uncoding the differential

[yotarover]

i've read of 4crawlers tech write up on the various gearing for 88 trucks n runners. i've been having issues so im trying to fix them,

vibration has gotten pretty bad (thought it was the tires at first but nothing wrong so i started with the u joints turns out the last one in the rear is giving alotta play)

so curious to make sure i have 4.56 gears i dropped the shafts and looked at the color code on the nut. the rear is yellow indicating 4.56 when i got to the front all that was there was a small red mark on the nut. any body have an idea what gearing this would be? as it;s still factory (im the 2nd owner 1st was my grand father who never changed anything on the truck)

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

Using the color codes has been very hit and miss for me...

If you want to me sure about the front differential, best to lock the hubs (If you have the ADD front end with drive flanges, start truck and shift to 4wd, turn truck off and shift back to 2wd to leave front diff "locked" ), jack up one tire and turn it around 2 full rotations while counting the rotations of the drive shaft. (a mark helps...) Drive shaft should turn 4.56 times if it's a 4.56 diff...

 

[yotarover]

Using the color codes has been very hit and miss for me...

If you want to me sure about the front differential, best to lock the hubs (If you have the ADD front end with drive flanges, start truck and shift to 4wd, turn truck off and shift back to 2wd to leave front diff "locked" ), jack up one tire and turn it around 2 full rotations while counting the rotations of the drive shaft. (a mark helps...) Drive shaft should turn 4.56 times if it's a 4.56 diff...

the click click noise my be my cv's up front (the boots fallen apart and ) and the uj in the rear is dying so im going to replace the uj clean up the cv's regrease and new boots. if i had diffrent gears then i would have noticed it back when i had stock tires. (didn't think about that at first) the red paint just puzzled me

 

[raydouble]

If the front is still factory I would look at the axle code on the VIN plate on the door jamb (if it's there) and post up the code.