200 Series Toyota Land Cruiser Rear Axle Breather

[Lion2008]

Today after reading more about tail light vs Gas fill location for the rear differential breather mod. I decided that the gas fill location as mentioned before is a better location that the tail light location due to the possible smell coming out from the breather and getting inside the car. It was easy to install by the gas fill location and now any air Coming from the breather will be released to the outside of the car.

 

[Lion2008]

 

[2008Cruiser]

The breather on the drivers side fender near the firewall is the front diff. There are also 3 trans/Tcase breathers located on the firewall directly behind the engine. All need to be extended and relocated if you plan to encounter deep water at any point. We commonly use the ARB diff breather kits.

@cruiseroutfit so there are 5 breathers on the 200 series in total? One front diff, one rear diff, and three transmission/transfer case breathers?

 

[cruiseroutfit]

@cruiseroutfit so there are 5 breathers on the 200 series in total? One front diff, one rear diff, and three transmission/transfer case breathers?

Yes, 1 + 3 + 1, 5 total for the front diff, trans/tc and rear axle housing.

 

[2008Cruiser]

Yes, 1 + 3 + 1, 5 total for the front diff, trans/tc and rear axle housing.

Thanks Kurt!

 

[2008Cruiser]

Today after reading more about tail light vs Gas fill location for the rear differential breather mod. I decided that the gas fill location as mentioned before is a better location that the tail light location due to the possible smell coming out from the breather and getting inside the car. It was easy to install by the gas fill location and now any air Coming from the breather will be released to the outside of the car.

@Lion2008 did you cut a hole in the gasket material or did you bypass the gasket material and go under it? Thanks!

 

[Lion2008]

@Lion2008 did you cut a hole in the gasket material or did you bypass the gasket material and go under it? Thanks!

I did not cut a hole. When I pushed the breather hose by the filler tube, it just went through. The gasket is not sealed to the gas filler tube.

 

[2008Cruiser]

I did not cut a hole. When I pushed the breather hose by the filler tube, it just went through. The gasket is not sealed to the gas filler tube.

@Lion2008 thanks!

 

[kcjaz]

OK, so I'm doing gears and lockers and have always intended to extend my breathers and now seems like the time to do it. After reading this thread I understand there are 5 breathers that need to be extended. I also understand that the OEM breathers are essentially check valve style vents and only allow the pressure of air in the diffs, trans, and t-case to be vented as they heat up. They do not allow air in when these components cool down. Is that correct?

If that's the case, then there is really no point of any extension above some potential water immersion depth without changing the breathers to open, by-directional vents so air can be sucked in when the diffs are cooled down suddenly (which is explained in this thread). That all makes sense to me except that why is the OEM breather a check valve in the first place? Wouldn't air have to get back into the diffs, trans, t-case at some point when it cools down normally (not a water crossing)? I don't recall ever hearing or noticing any sucking sound when I have changes fluids. If Mr. T just intended air to leak back in through seals and gaskets, why elevate the breathers at all? The check valves shouldn't let water in anyway. I suppose there is some measure of benefit having the diff breather above the axle and less likely to be submerged but it seems the main entry point of water into these systems isn't the breathers being under water, its the vacuum created in the components that are under water sucking water in through gaskets and seals. Just seems like a obviously flawed design. Elevated bi-directional vents/breathers seems clearly better. I know, that's why people do the mod but most mods are not fixing obvious flaws in the OEM design.

 

[bloc]

OK, so I'm doing gears and lockers and have always intended to extend my breathers and now seems like the time to do it. After reading this thread I understand there are 5 breathers that need to be extended. I also understand that the OEM breathers are essentially check valve style vents and only allow the pressure of air in the diffs, trans, and t-case to be vented as they heat up. They do not allow air in when these components cool down. Is that correct?

If that's the case, then there is really no point of any extension above some potential water immersion depth without changing the breathers to open, by-directional vents so air can be sucked in when the diffs are cooled down suddenly (which is explained in this thread). That all makes sense to me except that why is the OEM breather a check valve in the first place? Wouldn't air have to get back into the diffs, trans, t-case at some point when it cools down normally (not a water crossing)? I don't recall ever hearing or noticing any sucking sound when I have changes fluids. If Mr. T just intended air to leak back in through seals and gaskets, why elevate the breathers at all? The check valves shouldn't let water in anyway. I suppose there is some measure of benefit having the diff breather above the axle and less likely to be submerged but it seems the main entry point of water into these systems isn't the breathers being under water, its the vacuum created in the components that are under water sucking water in through gaskets and seals. Just seems like a obviously flawed design. Elevated bi-directional vents/breathers seems clearly better. I know, that's why people do the mod but most mods are not fixing obvious flaws in the OEM design.

The ones I took apart ages ago could barely be called check valves. Just a flat round disk of sheet rubber against a circular lip at the end of the hose, and a very weak spring on the other side of the rubber. I don't think much of a vacuum will be developed, if any.

If you were curious about the extent of the theoretical vacuum, it would be really easy to install a gauge in-line and see what happens.

 

[Lion2008]

OK, so I'm doing gears and lockers and have always intended to extend my breathers and now seems like the time to do it. After reading this thread I understand there are 5 breathers that need to be extended. I also understand that the OEM breathers are essentially check valve style vents and only allow the pressure of air in the diffs, trans, and t-case to be vented as they heat up. They do not allow air in when these components cool down. Is that correct?

If that's the case, then there is really no point of any extension above some potential water immersion depth without changing the breathers to open, by-directional vents so air can be sucked in when the diffs are cooled down suddenly (which is explained in this thread). That all makes sense to me except that why is the OEM breather a check valve in the first place? Wouldn't air have to get back into the diffs, trans, t-case at some point when it cools down normally (not a water crossing)? I don't recall ever hearing or noticing any sucking sound when I have changes fluids. If Mr. T just intended air to leak back in through seals and gaskets, why elevate the breathers at all? The check valves shouldn't let water in anyway. I suppose there is some measure of benefit having the diff breather above the axle and less likely to be submerged but it seems the main entry point of water into these systems isn't the breathers being under water, its the vacuum created in the components that are under water sucking water in through gaskets and seals. Just seems like a obviously flawed design. Elevated bi-directional vents/breathers seems clearly better. I know, that's why people do the mod but most mods are not fixing obvious flaws in the OEM design.

My understanding of how breathers work is that a breather allows the hot air to escape and cool air to enter so they are bidirectional. I moved mine due to corrosion in Illinois. I only extended the hose and used the OEM breather for the rear axle. I did not do anything with the others. If you need to extend the others ones you will have to remove the intake manifold to get access to the transmission and transfer case breathers. There is one breather located below the brake fluid reservoir. The breathers do have a spring so I do not know at what pressure or vacuum those expand or contract to allow air in or out. I have read that transmission breathers and rear axle vents are different. The rear axle vent allows hot air out only.

 

[Fisher23]

OLD Thread brought back to life...

Where is a good place to route the STARTER motor breather?

Also I saw somewhere a nice breather mounting that had 5 or six breathers all collected in the engine bay on a "L" tab. Does anyone know who makes that?

 

[achillar30]

OLD Thread brought back to life...

Where is a good place to route the STARTER motor breather?

Also I saw somewhere a nice breather mounting that had 5 or six breathers all collected in the engine bay on a "L" tab. Does anyone know who makes that?

It looks like a lot of them are custom fabs. I think with the right tools it shouldn’t be too difficult, but it’s definitely beyond my capabilities.

FWIW, I had my rear diff breather extended up into the fuel filler neck when I had my LRA aux fuel tank installed. From everything I’ve read on here, once you have water over the front wheel arch you’re risking getting water into the cabin or the alternator, so even with the breathers extended there might be other issues in deep water.

I don’t know if the ARB kit comes with the mount of just the tubing. Here’s a mount they make, but I haven’t verified fitment for the 200 series: Differential Breather Kit 170112 - https://store.arbusa.com/differential-breather-kit-170112/

Not sure it’s of any help, but here everything I have bookmarked that has a photo of an engine bay mount for the breathers.

Thread 'Diff Breather Extension Installed'
Diff Breather Extension Installed - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/diff-breather-extension-installed.1012442/

Post in thread 'Safari Snorkel Install- Cutting a large hole in perfectly good 200'
Safari Snorkel Install- Cutting a large hole in perfectly good 200 - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/safari-snorkel-install-cutting-a-large-hole-in-perfectly-good-200.808359/post-9256257

Thread '200 Series Drivetrain Breather Project'
200 Series Drivetrain Breather Project - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/200-series-drivetrain-breather-project.1124918/

 

[Artie]

FWIW, I had my rear diff breather extended up into the fuel filler neck when I had my LRA aux fuel tank installed.

how has this location worked out over the years? Any issues with dust or water getting kicked up into that spot or any maintenance required in that location?

 

[Lion2008]

how has this location worked out over the years? Any issues with dust or water getting kicked up into that spot or any maintenance required in that location?

It has worked without any issues. No dust or water issues..it looks as new as the day I installed it.

 

[achillar30]

how has this location worked out over the years? Any issues with dust or water getting kicked up into that spot or any maintenance required in that location?

It's been trouble free so far, but it's only been a little over a year.