The Diff club...

[pcm_120 Member Find all posts View Profile Close pcm_120]

Hi guys,

Well it had to happen.

I was out on the weekend with the club and ……………..



I’ll post more later, but I can tell you compared to the rear diff in my old Pathfinder these are weak as water.

We ended up pulling the centre in the field, removing the ring gear, putting the centre back in and limping it back home.



Now I have to see what Toyota is going to do.

Cheers,

Paul.

[Fazza Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fazza]

Paul,

"Bloody hell thats a lot of damage"

I, like a lot of others would like to know :- "What led up to the disaster"?

Sure hope things turn out all right with Toyota.

Fingers crossed, :cry:
Fazza

[Matt Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Matt]

"What led up to the disaster"?

indeed..

rpm?

wheel lifting?

how hard were you driving it.

[leachy_9 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close leachy_9]

pcm_120,

I'd be interested not only in the events that lead up to the diff breaking but how you got home afterwards? Remove rear prop shaft and lock centre diff ?

Leachy.

[Matt Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Matt]

pcm_120,

I'd be interested not only in the events that lead up to the diff breaking but how you got home afterwards? Remove rear prop shaft and lock centre diff ?

Leachy.

he put it in his post..

he had to remove the ring gear.. if you only removed the prop shaft the dif would still make horrible noises and wouldnt be that safe at higher speeds.

[pcm_120 Member Find all posts View Profile Close pcm_120]

Hey guys.

We were out on a private property where the owner has build up a course of obstacles, wide 10 foot deep cuttings, mounds, moguls etc, similar to this one



I was in one of the new cuttings trying to climb out. Climbing out the soil was quite loose. I was in 2nd low range and had tried a couple of times to get up using different lines and but never quite got the front end up and over the top edge. So I reversed to get a different line and said "one last try" (famous last words). This time I got about two thirds of the way up to where I got to before and BANG. It sounded like a large rock hit the bottom of the vehicle. I jumped on the brake and clutch and once the vehicle settled, found the engine had stalled. It took a few seconds for it to restart and I reversed back down and out of the cutting to a nasty clunk and what almost sounded like random gun shots.

Once I got it out of the hole, I turned it around and slowly crept forwards which yielded more “gun fire” and the whole vehicle would lurch and almost felt like the back end was jumping of the ground.

I had seen this very trait when we were in the High Country a few years back when one of our party did the rear diff in his 03 Hilux, so I had a fair idea of what had happened.

We managed to limp the vehicle back to the owners shed type structure that had lighting (as it was now dark) and with the help of a few other club members, we jacked the vehicle up under the axle tubes, removed the rear wheels and placed them under the chassis in case one of the jacks failed, removed the brake callipers, removed the brake discs, undid the bolts that retain the axle/bearings etc and slid both axles out so they just disengaged from the diff centre. We drained the oil into an old bucket that we found and after undoing both ends of the rear sway bar, managed to remove the diff centre. We also removed the tail shaft. With the centre out, we undid the bearing retainers, keeping mind which way around they were and proceeded to remove the ring gear from the hemisphere. With the ring gear removed it allowed the hemisphere to spin without engaging the pinion and allowed me to get the vehicle home the hundreds of K’s that I needed to, in 4x4 high range with the centre diff locked (AKA, front wheel drive). Reassembly was basically reverse of what I wrote above and I used an old “Pump” water bottle with the pop up bit removed to squirt the oil back into the diff (in a very rough nut shell).

Here's a closer view.



On the whole it proves how important it is to carry a good selection of tools, a tarp torches and even some silicon when you’re out. The whole job took about two to three hours, but at least I got the vehicle home.

Talking with Windsor Toyota in NSW, they have seen and replaced a number of centres under warranty, but my dealer here in SA have never seen one fail and whilst I have not yet gotten the vehicle to them, they are very cautious on what they say. I guess time will tell.

So there you have it.

One thing I do know for sure, I have treated the diffs in my 87 Pathfinder much much worse with tyres that were 5-6 inches taller than stock and never had an ounce of trouble, but when you look at how small the Toyota diffs are, it’s no blinking wonder they are breaking.

I keep you guys informed as things pan out.

Regards,

Paul.

[MickL Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close MickL]

Good excuse to fit a diff lock if you ask me....

Nice work on the "Bush" repair....

[matty Member Find all posts View Profile Close matty]

i am going to post this to my partner as justification for the twin diff locks i put in my prado. I kept getting the old "why do we need two for".

[pcm_120 Member Find all posts View Profile Close pcm_120]

Good news.

Toyota’s going to fix it under warranty , goes in to CMI in the city Tuesday.

Paul.

[Fazza Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fazza]

Paul,
That's great to hear & I bet you will feel a bit better if not just in the hip pocket.

Haven,t heard of Toyota not honoring the warranty very often.

Cheers,
Fazza

[wengnuts Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close wengnuts]

Well Done Paul

Looks like it might be time to attack the credit card and get lockers? After everything I have learned about this 120 series Prado, I now know that I am gonna purchase them before any serious long term trip into the outback and beyond.. I have lost my trust in the toyota stock set up completely..

my 2 cents

ABOUT TIME TOO! :lol:

[wengnuts Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close wengnuts]

Looking at a GQ tomorrow.

[lawrance Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close lawrance]

i am going to post this to my partner as justification for the twin diff locks i put in my prado. I kept getting the old "why do we need two for".

Hi Matty,

The twin diff lockers are not going to help prevent CW&P failures.

Does any one know if there are aftermarket crown wheel and pinion gears that are stronger than the ones used by Toyota?

Lawrance

[matty Member Find all posts View Profile Close matty]

My understanding was by increasing your traction you will be placing less strain on your driveline. But i can see that if the crown wheel and pinion are gonna fault lockers won't help much. Be interesting to get a mechanics view on this. Below i put a website, these guys do tuff CV's and other stuff, they might be able to supply better CW&P.

http://longfieldsuperaxles.com/

[lawrance Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close lawrance]

I wonder whether the incidences of rear diff blowups are now going to go up with the introduction of the D4D and the 5 speed auto. As we all can appreciate, there is now significantly more output from the diesel power plant compared to the older engine.

I wonder if the 2008 model has got a stronger diff as part of the spec changes....