Thoughts on magnetic transfer case plug

I replaced the oil in my diffs/transfer case the other day and am curious about the transfer case drain plug.

Is there an engineering reason that Toyota didn’t include a magnet in it? Is the gear oil in the tcase filtered somehow or unlikely to produce metal debris?

I’ve seen the aftermarket plugs with magnets but I wonder how necessary/safe such a mod is if Toyota elected not to do it themselves.

I noticed that while the oil in the diffs was very dark, the oil in tcase was relatively clean. Maybe there’s no magnet because it doesn’t get as much wear?

I’m pretty new to auto maintenance so I appreciate any insight.

 

I think the transfer case is chain driven? Maybe that is why?

 

Your tcase should have a magnet inside the front cover, but the Only way to get to it for inspection is to split the case.

 

Interesting. I wonder why they chose to make inaccessible.

Seems to negate the need for a magnetic plug though. Thanks!

 

They did put it right next the oil pump. Maybe the thinking was that the constant flow of oil around that area would increase the likelihood of it catching material.

 

Tcase oil has always come out insanely clean vs the rest of the gear oils in my truck, its just not needed for average use.

Now if you spend the majority of the time in 4x4 then I could see spending the money on a magnetic drain plug.

 

The engineering reason they fuck up is
a. They don’t care
B. It’s cheaper

I think we are all curious to know which parts did not come with a magnetic plug and a source on good ones to install

last high quality one I saw was $50 per plug which is a lot
Easier to justify on a car
But trucks have a lot more parts like separate front diff, transfer case, etc to be putting plugs in.