Rear Diff Fluid Change - Metal Chunks (1 Viewer)

[jelsb]

Hi!

I’ve searched around on the forum and can’t quite find something similar to my situation/findings so looking for some input.

Changing the rear differential fluid and pulled the magnet to inspect and found some pretty gnarly chunks… I don’t audibly hear anything wrong (no grinding/vibrating/groaning/etc) with the diff itself, but I’m assuming this is maybe an early sign of failure occurring?

I’m not the original owner of this 1997 Land Cruiser 3.0L TD and the service history was a little unclear so I decided to do a full front to back fluid swap before putting any km’s on it.

I purchased the vehicle with just under 136,000km and at the time of fluid changes today the odometer was reading 136,756km

Any input is appreciated!

 

[renago]

From the look of THE oil in your differential clearly you have a water contamination.
THE chunks of metal that you found are a sign of heavy or improper use .
Best world be to have a deeper look in to it .

 

[MUDZLLA]

Looks like damaged teeth. Something probably broke inside and got caught in a gear. A serious off-roading event was the most likely cause. Time to pull the third member and have a look.

 

[javelinadave]

I would say not to lose hope, it is hard to tell with the gear oil mess. Give it a good cleaning and post up some clearer photos before you start throwing money at it.