diagnosis needed:rear diff gear oil change out

[pillguy]

Hi all,

I am finishing putting in an elocker rear axle out of a 96 4runner (129K miles) into my 97 4runner and just drained the rear diff gear oil from 96 elocker axle. The diff was leaking gear oil due to a loose drain plug so there was not much in there beyond about 3-4 ozs.
I noticed some very very fine gold/brass colored particles within the gear oil.
I have not driven the car with the new axle as of yet, so I am not sure if there is a problem yet.

My question to all, is this normal to see this?

thanks,

 

[d0ubledown]

gold/brass particles? dont think thats normal. seeing small amounts silver/greyish metallic paste is normal, bigger separate chunks of metal is not normal. did you keep the stock gears on the elocker 3rd? how did they look?

 

[pillguy]

They are extremely small, particles, sorta like fine dirt grit to describe if as best I can. The oil does not look contaminated, so I am not sure. This is my first time changing gear oil out, so I did not know what to expect.
To answer your questions, I kept the stock gears in the 3rd. 4.10 gear ratio. I did not take it apart to do anything to it as it was a complete axle swap out. SHould I open it up and check?

gold/brass particles? dont think thats normal. seeing small amounts silver/greyish metallic paste is normal, bigger separate chunks of metal is not normal. did you keep the stock gears on the elocker 3rd? how did they look?