Blown Ring and Pinion (E-Locker type)

Bad news for the Taco....With 2 feet of snow on the ground I was pulling out of my driveway in 4W Low with the Locker engaged and I hear a giant Kaboom come from the rear of the truck. As I hear grinding from the rear end I suddenly feel the rush of instant sickness and a deep sinking feeling in my stomach. Knowing something was clearly broken, I backed it up and put her right back in the driveway.

From what I can tell, the rear ring and pinion just blew up. After a long wait, I had the truck towed to the dealer today. I hope they cover it but knowing my dealer, I am probably in for a fight.

After doing some research, I have found that this is apparently a consistent problem with our early 2nd generation tacos and FJs. I have attached a few links I found while researching the issue. With all of these documented cases, I wonder why Toyota does not issue a TSB? There is clearly some kind of defect with these gears....



39 Blown FJ Ring and Pinions:
http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forums/problems-dealer-service/35767-broken-rear-diff-build-date-please.html

TTORA Thread on failed rear ends:
http://www.tacomaterritory.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35345

TTORA Link 2:
http://www.tacomaterritory.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51834

Sky from TW had issues:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/69677-rear-end.html

Silverback's (Post 328):
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/builds/15338-silverbacks-tacoma-evolution-17.html#post426007

1st Gen Problem:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1st-gen-tacomas/69143-problem-exploding-rear-diff.html

Good Information with Pics from MonkeyProof and Yance:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/65057-anyone-ever-had-their-e-lock-rear-diff-go-bad.html

Gears should not look like this:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/66784-eek-gears-shouldnt-look-like.html

 

Ouch, sorry to hear about your Tacoma. I hope the dealership take care of it without any problems.

 

Yep. A buddy's 06 TRD OR did the same thing while locked in 4lo. It was covered under warranty. The dealer even knew it was wheeled hard, it was trailered in direct from the trail, muddy and with tons of off road gear on the truck.

 

Good luck man, hope they cover it for you.

 

Thanks man. I hope they take care of it too.

Mine too was in 4Low with the locker engaged...I have 41,000 on the truck so it should be covered under the 60K powertrain warranty.

I will keep you guys updated...

 

Sorry to hear about your grenaded diff. May your taco be repaired with quickness and under warranty.

 

Damn, Good luck Dave

 

damn... that kinda worries me??

 

Good luck dave!

Intrested on hearing the results.

 

Damn, that sucks. Well at least it happend in your driveway rather than on some trail in the middle of bumf**knowhere.

 

Damn that sucks man. So is this just the rears with the e-locker that are frying?

 

That sucks dude


I remember reading on the FJ's having this problem but I thought it was due to a batch of gear sets that weren't correctly hardened and they fixed that problem

 

Were you guys locked when that happened? Or you unlocked diff right before parking?

 

My diff crapped out under normal driving in 2wd. No locker in my truck. Not a cheap fix.

 

i had a 2000 tundra before i got my taco and i blew the spider gear in my rear diff. off subject but hey... im bored at work!

 

Thanks for all of the well wishes guys. I really appreciate all of the posts here. I talked to the dealer today who said that they are going to have to run it by Toyota to see if they "approve" the repair. I am still waiting on the final word. Hopefully I will know more tomorrow. What really sucks is that my wife and I use this truck everyday to transport of 5 month old son so without it we have been hurting big time. In addition, we are supposed to get another 12-20" of snow tomorrow and Wednesday. This really stresses me out but like Anathollo pointed out, at least it happened in my driveway and not somewhere far from home. Perhaps this is really a blessing in disguise.

Silverback, thanks for posting the picture and for the information on your build thread. Worse case scenario I will have to order a new third member from East Coast Gear supply. (East Coast Gear Supply 3rd member w/Locker) I have to call and ask if they offer factory 3.73 ratio as an option. The 4.56 gears are tempting but I really don't want to have to replace my front diff as well.

Stay tuned.....Hopefully I will have some good news tomorrow....

 

Update: I just got the call from DARCARS in Frederick and they are going to replace the entire 3rd member at no cost. They confirmed my suspicion that the ring and pinion had a catastrophic failure. They also said that normally my lift and tires would void the warranty but that they would make a "one time exception" and correct my concern. I could not be happier! Thanks for Dan and George for making it right.

 

That's awesome news man.

 

That's great they are fixing it, but the comment "one time exception" sucks

 

Right on! I love happy endings.