Rear Diff Breather (1 Viewer)

[PurpleFJ62]

Hey, after 190,000 miles I decidied it was time to change the rear diff fluid. I did the front as well, but it went without a snag up.
Just as I was about to take out the drain plug it blew out and covered me with dirty gear lube. Needless to say I was fu*king pissed off. After cleaning myself off and the tires and the floor I discovered that the diff breather had been plugged. There is a cap on the spicket, where I assume there should be a hose going somewhere.

If I were to take the plug off and run a hose somewhere, where should it go. High enough to avoid water ofcourse...

Would someone check out their rig and lemme know what they find down there.

thanks for the help guys

 

[Cruiserdrew]

The best breather is a breather! Not a 1 way flapper valve. Get some 1/4 fuel line, and run it from the nipple on the axle housing to the engine bay. cap it with a fuel filter with a 1/4 nipple. Then air can move freely in and out, with no flapper valve to plug or get crudded up. I try and mount the filter high on the firewall to decrease the chance of water entry as much as possible.

 

[knixen]

This is a necessary mod, I used a 1/8npt nipple which I replaced the oem breather with. On the front axle I have mounted the hose with a fuel filter on the firewall. Rear, I mounted it behind my rear lights on my 4runner...

 

[PurpleFJ62]

thanks for the replys, I happan to have a fuel filter in my barn I can use, is it really necessary to run to engine bay, thats a long line. Not shure autoparts store has that much hose!!

Its amazing that I could see thru the oil that came out, but I have to record of this ever being changed.

cheers

 

[Tools R Us]

thanks for the replys, I happan to have a fuel filter in my barn I can use, is it really necessary to run to engine bay, thats a long line. Not shure autoparts store has that much hose!!

Its amazing that I could see thru the oil that came out, but I have to record of this ever being changed.

cheers

Just run it somewhere up high, in the rear quarter panels works well. Always remove the fill plug first, it will vent any pressure and you want to make sure you can get it off before draining the oil out!

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

Always remove the fill plug first, it will vent any pressure and you want to make sure you can get it off before draining the oil out!

A very important rule!!!!!!

Also, were you guys able to find metric threaded nipples at a hardware store? Auto parts?

 

[Cruiserdrew]

A very important rule!!!!!!

Also, were you guys able to find metric threaded nipples at a hardware store? Auto parts?

On FJ60s, the axles come stock with threaded nipples. It makes adding a breather trivially easy.

For my 40, I ran a die over a 1/8 pipe thread nipple and that worked great. 10 x 1.25 as I recall.

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

Thanks Drew. I'll give that a shot.

 

[PurpleFJ62]

I have had zero luck finding metric threaded nipples at the hardware store or auto parts stores.
I will take note to always take fill plug out first, rookie mistake. Shure gave me a nice hair doo, with all that oil... Thanks Tools!!

 

[Tools R Us]

It's been years since I did my runner. IIRC the stock breather has a cap on it, if it's pried off the fitting looks something like a barb fitting that a hose can be connected to. Don't hold me to it, it maybe too big, I may have stuck it in the lathe and turned it down to the proper hose size. But I know that I used the stock fitting.

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

That's another idea, the stock end has a fat lip on it, but if turned down it would work good.

 

[iortechnology]

Or....

You can take your hammer and knock the stock metal cap off of the stock diff breather (take the spring out too) and then use the remains of the breather (the inside shaft) to slip a piece of fuel line over. Just use a metal hose clamp on the hose to lock it in, and you don't have to worry about tapping/threading or finding metric alternatives.... That's the cheap way to do it. Be careful with that hammer, put the sledge away. Just little taps from the side to knock the cover off!

Or....

You can buy breather extension kits from Marlin Crawler. I think they are $30, but come with all the required hardware for a very nice clean finished project.

- Brandon

 

[PurpleFJ62]

so the breather was supposted to have a cap on it? I figured it was someones cobble job. I really dont do much in the way of water crossings with this, would it be ok to just leave it alone? Its lasted this long. I am strapped for time currently, with school starting and trying to finish up my tuner car.

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

Yeah, it's suposed to have a cap.... Check my axle rebuild thread in the FAQ, I know there's a pic there....

 

[PurpleFJ62]

once again you come thru with good info. I recommedned your asian hub rebuild in another thread because it was so helpful.
Seems as this postivie pressure would make all the seals leek, but they all seem totally fine for 190K on them. Now the only problem left to fix is the lack of grease on brake shoes and the backing plate. I am afrade to take them apart because I might not be able to get them adjusted correctly again.

Why couldent 4runners come with 4wheel disc's? they are so much easier to service.

cheers

 

[KY854RUN]

Prying the cap off of the axle breather leaves you with a short nipple to work with. It will work, but you are more likely to have something pull the line off of the nipple. I have read about 2 other nipples that work. One is a nipple on the Toyota 4 cylinder manifold and costs more that the second option if you buy it new from Toyota. The other is a nipple from Nissan (P/N 38323-C6010) and fits perfectly. Both of these have a longer nipple for the hose to go on and will be less likely to get pull off on the trail.

 

[beatdown83fj60]

What I did was pull the cap off the breather and use surgical tubing for the breather line. It is really flexible and can even stretch if secured properly. I just used some stainless steel wire wrapped around it tight with pliars and I plan on using expoxy on the wire to keep it from moving, although a good zip tie would probably do the same job. I also used the slightest bit of silicone on the nipple to keep it watertight. Ill post up a pic later today. I haven't put a filter on it yet but I was going to use an air filter off a gas powered remote control truck, they cost like 3 bucks and you can put a little prefilter on them too.