Broken diff or drive shaft or something else? (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Dec 20, 2017
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Location
Sarajevo
Greetings all, happened in the middle of driving. In this video when I applied brake this sound occurred.

 
Well, it's not a problem with the rear diff, because the drive shaft isn't spinning.

Your profile says Sarajevo?
What year and model do you have?
European models had different options.

Full time 4wd, or does it have locking front hubs?
Do you have a CDL button on the dash?

Most likely worn out splines on front CV axles and hub flanges.

If you press the CDL button, and orange centr diff lock light lights up on the gauge cluster, can you drive it then?
 
Well, it's not a problem with the rear diff, because the drive shaft isn't spinning.

Your profile says Sarajevo?
What year and model do you have?
European models had different options.

Full time 4wd, or does it have locking front hubs?
Do you have a CDL button on the dash?

Most likely worn out splines on front CV axles and hub flanges.

If you press the CDL button, and orange centr diff lock light lights up on the gauge cluster, can you drive it then?
You didn't watch far enough into the video. The driveshaft does start spinning and there's a really terrible pop and bell ringing sound intermittently when it does. It is def. a bad driveshaft or something broken in the diff itself.
 
Also, the knocking you hear in the first part of the video before the driveshaft starts turning appears to be coming from the engine. Once the transmission engages and the driveshaft starts turning for a bit, it then makes the worst sound I've ever heard come from a drivetrain. Definitely worth a watch.
 
Fair enough.

Welp, reverse what's said above.
Drive shaft is spinning, wheels aren't turning. Something is broken inside the diff.
Regardless of what it is, you have to pull it apart anyway
 
Drive shaft is spinning, wheels aren't turning. Something is broken inside the diff.

In my observation I think there may be multiple issues in play. Specifically when the driveshaft first moves, there is no immediate movement or noise but it takes several rotations of the driveshaft before the clunking. If the clank were related to the driveshaft it would occur on every rotation. It looks like approximately four rotations. This implies that noise is post differential which would point to a broken axle.

That said the differential has some problems with all the fluid leaks.
 
First thing you need to do is remove both rear axles to assess damage. If an axle is broken you will see. If it’s broken inside the diff (which I believe it is) you will see the axles in good condition. I would try this first before anything else as it’s easy.

If shafts look ok I would drain the diff fluid and remove the driveshaft to then remove the differential carrier to asses internal damage. I suspect the big issue to be found here.

By the way the axle “catches” and makes a loud banging noise I’d suspect a ring and pinion failure or something has failed in a major fashion inside the diff.
 
Thanks for the responses. The car is an FZJ 80 VX-R 1997 GCC model, manual part-time 4WD. It has an H4 switch on the dashboard and a 2H-N-4L on the transfer case shifter. I recently changed all the oils in the front and rear differentials, the gearbox, and the transfer case, which is where the oil stains came from. Nothing is leaking under the car at the moment. Once, I did lose the balance weights on the driveshaft, but since nothing was shaking or vibrating, I thought everything was okay. It was difficult to remove and reattach those weights because I lost them. The only option was to order a new driveshaft. Believe it or not, there isn’t a single FZJ 80 in Sarajevo. There are HDJ and HZJ, but not FZJ. So, the scrapyard is not an option either.
 
"there isn’t a single FZJ 80 in Sarajevo. There are HDJ and HZJ, but not FZJ. So, the scrapyard is not an option either"

Which differential type is in your FZJ 80 VX-R 1997 GCC model (check the VIN plate; K292, K293, K294, K295)?

@OGBeno would know if the axle components are the same between diesel and petrol models (with the same axle code)
 
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pull the axles and have a look
the way the wheel jerks towards the end of the video appears to be related to that wheel. Could be the 6 studs on the axle have sheared, axle broken?
 
Tossing this in if the OP hasn't pulled his rear axle shafts yet (title says wheel bearings but you have to pull the axle shafts to do that):




Found this, shows a Prado LSD being pulled apart (?? similar to the 80 Series LSD) FWIW

 
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It is a K295 9.5" lsd
The fact that it's a 9.5" LSD and you have one wheel off the ground and the other on the ground and it didn't run you over, you have a serious issue inside the differential.

It sounds to me like you have broken spider gears or teeth or something floating around inside the rear differential that was bitten between the ring and pinion during your demonstration.

If your Limited Slip differential was working properly, it would have driven it off the jack and over your camera instead of allowing it to act as an open differential.

Drain the fluid again, look for glitter and chunks in the gear oil and plan on opening the rear differential. You must pull both axles to remove the differential.
 
In my observation I think there may be multiple issues in play. Specifically when the driveshaft first moves, there is no immediate movement or noise but it takes several rotations of the driveshaft before the clunking. If the clank were related to the driveshaft it would occur on every rotation. It looks like approximately four rotations. This implies that noise is post differential which would point to a broken axle.

That said the differential has some problems with all the fluid leaks.

Busted side gear?
 
The only way you gonna know what wrong is to open it up
Anything else is a guess.
 
Just to sum it up,

it's a part time 4wd with LSD in the rear,
the video shows it with one wheel lifted from the ground and it starts making that bell-like noise after the brake is applied?
It had the oils changed (LSD diff oil in the back, the regular stuff elsewhere?),
the driveshaft balance weight is missing,
it had non-LSD oil in the back prior to this change,
the LSD is obviously not working because the vehicle is not moving when one wheel is on the ground and the other is in the air.
It exhibited weird drivetrain noises before the diff oil change.

Is there anything else?
 
Post up some photos once you have it all apart. Are you doing the work yourself?
 
Just to sum it up,

it's a part time 4wd with LSD in the rear,
the video shows it with one wheel lifted from the ground and it starts making that bell-like noise after the brake is applied?
It had the oils changed (LSD diff oil in the back, the regular stuff elsewhere?),
the driveshaft balance weight is missing,
it had non-LSD oil in the back prior to this change,
the LSD is obviously not working because the vehicle is not moving when one wheel is on the ground and the other is in the air.
It exhibited weird drivetrain noises before the diff oil change.

Is there anything else?
Yes, everything is pretty much like that. The balance plates from the driveshaft fell off four years ago, and there were no signs that the driveshaft was out of balance. I changed the oil in the differential at an authorized service center, which has since lost its license :) so I don't know what they put in. There was some leakage, but I replaced everything and filled it with new LSD oil. Maybe I was too late. When changing it, there were metal particles in the oil, possibly from the spider gears or teeth, which is why the LSD wasn’t working. I think it’s time to stop and rethink everything. Selling it is not an option. I’ll save up some money and order a differential, (new one from Toyota dealer is a whooping 6550euro so it is a no-go). Maybe a Marlin Crawler 4.88 with an ARB locker on, and maybe even a new driveshaft. I have a friend in the USA who might be able to bring it over along with his stuff when he comes here. For now, I’ll open it up and check the condition of the axle shafts and everything else to see if that's all the damage... It’s unfortunate because I was supposed to leave for the seaside with my wife and four kids today :) Our beloved Toyota let us down, but we won’t hold it against her because, technically, she didn’t leave us stranded since we didn’t even start the trip.

I will update the thread as soon as I get any new information.

Ah yes, that terrifying sound can be heard as soon as I start the car, put it in first gear, and begin to move. The scenario in the video was the only way to show the sound without driving the car, by pressing the brake. It would keep spinning, and nothing would be heard without pressing the brake. The sound only occurs while driving, or in this case, when the wheel is lifted and the brake is pressed.
 
Can you show us the whole setup, like is the wheel (not shown) turning easily? Will the same happen, when you turn the wheel by hand (gear in neutral)?
How about lifting the other wheel and keep the LH Wheel on the ground?

Can you locate the weird barbell sound? I mean, it's just a video, but do you think it could be the LH rear brake system somehow?
 

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