doofenshmirtz
New member
I'm beginning to think I need to do a build thread... The diagnostics and adventures keep coming... In the last 5 months, I've done (or had someone do) the timing belt, water pump, DT longtube headers, MF y-pipe, gibson catback, modified the catback, reszfab rear upper and lower control arms, put in leather seats, repaired a radiator leak, new radiator hoses, new spark plugs, new u-joints, then those failed so I got a new driveshaft, and now I'm onto the next adventure in fully sorting my 4Runner...
I'm looking at potentially needing a new axle housing, 3rd, and rear wheel bearings. Or some combination thereof.
With the 8", I could do a 3.90 or 4.10 with TrueTrac and get a slight regear and add Trutrac Limited Slip. With 2WD limited slip would be helpful but not overkill. Apparently, those who've done it say that the Auto simulated LSD from toyota complements a true LSD rather than compete with it.
With the 8.2" the only regear options available are too aggressive for me, so it would end up being basically a factory standard 8.2" open diff with 3.73. The 8.2" is beefier in construction and likely will gain more aftermarket options in the future. I can likely find a rear from a wrecked 5th Gen for a better price than doing the 8" with a regear and LSD.
HOW DID I GET HERE? If you care to know the saga...
Had the transmission looked at for a slight grind/vib/etc at 45mph and requested the wheel bearings to be inspected due to a hum at 57ish that went away around righthand curves...
They pulled the pan, checked valve pressures, did tests for the solenoids, and everything came back FINE. Transmission is in good shape! They thought it was an exhaust issue and bent my 1/4 wave resonator (drone delete tube) away from the heat shield - I was not happy with that since I had JUST put it there on purpose. It was very close to the firewall, but I knew that and had already eliminated that as a source for the sounds. As it's a dead end tube, it doesn't get hot, exhaust gases don't travel into the dead end much. They didn't ask to tinker with it, and I didn't tell them to fix anything either. Purely a diagnostic request at this point. Now I have to clean that up and repaint it. I'm not sure if I'm going to let it slide or what...
Now that it's NOT the transmission and it's NOT fixed, they did a ride-along to have me show them exactly all the situations where the noise occurs, and they're targeting the rear axle now. That's what I had suspected in the beginning, or at least after a new driveshaft didn't resolve the issues, but I needed to rule out the trans.
They planned to deactivate the ABS and then run the car up to 45mph on the lift to see if the sound was readily apparent. If not, they're going to hook up the 8-line microphone system to the rear axle in strategic locations to determine the source. By the time I left, I think I saw them pull the third member already - there goes my gear oil I literally replaced 500 miles ago...
While we looked at the rear axle, I noticed my crappy rear axle drain bolt JB weld repair is weeping gear oil. It's like the gear oil is eroding through the JB weld and the repair area is sweating gear oil very slightly.
So I'm in a situation where I could literally have a grinding 3rd member, a leaking axle housing, and need new wheel bearings on the axle shafts. My mind goes to just trashing the whole thing and getting a new axle instead of band-aid fixing all 3 with lots of labor. Just tell them thanks for all the diagnostics, pay them for their work, and order a new axle.
I'm looking at potentially needing a new axle housing, 3rd, and rear wheel bearings. Or some combination thereof.
With the 8", I could do a 3.90 or 4.10 with TrueTrac and get a slight regear and add Trutrac Limited Slip. With 2WD limited slip would be helpful but not overkill. Apparently, those who've done it say that the Auto simulated LSD from toyota complements a true LSD rather than compete with it.
With the 8.2" the only regear options available are too aggressive for me, so it would end up being basically a factory standard 8.2" open diff with 3.73. The 8.2" is beefier in construction and likely will gain more aftermarket options in the future. I can likely find a rear from a wrecked 5th Gen for a better price than doing the 8" with a regear and LSD.
HOW DID I GET HERE? If you care to know the saga...
Had the transmission looked at for a slight grind/vib/etc at 45mph and requested the wheel bearings to be inspected due to a hum at 57ish that went away around righthand curves...
They pulled the pan, checked valve pressures, did tests for the solenoids, and everything came back FINE. Transmission is in good shape! They thought it was an exhaust issue and bent my 1/4 wave resonator (drone delete tube) away from the heat shield - I was not happy with that since I had JUST put it there on purpose. It was very close to the firewall, but I knew that and had already eliminated that as a source for the sounds. As it's a dead end tube, it doesn't get hot, exhaust gases don't travel into the dead end much. They didn't ask to tinker with it, and I didn't tell them to fix anything either. Purely a diagnostic request at this point. Now I have to clean that up and repaint it. I'm not sure if I'm going to let it slide or what...
Now that it's NOT the transmission and it's NOT fixed, they did a ride-along to have me show them exactly all the situations where the noise occurs, and they're targeting the rear axle now. That's what I had suspected in the beginning, or at least after a new driveshaft didn't resolve the issues, but I needed to rule out the trans.
They planned to deactivate the ABS and then run the car up to 45mph on the lift to see if the sound was readily apparent. If not, they're going to hook up the 8-line microphone system to the rear axle in strategic locations to determine the source. By the time I left, I think I saw them pull the third member already - there goes my gear oil I literally replaced 500 miles ago...
While we looked at the rear axle, I noticed my crappy rear axle drain bolt JB weld repair is weeping gear oil. It's like the gear oil is eroding through the JB weld and the repair area is sweating gear oil very slightly.
So I'm in a situation where I could literally have a grinding 3rd member, a leaking axle housing, and need new wheel bearings on the axle shafts. My mind goes to just trashing the whole thing and getting a new axle instead of band-aid fixing all 3 with lots of labor. Just tell them thanks for all the diagnostics, pay them for their work, and order a new axle.
