Mtbcoach
Moderator
Mine was built in '06, never had a problem. The issue is fairly well documented and greatly exagerated. As someone who bought in the beginning, witnessed first hand people blowing their ring & pinion in virtually all generations, it is clear that Mr. Toyota under-engineered the rear ring & pinion, combined with oversized tires, inexperience and heavy use of the skinny pedal are the most significant factors to the life one's FJC rear ring & pinion gears.
My stock gears survived the Rubicon, Moab x3, every trail in between then blew my Yukon 4.88's pulling onto NC12 in the outer banks, one wheel on pavement, the other in sand. Once both hit the pavement, with too much throttle, full traction with 35" tires popped 3 teeth on the ring gear. I watched owners giving it a "bump" to get over an obstacle, create too much wheel spin, catch traction, blow their rear-end and blame everything but their technique.
Bottom line is wheeling is expensive, particularly when pushing the limits, stay under 33" tires, use ATRAC all the time, the rear locker very judiciously and learn to drive with as little throttle as possible to get through the obstacle...
