Toyota gets about 1500-1800 for a dif replacement.
That being said, how handy are you?
Rear dif replacements aren't bad if you have either experience or recruit some local FJ'ers with experience.
I did my own replacements through East Coast Gear Supply
Drivetrain Specialists East Coast Gear Supply


Call Chase up. Let him know I sent you. He sets up the entire third member, and sends it to you. Then you replace yours with it and send back yours as a core. He can even provide shipping labels and just use the crate the new one came in as a core.
The rear is the easiest to change out.
If you think you may want to tackle the project you will save some serious dollars. I think you can have the third from them for about 700 then you need a gasket and gear lube.
If you need a step by step on the replacement, we can help with that.
Here is one of the threads on blown rear dif
http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/foru...om/forums/problems-dealer-service/35767-broken-rear-diff-build-date-please.html
Your argument with Toyota may be a little hard to swallow, since you are just getting a 30,000 service and you have 90,000 on the truck
good luck
thanks
Don

 

Just a personal note - I had my rear diff fail at about 35K miles. It was luckily under warranty and my dealer (Desert Sun - Alamogordo NM) really stepped up and fixed it. Previous to that however, I had seen several 2007 diffs fail on trail runs, I contacted Toyota and they replied that they were not aware of any problems. Which was funny due to the fact that the Trail Teams used to carry a spare differential on sponsored runs.

 

I emailed chase. Would definitely be interested in some how-to info. I think I could manage it.

Also have an '08 TT which has never been off-road. Has just over 60k and am definitely going to change the diff and transfer fluids asap!

 

I am working as a technician for over 25 years, Industrial standerd for drivetrain is 30-45K miles for fluid change. I know some company tells you they fluid is a life time fluid. Bull S...t. Do not let the service give you the fluid, most case they using bulk fluid for replacement( making money on cheap fluid ). Buy quality Factory standerd fluid and wait for the service. let your service advisor know you want to see the old fluid dripping out of the diff. See it to belive it. If they are doing a gentliman business it would not be a problem to be around the car for the service. Unfortunetly,,, Service industrial standerd to F.. Up the customers. Personaly I would cut all cheater technicians hands off for panisment. I do replacing all my drivetrain fluid at every 30 K and check fluid at every 15 k. Using the most expensive fluid no questions. Sorry for my broken English.

 

I use Redline Synthetic . My fluid has been clear since the initial break in and change. It's normal to see a silvery paste on the magnetic drain plug, but there shouldn't be an excessive amount of metal beyond that. I too have an 08 TT which was changed at 30,000 miles along with my 07 which has been regeared by Chase at ECGS.

 

I did go back to the service area to talk with the tech as the advisor wasn't helpful at all. I looked in the drain pan and saw the old gaskets from the diff/transfer case bolts but did not see large chunks of metal on the screen. I would have expected that they'd have saved the pieces. The tech said the chunks were in the rear, but the advisor noted on the papers that there were shavings in the front and rear.

Really stressing over this, but perhaps I just need to replace it once it really "goes" ...

 

Run them till they puke. Shavings are "normal" to a small extent. Chunks are another story.

 

Now at 120k, noticed that there was some leaking on the rear gasket and smell of heavy grease after highway driving. Checked torque on bolts and all look OK. Checked fill and it was down about an inch. Drained and re-filled with Royal Purple. (did not measure what came out) There were some little shavings but nothing which looked extremely chunky.

Looking at the gasket, seems like you essentially have to remove the diff to replace. Will keep checking level for now.

 

In terms of a differential those look a bit big and/or chunky. Usually you see a flat 1-2mm high blob that just looks like black goo, but are actually very very fine metal particles. Unless those things 'sticking out' are just fine particles stuck to each other and not single pieces of metal.

But still, sounds like you have gotten another 30K out if it!. Keep on going lol

Example: stolen from web

 

andyknas those shavings do look a bit big. I just had new gears put in and changed the oil after the 500 mile break-in period. The oil was a greyish color and didn't smell good, but that was expected with new gears. I had a silver paste on the drain plug like what iwashmycar posted, probably an amount in between what's shown in the two pictures. But even with new gears I didn't have any large shavings.

If you can have unplanned down time I'd run it till it fails. Not sure what oil you have in there but I'd go with a high-quality synthetic like Amsoil (what I use) or Red Line.

If you can't afford to have unplanned down time I'd plan to spring for a new diff soon. ECGS can sell you just the gears or a complete assembly as Wikid said. If you get the complete assembly and have someone install it you're probably looking at about $900-$1000, depending on labor rates. If you do it yourself around $700. If you get just the gears you'll pay less to ECGS but the labor time is more. For me it was cheaper to get assembled front and rear diffs and pay to have them installed than to get just the gears and install kits and have them installed.

 

What break in procedure did you follow for the gears? Did you change your oil since the new gears were installed or was this the first time the oil was touched?

 

I wasn't very stringent on the procedure. I kept all drives under 1 hour, drove it around town to try and stay at low speeds though I did get it up to 70 mph some, went easy on the throttle, and didn't tow anything. I also drove it in 4HI around town on straight sections of road as much as possible to help with breaking in the front gears.

500 miles (495 actually) from the time you installed the gears was the first time I touched the oil. I plan to do it again in another 1000-1500 miles as I way overbought Amsoil 75W-90.

Any thoughts on this? Should I have changed the oil sooner?

 

:lol: Was refering to Andyknas, my bad.

Good job on your break in though. Most folks get back in it and the first thing they do is get on the throttle big time and run it hard which is about the worst thing you can do.

 

Doh :rofl:

I can definitely understand why, even without stepping on it the power increase was very noticeable. Would have been nice to step on it with the 33s but I switched to 35s before the break-in was over. But I've stepped on it a bit since I changed the oil and there's definitely more power with the 4.56s and 35s than the 3.73s and 33s.

And now back to your regularly scheduled thread :lol:

 

could someone pleaselet me know the answer to if I can use or if there would be a reason to use amsoil 75w-140 vs. 75w-90 ??
Will it hurt anything or help anything??
Thanks so much guys. u r the best !!:bigthumb::bigthumb:

 

I would never chance it with anything other than what's recommended in the owners manual :cheers:


Sent from AutoGuide.com App

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Good advice. The 140 weight rating is for big heavy equipment. Use the recommended oil and be happy. :cheers: