Excited! Bought a 100, and blew the front diff in 200 miles. : (

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

P

Potbelly

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Apr 6, 2008
Threads
17
Messages
31
Location
Ohio
Hello folks,

Wanted to post q quick intro; just picked up the 2000 LC with 98k miles yesterday. Unfortunately today, the front diff blew.

I don't have to for the long post right now, but will discuss later. It's on the rack & mechanic says around $1200. Good time to baseline it also.

Wasn't a bad deal initially, so I'm not complaining yet.

Kinda looking forward to the vehicle.
 
At least you got that out of the way somewhere that it can be repaired easily!! I'm sure others will chime in...but now is perhaps a good time to consider an ARB locker for the front diff if you plan on tackling more serious trails?? Good luck with the new rig!
 
Yikes. That's no fun. I'm looking forward to reading the long version. I don't wheel very hard, but I'm starting to think I should put a front locker in mine to beef it up. Good luck, I appreciate your good attitude.
 
Congrats on the purchase and sorry to hear about the front end.

I'm guessing it was a 98 or 99, and if so now would be a great time to upgrade to an ARB. Seems to you don't have to be too terribly rough on these to get them to fail.
 
hoser said:
I'm guessing it was a 2000 with 98k miles. :D
Click to expand...

Hoser, either you are clairvoyant, or you can read! Apparently I cannot do the second :)

That said, don't the 2000s have the stronger 4 pinion front diff? We don't get many reports on those breaking, do we?
 
Written this elsewhere, but the more threads I see the more I am convinced that the diff was upgraded in the first place to a 4 pinion as a result of ATRAC as opposed to failures in the field. While there are certainly 98-99's that have had this occur, I do think wrong to automatically assume a pre ATRAC is more prone to this happening.
 
Junglejack said:
Written this elsewhere, but the more threads I see the more I am convinced that the diff was upgraded in the first place to a 4 pinion as a result of ATRAC as opposed to failures in the field. While there are certainly 98-99's that have had this occur, I do think wrong to automatically assume a pre ATRAC is more prone to this happening.
Click to expand...

I am tracking this thought, as well. I have an 01 and I am thinking it is a matter of time. I would hate to have it happen on a trail..
 
Chris Sandstorm FJ said:
I am tracking this thought, as well. I have an 01 and I am thinking it is a matter of time. I would hate to have it happen on a trail..
Click to expand...

You'll feel a lot better once it's upgraded. It's not horrible to do out in the wild but definitely more fun at home or in the shop. As you know folks have started breaking the 4-pinions here and there as well.
 
I'm getting an ARB installed after the holidays. I've been driving around in 2wd for the past month and I don't like how the rig handles, specially in wet rain.

It's not too hard to fix on the trail if you are prepared and have the right tools on hand.
 
I wish Iron man lockers were cheaper than ARB as I would rather not have all the air lines.
 
yeti in ga said:
I wish Iron man lockers were cheaper than ARB as I would rather not have all the air lines.
Click to expand...

Ironman said in November that they were no longer carrying them. Is there any other source for the Eaton E-lockers (that Ironman was selling)?

What was the price you saw? I didn't know there ever was an e-locker available, cool all the options coming up for the 100 these days.

Don't know that I would prefer electric, I would have to see more of the actuation method. The upside of the ARB/TJM is that all that can really fail actuator wise is the seal, the rest of the actuation systems are external and therefor easy to access.
Just not sure I like the idea of a solenoid or motor buried inside the housing. I really like the Toyota E-lockers as they have the actuator external and serviceable (but unfortunately they do sometimes need service).

I wish we could get an OX locker (all mechanical, cable or external electric), seems the most easily serviced from an actuation standpoint. ... It's Christmas eve, I can dream.
 
Consider the TJM Pro Locker as well. Less expensive than the ARB and supposedly not prone to oil seal failures. A couple guys have recently installed them in 100s and are having good success initially. I've had two seal failures in my ARB and the cost adds up quickly. Others have run their ARBs for tens of thousands of miles with no issues.

http://www.justdifferentials.com/TJM168PL22-p/tjm168pl22.htm

What ever you do, it would be foolish to not install a locker at this point when putting things back together.

I really don't think there is a huge actual advantage to the 4 pinion vs 2 pinion front diff. We see them both break and the sample size for failures is too small for anyone to say that one is actually stronger than the other. Older vehicles are obviously going to have more failures.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom