Rear diff breather - threads

Being that it is a nice day here I decided to do the rear diff breather mod. As I removed the breather I realized the threads were all jacked up. I grabbed the adapter piece and tried to thread it in but it wants to cross-thread. I assume th threads in the housing are jacked as well. I have provided some pictures of the breather, I hope it helps:









I figured I would take my truck into the dealer and have them fix the problem.

My question are:

-Should I try to reinstalled the stock breather and drive it to the dealer? My concern about this is potentially making the problem worse or making it look like it was my fault and not the factory.

-Should I just leave it be and have AAA tow my truck to the dealer for me? Down side is I am w/o my truck until Tuesday afternoon.

Thanks for the help!

Josh

 

that thing looks nasty to be from a '10 model .... you might want to call the service department and ask them what they suggest. Right now, you can atleast say i only took it out and you can't crossthread it while taking it out.

 

Very good idea, thank you. I think I will give them a call tomorrow/Monday.

Josh

 

I called them this morning and talked to the manager. He said it would probably be best to leave it as is and tow it over there. The manager was concerned with shaving metal off as I am trying to put it back it in. Unfortunately, I will be without Zeva for a few days.

Josh

 

Question, since the threads in the diff and breather are "one", should i try and carefully thread it back in without force? I figured if it went in easily and w/o hassle I would not be shaving metal off?

Josh

 

Run a tap through the hole and then drain the diff fluid and clean out the entire housing to make sure there are no metal shavings in there. It's possible that the threads in the diff housing are fine due to it being a harder metal than the diff breather, but I would still run a tap through to make sure.

Don't take it to Toyota, as the repair shouldn't be covered under warranty. It's not Toyota's fault that you worked on your truck and something stripped.

At least you have a replacement to thread into the hole. Once, both primary o2 sensors on my 4 day old car stripped when I removed them from the stock downpipes. It really seemed as if the manufacturer made the threads soft to foil people who modified the car (against their wishes). $700 and 2 weeks later, I had replacement o2 sensors.

Good luck!

 

Pretty sure you toy doesnt have a diff cover. You'd have to pull the 3rd member. Have to pull the axles and all. A lof work. Take to a shop or the dealer if you don't have to time.

 

The threads in the diff are messed up because I can not thread in my adapter piece for the diff breather mod. Running a tap through the hole, pulling the diff cover, cleaning the diff, and putting it back together should be Toyota's problem.

I disagree with you, this is Toyota's fault. I can not mess up the threads while removing something. Regardless of the reason I took it off, Toyota should deal with this. Question, Lets say you decided to change your oil for the first time at 3k (odometer = 3xxx) and in the process of pulling the plug out, you broke it off or had it came out really f'ed up because it was cross threaded at the factory. Are you telling me this would not be the fault of Toyota, but the fault of the truck owner?

Josh

 

Changing oil is one thing, but what you were doing was not a normal maintenance repair item. In fact, you were in the process of modifying your truck, not doing maintenance. Why should Toyota have to pay for a modification gone awry?

As I said, it sucks, I've been there. My GTR was 4 days old with under 500 miles on it when both of the o2 sensors stripped upon removal. Now, I paid a lot more for the GTR than my Tacoma, and yet I still could recognize that it wasn't Nissan's fault that I was left with 2 stripped o2 sensors. Honestly, this is why you shouldn't modify things that you cannot afford to fix.

 

Edited for clarity, perhaps I was not obvious enough in what I was referring to.

 

No prob.

 

It does not matter what you are doing! you could be trying to disassemble your whole freaking truck down to nuts and bolts! if something was cross threaded at the factory and you find that out when removing it then it is TOYOTA's fault. come on now common sense applies. the reason it is being taken out is irrelevant here. the fact is it was cross threaded in there and he has discovered it.

 

Finally someone with some sense....

Who cares why it was being taken out, fact remains that it was crossthreaded going in. Those threads are trashed there is no way they could try to say you did it when taking the vent out.

 

Agree

 

It IS possible to strip threads upon removal. This is actually fairly common with metals of dissimilar strength.

Please don't get me wrong, if they cover it under a good faith, then that's great. I'm just offering a solution in the event that Toyota will charge you for the repair, which is what will probably happen.

 

how do you screw up threads on the way out???? unless maybe you only have a few threads left and then you push the bolt sideways as you lefty loosey???

Lets just stay in reality here. the odds are in favor of it happening when inserted just like any cross threaded item.

I work with diffs that are aluminum and have steel diff plugs. 4 diffs per vehicle. done this for almost 8 years and have been around 100's of these and not once has loosening a plug stripped a diff. so i'm gonna go with "possible" and not "common". "Common" sounds a little exaggerative in my opinion.

Good faith? they are gonna cover it because it was thieir fault

 

I've turned ALOT of bolts (i've even done this very mod) and i can say i have never had that happen or even heard of it happening to anyone....but i guess nothing is impossible, i googled everything i could think of relating to crossthreading/stripping a bolt upon removal and found nothing, if you know of somewhere stating this is a common issue please post it because like i've said i have never heard of it happening.

 

Just curious. When I changed the diff oil there were steel shavings on the plug/magnet. If he were to just tap it wouldn't the little bit of steel shaving that would result be handled by the plug/magnet ? Curious George.

 

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I dont need a solution, It WILL be fixed by Toyota and I will NOT pay for it.

Josh

 

What type of thread is the breather?
NPT pipe? kind of looks like it.
Make sure you use the correct tap and die to match it.