Blew Front Diff on Christmas Eve

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C

Columbia Cruiser

10 Year
Joined
Jan 29, 2013
Threads
5
Messages
117
1999 100, 200k miles, brand new 33" BFG KO2's pulled into our vacation house driveway with 3' feet of snow plus 1' of snow plow berm and promptly got stuck, stupid I know but I'm used to my 80.......

In an effort to unstick myself, low gear, rear locker, forward, reverse...turn tires......booooooooooom!!!!

Nothing extreme but I know.....expected.......knew it was possible but never thought I'd push the vehicle to this point. I didn't buy it to do anything crazy!!!

A nissan pickup pulled me out (embarrassing) with little effort and bent my stock recovery hook in the process. It looks like a fish hook now. I need to replace those ASAP. The loops are too small for anything.

Sooooooooo, I performed the almighty 2wd field conversion with the help of ih8mud in 7 degree weather and was able to get home yesterday without issue!

Faced with a new front diff I have decided to get an ARB and lift the s*** out of the truck, as much as possible. It was so disappointing when it happened, land cruisers aren't suppose to get stuck let alone break but I was awful proud when with simple tools I was able to get us home.

BFG KO2's - the verdict is still out on these. I had the original version and DID NOT LIKE THEM they filled with whatever surface you were driving on and turned into slicks. I then used duratracs for several vehicles and loved them. Traction rated, they are awesome on snow and ice and are not aggressive so they make no noise at all. The new BFG's came out and I had to be that guy and try them out, they redesigned the tire, right??? Well, its ok. I hit some ice on this trip and have to wonder if I would have even noticed it with the duratracs. Conclusion? I'm not buying them again. If I go with 35's it'll be duratracs.

Pictures to come soon!
 
Damn, this sucks. Glad you were able to get home. Everything I've read about the KO 2's have been the opposite of what you experienced. I'd blame the snow in that condition. Were your KO 2's snow rated? I know certain sizes are not.
 
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Nice recovery. The tow "hook" is useless. The solid eye is a little better, but beware pulling from that. Marks 4wd in Australia sells some replacement recovery brackets. Duiser has recovery points listed, but won't respond to email if they have them in stock.
 
Columbia Cruiser said:
Sooooooooo, I performed the almighty 2wd field conversion with the help of ih8mud in 7 degree weather and was able to get home yesterday without issue!
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Does this consist of pulling front drive shaft and getting some non-splined hub plates? Any thing else? Do you need to run around with the CDL on?
 
sdnative said:
I am not exactly sure what the weak point on the two pinion diffs is, or what broke on yours, or if this will even help you but I found this while browsing my local craigslist.

Genuine Factory OEM Lexus LX470 '98 - '99 Front Differential Carrier
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Thanks for the link, that is a good deal. But I'm sooo pissed it even happened if i'm keeping the truck it's never going to happen again. Thus an ARB. I don't even want or need a front locker, I just don't want this BS to happen again. I was so pissed off!
 
Columbia Cruiser said:
Thanks for the link, that is a good deal. But I'm sooo pissed it even happened if i'm keeping the truck it's never going to happen again. Thus an ARB. I don't even want or need a front locker, I just don't want this BS to happen again. I was so pissed off!
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I believe that the 4 pinion diff drops in (model year 2000-2003), but the ones out of a 5 spd have a different gear ratio.
 
PabloCruise said:
Does this consist of pulling front drive shaft and getting some non-splined hub plates? Any thing else? Do you need to run around with the CDL on?
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It does and thanks to MUD, I knew exactly what to do. I pulled the drive flanges, and put the rim caps back on just for protection. I then removed the front drive shaft. I ran the land cruiser up on a snow bank so I had tons of room to work.

The worst part besides it being fing cold was that the flanges were hung up on the rims so I had to remove the front tires to get the flange to slip off. Otherwise it was it was easy!

I drove home, some 150 plus miles, in 2wd in the ice and snow with cdl activated. The bonus??? I'm getting great MPG's!!! hahaha I used the rear locker a couple of times getting in and out of the driveway and in some parking lots in town but that's it. It wasn't really necessary either.
 
Columbia Cruiser said:
It does and thanks to MUD, I knew exactly what to do. I pulled the drive flanges, and put the rim caps back on just for protection. I then removed the front drive shaft. I ran the land cruiser up on a snow bank so I had tons of room to work.

The worst part besides it being fing cold was that the flanges were hung up on the rims so I had to remove the front tires to get the flange to slip off. Otherwise it was it was easy!

I drove home, some 150 plus miles, in 2wd in the ice and snow with cdl activated. The bonus??? I'm getting great MPG's!!! hahaha I used the rear locker a couple of times getting in and out of the driveway and in some parking lots in town but that's it. It wasn't really necessary either.
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Sounds interesting! Was there one thread you followed? Are you saying you pull the flanges and then just stick the little decorative center caps back on? I bet the grease goes everywhere!

And you are in a '99, eh? So no VSC or ATRAC that turns off when CDL is turned on, correct?
 
Columbia Cruiser said:
I drove home, some 150 plus miles, in 2wd in the ice and snow with cdl activated. The bonus??? I'm getting great MPG's!!! hahaha I used the rear locker a couple of times getting in and out of the driveway and in some parking lots in town but that's it. It wasn't really necessary either.
Click to expand...
That's interesting! I remember reading from another member who had to put his rig into 2WD that there was no difference in MPG, to which I was very surprised. I would have expected MPG to increase marginally, if not more. Just out of curiosity, any idea how many additional MPG you're getting now?
 
Yes, just center caps. Grease is not going anywhere because the axles are not moving. No specific thread, I used several. MPG's are better I don't know how much though. The vehicle feels a lot less restricted, you notice the difference without the front end engaged.

Not sure how vsc or atrac make any difference since the front wheels have no power or ability to get power and I was driving on pavement? I assume you would get a lot of blinking lights but the only wheels getting traction are in the rear.
 
bummer , another one busted... makes me nervous when I hear these stories... guess I had better get that locker installed before my next adventure.
 
Just differentials is getting me taken care of and I'll install locally. TJM front locker, ARB compressor, re gearing front and rear. All cheaper than stock toyota stuff.

My conclusion, yeah I pushed it too hard doing something stupid, probably, but I think it was bound to happen. I'm just lucky it happened in a driveway and not on a trail somewhere!!
 
Side note, just differentials sells both ARB and TJM lockers but prefer the TJM because it has less moving parts and sealing surfaces. Interesting, I had no preference and was happy to take the advice.
 
Columbia Cruiser said:
Yes, just center caps. Grease is not going anywhere because the axles are not moving.
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Not exactly, the axle is not turning, but the hub is turning the wheel bearing on the spindle and the most all the grease is between the hub and spindle. The grease is viscous enough that that it will not come out unless it gets pretty warm, lots of braking or some other issue. The bigger potential issue is dirt, grit or mud getting in and trashing wheel bearings which is why its recommended to duct tape some plastic over the end of the hub.
 
Skidoo said:
Not exactly, the axle is not turning, but the hub is turning the wheel bearing on the spindle and the most all the grease is between the hub and spindle. The grease is viscous enough that that it will not come out unless it gets pretty warm, lots of braking or some other issue. The bigger potential issue is dirt, grit or mud getting in and trashing wheel bearings which is why its recommended to duct tape some plastic over the end of the hub.
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yeah
 
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