I was all excited about the e-locker retrofit and then I noticed this...

[ugamurph]

I was planning on wrapping up my e-locker retrofit on my 2001 4Runner this weekend. The wiring needed for the harness has been ordered and will be here Saturday. The rear locked axle has been cleaned and installed under the truck. The 4.10 front diff came out to make way for the 4.30. I transfered the ADD tube and mounts to the 4.30 diff. All was well until...

I noticed that the companion flange on the 4.30 diff is bent. It is spinning true around the pinion shaft. But one side of the flange that meets up with the driveshaft is bent in toward the diff ever so slightly. (See picture.)

Last night, when I went to pick up the diff to move it to the workbench, I knocked it off of the 4" wood blocks that it had been laying on. It hit the concrete floor flange first. I checked it, but didn't notice that it was bent. Tonight I could see the slight deflection as I was preparing to re-install it.

Messing with the backlash and preload somewhat scare me. I don't think I have the proper tools or skill sets (or confidence) to reset them if needed.

I now have 2 spare diffs with perfectly straight companion flanges. I need some assistance or advice with this situation.

Do I just do my best to beat the bent flange straight?

Do I just install the diff and torque the front driveshaft to spec and hope for the best & no driveline vibration?

Do I just take the two diffs to someone and have them swap out the flanges?

Or, is the flange swap something that I really could tackle considering everything else I've already accomplished?

 

[infamousRNR]

I have no knowledge of swapping out flanges but my gut tells me that you should definitely not use the bent flange if you've made it this far. That front diff & comments are HEAVY! Hope you had the right tools to make it easy to support the weight !!

 

[ugamurph]

I have no knowledge of swapping out flanges but my gut tells me that you should definitely not use the bent flange if you've made it this far. That front diff & comments are HEAVY! Hope you had the right tools to make it easy to support the weight !!

I'm leaning toward having a shop swap the flange. It would make sense that swapping off of the truck would be easier for them and therefore cheaper for me.

The diff is pretty heavy. I used a floor jack to support the weight of the original diff when I took it out. I'll do the same when I do the re-install of the 4.30.

 

[ugamurph]

After doing some more research and receiving good advice from some friends, I have decided to tackle this flange swap on my own. There is no crush sleeve in the front differential, just a pinion spacer between the bearings. I'll come back later to document the process. I'll be replacing the pinion seal while I have access to it.

 

[OldManKamps]

After doing some more research and receiving good advice from some friends, I have decided to tackle this flange swap on my own. There is no crush sleeve in the front differential, just a pinion spacer between the bearings. I'll come back later to document the process. I'll be replacing the pinion seal while I have access to it.

good luck!

 

[ugamurph]

I had 2 spare diffs with perfectly straight companion flanges. But, I wasn't too confident about swapping the flanges and possibly messing with the backlash and preload. After some research and advice from friends, I felt like I could handle the swap.

I started by removing the flange from the donor diff (which happens to be my original one with a missing ring gear tooth). Removed the flange with a 3-arm puller. Easy enough. Took the outer bearing and "pinion spacer" out and found that there was a crush sleeve and not a solid spacer.



I then moved to the 4.30 diff. Because the diffs have crush sleeves and not solid spacers, I had to be sure to reinstall the pinion nut to the same location to maintain the correct pinion preload. I made match marks on the pinion nut and pinion shaft. I also took a reference photo to show the depth of the nut on the threads. There were no threads to count, so the reference photo helped a lot with installing the nut to the correct depth.

match marks


overhead reference


Once I had my reference points, I pulled the bent flange and set it aside. Since I had access to the pinion seal, I went ahead and replaced it for good measure. The local Toyota dealer didn't have one in stock, so I bought a National brand seal from O'Reilly. I've heard they're as good as OEM.

I almost forgot to take a picture of the new seal.


I got the straight flange installed, tightened down the nut to the reference points and re-staked it.


That was a pain, but I learned a valuable lesson. Take care of your flange. ;-)

Check out my build thread for the rest of the story....