REAR END HELP!!!!

Well heres the story:

Rear end went out on me the first time 9 months ago.... I ordered a used one with 120k on it and put it on..... My truck is a 2.7l ,4x4 1998 taco sr5 with the 4:1 gears...... now im starting to notice it go out agian, its slaming into gear and I know it only gets worse...... I want to know where I can get a replacement chunk that is NEW quality that will LAST. Im sick of trying to find one on ebay that I have to order and know it will go out in another 50k miles please help me...

 

Check and see if East Coast Gear Supply can help you...

 

just sent them an email.... any more suggestions?

 

explain slamming into gear? I've been in a car when the gears broke, it either snaps a tooth or doesnt. Sounds more like a REALLY bad U joint.

 

well, it seems like it has a slamming thing to it..... say your in your taco and you put it in gear and you just feel this awful slam right under you. Is a U joint expensive to fix?

 

Here a way to check your u joint, with your truck in gear go under and try to twist the u-joint. And push it up and down and left to right. It shouldnt do any of that, if it does then your joints are bad.

Price wise I have no idea never did one before.

A way to check your diff is drain the oil and look for metal chunks, shaving or any metal bits.
But I really doubt it's the diff. I may be wrong tho.

 

The above method doesn't always work. I LITERALLY just got done replacing a ujoint on my truck this morning. Mine had no slack or wiggling. In fact, other than weird noises and slamming/clunking while up shifting or surfing the gas, I couldn't tell the ujoint was the issue. My entire driveshaft had absolutely no play in it.

Autozone sold me a brand new ujoint for $10. If you have a vice (or better yet, a press) the job will be easy. If not, it will take a couple of hours and some ingenuity. My neighbor and I used a pipe-wrench as the vice!

Mark up where the driveshaft meets the transmission and rear-axle (scratch it, use hot pink nail polish....). Drop the driveshaft (4 nuts at transmission, 4 bolts at rear axle, 2 bolts for the carrier bearing). Drag that heavy bitch into your garage and start articulating all of the ujoints, nOting which ones don't move smoothly or at all. If you notice any physical damage with a visual inspection, replace those as well. Spin the carrier bearing, feeling for slop or roughness along it's orbit.

To extract the ujoints, well, let me know of you get this far.

 

More information would help. You could have another problem.

5-speed or automatic?

ADD or manual?

What is your actual rear-end ratio? No such thing as 4:1.
Mine is 4.56:1. Others are 4.10:1 and 4.3:1.
Mismatching gears (front and rear) can cause drive-train problems.

 

I'm kinda curious as to how a 4 banger grenades 2 rear diffs..

 

Clutch dropping at redline!

 

well its the 4 10 gears... hence i said 4:1..... umm Idk eaither im all for screwing with the truck inside and some in the motor but when it comes to the rear end Ill let my good friend take a look... Ill try the method above and see if theres any play if not ima be real pissed.... :/ and I have no clue if i grenaded two diffs or not.... I honestly think it is the U-joint but let me go outside and try... ill post up in a min

 

I'm quite sure it IS the ujoint. $10 and a couple hours fix. Easy to fix, just need a BFH.

 

Im goin to my mechanic budd on monday, im pretty sure its not the rear end eaither because the bump in the rear when I put it in drive feels like Something other than the rearend because I dont feel loose gears in my rearend. Its only when I takeoff fast and dont ease into it..... Ive never readline droped or even treated this rearend like it was a playtoy ive babyed it, this diff has never seen mud and the last time we replaced the diff, My mechanic friend said it looked brand new inside the case... so if it is an easy fix ill let him fiddle with it... I aint got time :/

 

my u-joints look like they NEED replaceing, they are over 193k miles on them and they are strait mud black. ill get someone to put it in drive while im under it. while its in park nothing moves. While its in neutral it moves from side to side, ill post and see if it does it while its in drive.

 

UPDATE:
while its in Drive it doesnt move at all.... theres no play in the shaft
while its in neutral theres play from side to side.
while its in park theres no play at all
while its in reverse theres no play at all.

 

Dude, you're kinda all over the map with whats wrong, from your first post you said you've already blown (& changed) 1 diff & are now on the second,

Now you rule out the diff & now say its U joints, sooooo...

The one highlighted above is the only accurate way to check U joints really & not totally sure if you're checking them right or not but anyway, good luck...

 

we went from a bad rearend to u-joints, the other guy said check the shaft and see if its got play. The u-joints look terrible, there gunky and look black. It might be the U-joints, But i was just posting my results on what happend when I got under the truck.... I honestly dont think its the rearend anymore but could be wrong, I dont think I am because it isnt acting like last time. Last time it had major play in it when it where the shaft connects to the gear case on the rear, when it was in park. So i am kinda everywhere but Im just trying to diag. the problem.

 

the true proper way to test to see if the u-joints are bad is to completly remove the driveshaft. once the drive shaft is off you can move the yoke by hand to it full axis of movement. if there is just the slightest amount of play they are bad. or, if it takes some force to make that yoke turn the u-joints are bad. should also be a smooth movement felt in the u-joints and not notchy or indexed feeling.

you can easily remove the driveshaft yourself, shouldnt take more then 30 min if you have never done so. provided you have the proper tools which are only (2) 14mm wrenches..

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This & ya might want to mark the bolt/flange so you can install exactly as it came off

 

The U-Joints are not expensive, $10-15 for an 03 from autozone. with a little bit of bubba engineering skills. you can do the job in the driveway. Make sure the wheels are blocked so the truck doesn't roll.

Done it with the ex's jeep. took the shaft out, used a pipe wrench to hold the shaft still. shove the handle thru the receiver hitch. then used a 6" C clamp and a socket to push the caps out.