A little more than some shavings.......

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

LX101North

LX101North

10 Year
Joined
Oct 8, 2013
Threads
15
Messages
128
Location
Humboldt
Were found on my rear diff plug today as I drained it the first time since I have acquired possession of the rig back in October. The fluid was ugly and dirty and the drain plug was not only covered in metal mud but I found these 2 pieces of awesomeness on there as well. I'm wondering if I should just cracxk the case and scope it out. I have no idea what I'm looking for but I'm sure I could just plug into the matrix...or I mean watch a youtube video or two and figure things out pretty quick. Any feedback? I'm not sure if the rear diff has ever been serviced in this rigs 124,000 miles of exsistence. 99 LX
IMG_20140707_141158620.webp
 
Two strategies: Option 1: Pull the 3rd and inspect now. Or Option 2: refill and keep an eye/ear on it. Difficult at best to guess what the metal shavings are from...but they don't look like chipped ring/pinion/planetary gear shards...again just a guess.

Option 1 will squelch the nagging thoughts especially if you like to travel into remote places ;) Although I rarely put off inspecting suspicious mechanical stuff on my rig I might opt for #2...put cheap dino diff lube in and swap it out in 5k miles to inspect.

And actually maybe a 3rd that gives merit: Pull the rear driveshaft at the pinion; remove the rear wheels and try to feel, when rotating the pinion by hand, if there is any roughness/grinding before you put diff lube back in. If all is smooth and relatively quiet then this might push you to #2. Otherwise you're back to option #1.
 
The 3rd member, on a Toyota rear, is what holds the ring and pinion to the differential housing. Before you remove the 3rd member from the rear axle/diff housing you will need to pull each axle out far enough to pull the splined shafts from the side gear splines (apart of the 3rd member). Additionally if you have a e-locker you'll first want to lock the differential before removing the axles.

From this photo of my rear axle housing you can see the "3rd" is missing/removed...#8

Having an extra pair of hands when removing and especially when reinstalling the 3rd into the diff housing with the housing mounted to the truck makes life nearly cuss-less ;) Its not that heavy but due to how the weight is distributed a little bit of a PITA when re-installing by yourself...assuming this is the direction you take.

If you're mechanically inclined to do the above work you'll want to get an FSM/appropriate FSM pages as a guide.
 
Last edited:
Well, being who I am, I am definitely going to have to tear it down and investigate further/probably R&R + lock it up. Today, will be the fluid change, but I got a trip to wyoming coming up in mid August and I think I would be WAY too paranoid driving that distance having seen what I've already seen. What kind of sounds would be considered symptoms for the diffs? A low pitched bass sound when put in gear, grinding, whining? When it comes to mechanically inclined... I am not a mechanic, but I learn fast, take my time, and I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty. I have the same FSM as everyone else, but would it be wiser to just go to toyota and rent there digital for my 99 LX?
 
bearing cage pieces...again just a guess. You've got gears, bearings, bearing caps/races and the bolts and fixtures that hold them altogether along with a crush sleeve (OEM) and side shims for the carrier. The top piece in your hand almost looks like what sometimes gets ejected when drilling thin sheet metal. Maybe they're just remnants of the original assembly at Toyota and a couple stray machining leftovers have been rolling around your diff until now. If you/someone you trust knows of a good diff guy, especially a Toyota diff guy, you might take the two pieces to him and see what he thinks. An experienced Toyota dealer mechanic would be a good starting point too...

After that and if it were me I'd start by pulling the rear portion of the driveshaft from the pinion/"companion" flange and rotate the pinion by hand...feeling for any grinding/extreme roughness. Then do the same with the rear wheels removed (obviously with a properly jacked and well supported rear end of the truck).

You will feel the gears meshing...but what you're trying to feel is any "notchiness"... If all feels smooth then leave it be. Fill and check it again at 5,000 miles.

From there, the only real way to inspect it would be to pull the 3rd member out. And even with it out you won't be able to see the pinion bearing...so technically a thorough inspection, assuming you didn't see something obvious on the ring gear/carrier side of the 3rd, would involve rebuilding the 3rd which unless you are very experienced with setting up a diff is better left to someone well experienced with same.

The digital FSM, at least the one I possess, is basically the same as the paper FSM version in digital form; nothing to be gained.
 
LX101North said:
Were found on my rear diff plug today as I drained it the first time since I have acquired possession of the rig back in October. The fluid was ugly and dirty and the drain plug was not only covered in metal mud but I found these 2 pieces of awesomeness on there as well. I'm wondering if I should just cracxk the case and scope it out. I have no idea what I'm looking for but I'm sure I could just plug into the matrix...or I mean watch a youtube video or two and figure things out pretty quick. Any feedback? I'm not sure if the rear diff has ever been serviced in this rigs 124,000 miles of exsistence. 99 LXView attachment 914923
Click to expand...

You'd be surprised how strong the teeth are, I've had chunks the size of finger nails in my front diff and still got over a hundred thousand km with no sign of any slippage or issue. The chunks in your hand don't look like what would come from the gears but I suspect it's come from something else????

You might want to do a second oil change just to see what comes out, it might not be a big deal.

When I purchase my 99 it had 85,000 miles on it and I did the major service and there was 3/4" of metal shavings on the magnet...


I will post some pics tomorrow.

Good luck
 
tlc81 said:
You'd be surprised how strong the teeth are, I've had chunks the size of finger nails in my front diff and still got over a hundred thousand km with no sign of any slippage or issue. The chunks in your hand don't look like what would come from the gears but I suspect it's come from something else????

You might want to do a second oil change just to see what comes out, it might not be a big deal.

When I purchase my 99 it had 85,000 miles on it and I did the major service and there was 3/4" of metal shavings on the magnet...


I will post some pics tomorrow.

Good luck
Click to expand...

Agree if it's working as designed why tear it apart? Change the fluid to synthetic, change again in 30k miles. Unless you just want to check everything out??
 
I wouldn't worry too much about it, if it's never been serviced that's probably to be expected. Usually the first time changing it is the dirtiest. I've seen cars with 15k miles on the ODO that badly needed the fluid changed after seeing the plug, likely from the break-in.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom