish mobile so I'm OK with it. The wife didn't notice so it's WAF approved. Going to re-finish my non-locked diff just in case I need to swap her back (since i'm bored now without projects).

Thanks all for the help and feedback.
 
donuts

Well guys, the locker works. It was an open lot....no one was injured :)

Huge improvement over open diff lol. Can't wait to make snow donuts.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GiRYy9rvtfs?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
kissmybass said:
So my noise seems to have calmed down a bit. I can't really hear it anymore while driving unless i'm under the car listening to it. Perhaps it just needed some lube break in time. I did clean her out with break clean prior so maybe she was just a little too dry. Guess I'll drive her til she blows or starts howling. It's my 3rd car/fish mobile so I'm OK with it. The wife didn't notice so it's WAF approved. Going to re-finish my non-locked diff just in case I need to swap her back (since i'm bored now without projects).

Thanks all for the help and feedback.
Click to expand...

Glad the noise quieted down....just came on your thread and had some thoughts for next time after looking at your video's & listening to the noise. It didn't sound to me like bearing noise which is more of a howl just as you described it. Perhaps it was normal differential spider gear noise - when the wheel RPM's are very different (as they appeared to be in your video's), the spider gears are spinning fast . This can generate some clicking & clacking - when the wheels are turning at the same or almost the same RPM (99.9% of the time), the spider gears don't turn much at all. You could check this by locking the diff or putting some resistance against the wheel turning faster so that they both turn at the same speed and see if the diff quiets down.

Buckaroo
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 537 (members: 0, guests: 537)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,315
Messages
3,554,104
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top