Rear Differential Replacement Help

Flifisher

New member
Hey....my 98's entire rear diff is rusted beyond fixing...it must be a New England thing...my question is...has anybody done a write up for the replacement of this?? I am afraid of what it might cost me at the stealership...i am currently looking for one at local junk yards...any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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What exactly do you mean by rusted beyond fixing? The diff carriers are extremely thick and I doubt you rusted through it. Your axle housing may have rusted through, but that isn't the diff.
 
This may be usefull...

My trolling of new posts found me yours... I recently had to replace my rear axle housing along with a bunch of other stuff as my rear axle seals were leaking as well... Here is my repair thread link...

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/104883-rust-belt-rear-axle-housing-swap.html

Hope this helps...

If you have the time, and can find a place outside of the northeast, it may be worth your time and money to find a salvage yard that can sell you a used complete assembly...

I went the expensive way (all dealer new parts) for several reasons, the biggest being a time crunch...
 
Pics of rear axle housing...

yes....i am mistaken...it is the housing...I will sen out a couple of pics...

Thanks!!!
 
Pics of rear axle housing...

Main area of concern...
 

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Yup...

Does not look like yours has rusted through...yet...

In a way you are lucky, as that broken e-brake guide bracket rusted off on yours... Mine stayed there, rusted, and vibrated a crack in the non-replaceable differential cover...new dealer axle housing - $1100...

Again, if you check out my repair thread you will see what I had to go through... But as I mentioned, if you that the time, buy a used housing and have it shipped in... Then clean it up as best you can before it goes on the truck...

I am a fan of bedlining anything that does not have bolt threads or moving parts... I think my new axle housing will outlast the rest of the truck now...

If you are extremely ambitious, you could attempt to clean up the one you have, prime it good and thick, then bedline it... It all depends on time, money, and how long you are able to be without driving your T4R...

I was lucky and had access to a heated garage over X-mas break...
 

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Flifisher, you have the typical rusted axle housing. No surprise since you are in NH. I had the exact same thing as my rig has lived in MA and VT. Is your housing rusted all the way through already and leaking?

Even if it has rusted through, it can be temporarily patched, and there are other, much cheaper courses of action than what Dewey did. Don't read his thread and think you have to do the same, he replaced and spent way more than we necessary. He has alot of new parts now, which is great, but not all of them need to be replaced.

The link in my signature shows some of my rust issues. I used JBweld putty for a patch until I found a replacement axle housing. Other guys have used a JB weld patch for over a year without problems. This at least buys you time if you are indeed leaking. Also in that thread are links to other very useful rust threads, one showing a guy that had his welded, which is another option.

For now, I recommend stripping the rust off the diff cover area and assessing the rust holes. Remove the fill plug, drain the oil, and patch the holes with JB weld, then refill the diff and spray some paint over what you stripped. Just a couple hours of work and you will be back on the road, then you can look to the permanent solution of replacement.

I live less than an hour from you (Watertown MA). Let me know if you want any help with whatever you do.
 
Differences...

Correct... I was forced to buy new instead of scavenge salvaged parts...no time to search...my problem needed to be resolved within two weeks of discovering it - including the labor time to complete... I probably would have replaced my bad parts with used replacements if I had the time to do so...

Band-aide "get you buy" JB weld has its place I guess... I was not willing to risk my only transportation to the "smear and hope" type of repair.

All of the folks giving me crap about how much money I spent saying it was a waste sound like my WW2 era father... For piece of mind alone, not to mention longevity, I wanted to know that these parts were never going to need repairing or replacing again...

There ARE less expensive ways to go for the parts you may need... However the labor PITA remains the same... Everyone will have to balance their own time vs money...

It made sense to me... Since I did all the labor myself... I ended up spending the same amount of money at the end of the day as I would have to hire some shop to do the minimum for passing inspection. This way I have a WAY better end result, more new components, and I know the quality of the work was done to the level I would have wanted done.

As far as what needed to be done - I would argue everything needed doing... How many thousands of dollars does everyone on here blow on aftermarket trail gear for their rides, but I am slammed for simply repairing broken and rusted OEM parts???
 
Look, I am not trying to slam you, but you came in with an extremely detailed thread, on how to fix a rusty axle housing, and detailed a parts list and price tag WAY beyond what anyone else here that has dealt with this issue has paid. I don't want anyone coming here, reading your thread, and thinking that is their only option or the only safe option (not that it isn't a valid and quality solution). You linked that thread here, so I want the OP to know that he doesn't have to spend what you did, and do as much as you did. If money wasn't an issue for you, then in the words of Virgil Sollozzo, "te salud", but for me, 2k wasn't an option.

And for the record, the JB weld patch ins't a "smear and hope" solution. I never said it was permanent, but I think it is much better than a "smear and hope" band-aid. Multiple people have gone that route, and those that left it on long term got anywhere from 8 month to over a year and counting out of the patch.

I don't know your full situation, so I can't judge your decision to go the route you did, but my rig was my DD as well, and the fastest solution to keep me on the road was the JB weld patch. And that simple cheap patch allowed me to wait on the full swap until my schedule allowed, and I sourced parts at a much better price. Other guys have sourced parts way cheaper than even I got mine for, so in their cases, you are talking fixing the rust problem for 1/10th the cost of your fix. That is meaningful.

You also did some things that I straight up disagreed with, like stripping the stock coating off the axle and putting bedliner over it. I would never strip off an electro deposited coating (which the stock stuff probably is) and replace it with something I picked up at autozone for $30. The stock coating won't last forever (obviously) but I think it will last longer than anything you paint on. That's just my opinion though, maybe you have access to some much higher quality bedliner that the rest of us don't have easy access to.
 
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Thanks!!!!!!!!

Hey guys....thanks so much.....I am going to clean it up this weekend....and see whats under the rust....then coat the bejesus out of it...I can't thank you enough for your help....I love my runner....i'll post pics later...

Cheers....
 
One more thing, may not be your issue, but a friend of mine was leaking gear oil, and it turned out to be the diff carrier seal, not a rusted housing. All i had to do to fix it was tighten the bottom couple carrier nuts (a shop had told him that the fix would cost more than the vehicle was worth). You never actually said you were leaking, but just FYI, this could happen too. Still a good idea to take care of your rust though as you have alot of it too.
 
Hey guys....thanks so much.....I am going to clean it up this weekend....and see whats under the rust....then coat the bejesus out of it...I can't thank you enough for your help....I love my runner....i'll post pics later...

Cheers....

Where are the pics?
 

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