Rear end scraping noise when driving?

Update:

I just checked all fluids and the coolant reservoir is empty!! I had my truck in a shop the other week for some maintenance and I had them check all the fluids so they either completely missed that or the coolant leaked over the weekend while I was road tripping?

side note: for all my life I’ve taken my truck to mechanics and shops to get work and maintenance done. I just recently decided to starting learning how to work on my truck on my own so forgive me if I seem like a total noob.

 

I hear ya. I changed all my gear oils with synthetic at about 30k. Hopefully it helps.

 

The rear transmission seal would have no reason to be touched when removing or replacing the driveshaft. Did the guys who did the differential also drop the transfer case? There is no reason to do so, unless you had another issue with a transmission output seal leak, which is very rare in these trucks.

 

How many miles did the original last without changing oil?
Just wondering cuz I've been changing my diffs and xfer case every 40k.
I know its supposed to be 30k but I'm lazy.

 

Hey buddy if you are really just learning and you found the coolant jug empty then you might want to check the radiator. When it is cool! The radiator draws coolant from the reservoir. Real good chance that it’s low if the jug was empty.

 

When the coolant is hot enough to boil over it pukes into the reservoir. When it cools off, the vacuum pulls it back in, but none is really lost if all is well. That’s why you have Hot and Cold marks on the reservoir. An empty reservoir is a cause for concern if it can’t be explained by recent maintenance activities.

 

All good stuff to know and learn, thanks for the advice!

 

I swapped the diff at 200,000 miles. I know I changed the diff oil at least a few times over the years (I bought the truck in 2014 with 75k miles) but obviously I didn’t change it near enough as I was suppose to. I took my truck to a reputable Toyota mechanic in my area and he said changing fluid at 30k is the way to go, so I’m going off of that

 

Yeah, the reservoir itself is almost completely empty when the truck is cold. The only explanation is the mechanic completely missed it when it was in the shop (lesson learned, check all fluids yourself), or something happened when I was off roading. But that would make no sense, because all I did was put it in 4x4 when I needed to plow through deep snow. I didn’t go over any big rocks or roots and I never scrapped the bottom of the truck on anything.

 

Changing it frequently will help more than anything.

Mine changed itself when it blew the axle seal.

 

Is this a crack ??

 

good eye, I really hope not. I’ll check ASAP though. I’ve heard it could also be an axle seal burst. Seems like there are 10-20 possibilities as to what could be wrong

 

Nope, just a straight up diff swap. Driveshaft wasn’t replaced

 

A common issue with blown seals .. Have a peek at the vent making sure its not plugged .
Differentials become pressure cookers when the vent gets plugged up . When this happens , the diff cant exhaust to atmosphere as there is no where for heat and fluid expansion to go . Eventually , you will burst seals .

 

Checked, and that is not a crack. Thank god

 

The verdict is in:

The noise is my carrier bearing going bad.

Also I took my truck into a good Toyota mechanic nearby and they could not find any source of fluid drainage, all fluids are normal and there are no busted seals of any kind.

thanks for all the tips and help guys! I learn a ton from this forum.

 

Really?
I could be wrong but I have doubts

 

I would check the bolts for the diff. Mine were hand tight and had fluid loss like that.