Hey IH8mud. First post here so I hope I got it in the right section. I'm on the road with limited time to search old forums so I figured I'd post my question here if ya'll got any advice to give. I'll keep it as short as possible.
Got my first LX470 a month ago. A 2001 great condition. Driving from Moab to Salt Lake City 2 days ago in a blizzard, no cell service, car started grinding and locked up, came to an abrupt halt and shut off. After a long night and a 20 mile putt to a hotel, the next day I found out my drivers side CV axle had popped out at the joint. After a trip to a Jiffy Lube and a Lexus dealership, $300 later I had the CV axle inspected and put back in. However Lexus flushed the differential and found metal shards/shavings in there. So I know there's an issue with the front diff. They wanted a couple thousand at least fix, nice try dealership.
So my main question is in the title, can I continue to safely drive with the grinding and broken front diff? I've already driven maybe 50 miles on it. From what I'm aware of the only negatives would be losing 4wd, damaging the front diff further making a rebuild more challenging, putting pressure on other parts possibly damaging them. I'm on a ski trip with some freinds so stopping from driving is not an option. The show must go on!
Called around all different shops and yards, hard to find a new/used one. Plus theyre usually over a grand from what I'm seeing. I've got a guy willing to rebuild it on the east coast for around $700, but I plan to be driving it from Utah to Colorado in the next few days so was wondering if anyone has one handy, would be willing to take the broken one off, or any comments or suggestions I'd appreciate it. I'd be willing to go out of the way and meet if it makes sense.
Got my first LX470 a month ago. A 2001 great condition. Driving from Moab to Salt Lake City 2 days ago in a blizzard, no cell service, car started grinding and locked up, came to an abrupt halt and shut off. After a long night and a 20 mile putt to a hotel, the next day I found out my drivers side CV axle had popped out at the joint. After a trip to a Jiffy Lube and a Lexus dealership, $300 later I had the CV axle inspected and put back in. However Lexus flushed the differential and found metal shards/shavings in there. So I know there's an issue with the front diff. They wanted a couple thousand at least fix, nice try dealership.
So my main question is in the title, can I continue to safely drive with the grinding and broken front diff? I've already driven maybe 50 miles on it. From what I'm aware of the only negatives would be losing 4wd, damaging the front diff further making a rebuild more challenging, putting pressure on other parts possibly damaging them. I'm on a ski trip with some freinds so stopping from driving is not an option. The show must go on!
Called around all different shops and yards, hard to find a new/used one. Plus theyre usually over a grand from what I'm seeing. I've got a guy willing to rebuild it on the east coast for around $700, but I plan to be driving it from Utah to Colorado in the next few days so was wondering if anyone has one handy, would be willing to take the broken one off, or any comments or suggestions I'd appreciate it. I'd be willing to go out of the way and meet if it makes sense.
