Front differential removal help.

Hey guys,
Finally got around to getting gears for my truck (4.56) from ECGS.. The rear went in no problems, couple hours start to finish. The front has me having nightmares.. Any helpful hints, tips, or possibly a little assist video they made on taking it out.?? Thanks so much in advance!!!

 

It helps to have an extra hand for the front. pull the cv's out of the diff, remove drive line from front diff yoke, support the diff with a jack and remove the 3 mounting bolts, slowly lower the diff a couple inches so it tips out towards the front and that will give you a little more room to remove the vacuum lines, the electrical connector, and the little bracket that holds the hard piped portion of the vacuum lines, then you can lower the diff out the rest of the way

 

excellent man thanks so much, is there some sort of a funky fastener that holds one of the mounting points in? like a big torx bolt?

 

No those big torx bolts are only on the steering rack as far as i know. The three mounting bolts are 17mm if i remember correctly, the rearward one is on top going in downward.

 

There's an E14 torx that holds the ADD housing to the differential. Not a common socket so go get yourself one before hand. Here's the writeup by Chase provided many moons ago.

 

Awesome! Thanks for the info!!

 

Timmy the Toolman as made an(other) excellent video describing how to completely remove and reinstall the front differential. You can look it up using this link. I highly suggest that you watch all 59 minutes and 51 seconds of the video .

 

I actually did watch that but is the taco front end the same as the 4Runner..? He has the two main books and that stud whereas it seems I will be removing three bolts..?

 

I never removed the front differential (nor do I ever intend to do so) but I watched the video very carefully and I don't imagine that he left anything out of it. I think that both front ends are the same and he may have mentioned that. If there were anything that would make a difference I think he would have mentioned that as well.

If I were removing the differential his video is the one that I would trust.

 

It’s very similar. The rear mount is a stud on the Tacoma as well.

 

gotcha, thanks again for the info.. Ill be tearing into this today along with the spindle gussets and new bearings.