2000 Front differential problems? (1 Viewer)

[blue254]

Hello,

I think that I'm having some problems that relate to the front differential. Whenever I put the truck into drive there is a loud clunk noise, this also happens when I go from drive to reverse, reverse to drive. Along with those problems I also seem to get a thunk noise when coming to a stop, almost feels like something is shifting/moving underneath the front of the truck.

I have read up on the clunk post, lubed the u joints and the slip yoke but that didn’t solve any of the problems. I even went ahead and had all the u joints replaced and still no fix. I recently read that having a thunk while changing from drive to reverse is a sign of the differential going out. I honestly know very little about differentials and have no idea how to diagnosis and fix a problem with them.

I guess my question is, does this sound like my front differential is toast or something else. If it is the differential what could I do? Tried searching the web and couldn’t find much on replacement differentials.

All advice and suggestions are greatly appreciate and thank you for your time.

 

[2001LC]

Good chance you differential is fine. Unless gear lube changes have been neglected, or you've been popping off tops of boulders off-road they hold up well.

Most common for N to D, N to R clunk is front axle hub flange & axle teeth are worn out from improperly serviced wheel bearings. Even if wheel bearing have been service (packed with grease) every 30K miles as called for by Toyota MS, most shop do wrong. They leave wheel bearing to loose and snap ring gap to wide.

Your front drive shaft(s) (CV) should move as one with it's wheel. That is to say "no play (back lash)".
Excessive play at front differential
Bearing repack GURUs
Excessive play at front differential
Wheel bearing failure
CV axle question

 

[blue254]

I honestly don't know much about the history of my cruiser but its great news to me that its probably not the differential. So I should just replace the axles,hub flange and wheel bearings?

 

[2001LC]

You should inspect them first see what your dealing with.

If hub flange teeth are worn out, front drive shaft axle teeth often are as well. Depending on your budget front drive shaft(s) (axle) may be ok keep, but best practice is to replace both.

Wheel bearing service should also be done, if service history unknown (get baseline). Plus you'll have labor of job half done, while taking care of hub flange & axle.

I just replace what doesn't meet factory spec, keeping all factory parts I can.

Read through the links above, and you get a good idea of what your dealing with.

 

[blue254]

Ok, Ill have the cruiser in the garage this weekend for some other work being done on it so I'll take a look and replace whatever it needs. Thanks 2001LC you have helped me a bunch with this cruiser, hopefully I'll finally be able to drive it soon.(still have only driven it about 200 miles since I bought it)

 

[2001LC]

Your welcome. Hopefully the differential is fine and you just need a couple of $50 hub flanges.

Inspecting, cleaning and base-lining is best action with any used vehicle.
Here some link to help get you started:
204,000 mi recommended maintainence
330k plus, and want to freshen the ol' gal up a bit
LX470 to build or not to build...
I'm getting ready to started on this one I just scored, picking up load of parts tomorrow:
Just scored a 2007 LC



Also it's helpful if post your year, mileage, mods and model (LC or LX), like you see just below this massage for my 2001LC.

 

[marcfj60]

Also, grease the drive-shaft slip yokes and the u-joints. when my clunks, some grease in the rear shaft slip yoke makes it go away.

 

[RotorHead04]

If you have the REALLY LOUD clunk noise there is a very good chance your front differential mount bushing is shot. The front diff cover also doubles asa mount for the diff housing. Mine was toast and as you described, sounded like something was moving when shifting from P to R and D. Throw it on jacks, or preferably a a lift, HOLD THE BRAKES and shift from P to R and D and have someone watch the front diff. Remove the front skit plate and you will see the bushing housing slapping the front diff mount.

Ill try attaching pictures of mine, and it Im really lucky I'll get the video I took to upload. I preformed and "emergency bush fix" once I discovered the problem. Just waiting on the new mount to arrive.

 

[bucfl]

Where is that bushing located? Hard to tell from pics.

 

[RotorHead04]

Bushing is located directly in front of the front differential. The front diff cover doubles as the bushing mount. Pull the skip plate off and you will see it bolted right next to the right hand side suspension arm.

I stole this picture offline. You can see the mount that jets off the front of the diff cover. Thats the bushing that wears out and allows the whole differential to pivot up and down.

 

[bucfl]

Thank you!

 

[blue254]

Thanks so much for the advice and pictures. I will look at that for sure and hopefully it's just the bushing. Where did you get your new bushing your waiting on from?

 

[2001LC]

Here's three front differential mounting bushing.

 

[nissanh]

If you have any old rubber mounts off of front shockabsorber, they work great. I need to thicken the washer I put tomorrow.
Thanks for the pictures. Too cold to go outside to to take pictures.

 

[nissanh]

Here is what I did today

 

[feddomw]

FWIW, I had the exact symptoms you have, and my Cruiser specialist said the front diff was shot. I was skeptical, sounded expensive and I hoped for cheap fix like bushings.... I got a new front diff and two new drive shafts (I don't know if that's the preferred term, the things that go out the frond diff at the sides to drive the wheels). Drove like new. Clunk gone.

If I recall, it wasn't that the diff internals were shot so much as there was a lot of play where the front drive shaft (the one that goes from centerdiff/transfer box to front diff) goes into the diff. Fixing that with bearings and and the likes was more expensive than a new diff.

New diff and both drive shafts cost €2.000 in parts (€1000 for the diff and €500 per shaft, all OEM Toyota) and 6hrs labor to replace.

YMMV, I guess.

 

[blue254]

Thanks for the pictures and advice/suggestions everyone.
Today I was able to get under the truck and take a look at everything. One thing I noticed while under the truck and having someone go from drive to reverse/reverse to drive with brakes applied. The drivers side cv axle would move/jerk when the car was put into drive or reverse, the passenger side did not move/jerk. The front drive shaft will also move when switching from drive reverse/reverse drive. Most of the noise was coming from the drivers side cv axle. I'll try tomorrow to get a video of what i'm talking about, hopefully that will better show whats happening.

 

[blue254]

Thanks again for all the helpful information and pictures. I honestly think I'm just going to sell my land cruiser, tired of constantly working on it and still getting nowhere. Found a decent LX470 that I have lined up to buy Wednesday that's in much better shape than my land cruiser.Probably going to sell mine cheap but will keep the new tires I just bought and transfer them to the new LX. I appreciate everyone's time and thank you.

 

[SuperDude02]

I am having very similar symptoms, combined with the fact that if go over 50 MPH, I get a terrible vibration. My mechanic thinks the front differential is the problem, and thinks the cost would be $2,500 - $3,000 to fix. I have a hard time spending that much on a car that is maybe worth $8k. It has 225k miles, but several new parts including new brakes, tires, and other fixes. I am curious how much you got for yours, Blue254. Thinking I ask for $5k. It is a nice Ironman suspension on the car which only has 10k miles on it.

Thoughts?

 

[blue254]

I actually ended up selling mine to another forum member who was just going to use it for parts. I think i sold it for around 1800$, but it had a lot of rust and other cosmetic issues. I was just so tired of messing around with it and wanted it out of the driveway.