PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

This, mine probably broke several months before I physically saw it. Don't recall it handling dramatically different; that said, I was mostly driving the Rav4 the first 6 months of this year and just taking mine for a hop to the store now and then so that could be why

 

That's coming after work; I got tired last night. In the meantime, here are pics of my sway bar link that broke due to rust...

 

Good to go!

 

New wheel skins installed!

 

X2

 

@6 gearT444E
@ABA180
@BkerChuck
@Just_A_Guy
@RustyGreen
@shakerhood
@steelcity2
@Taco critter
@TnShooter
@wilcam47

I just discussed this at length on the phone with @ColoradoTJ, and he does not think anything is wrong; I also talked to my mechanic before calling Chris, and he told me to bring it in tomorrow, but he also thinks nothing is wrong. My Uncle Kenny was a mechanic for many years and does all of his own work on his 2012 Tundra, and he has never steered me wrong with regards to questions about my truck. The issue is that I exceeded the recommended interval on changing my diff fluid by almost 16K miles; I had my longtime trusted mechanic Pete change the fluid last back in 2019, at about 100K miles; I am pretty sure that I had the diff fluid changed at some point before then, but I do not remember. It have even been 90K-95K when I had the diff fluid changed last, which means that I'm pushing 30K miles past the recommended interval; I do not abuse my truck and I used to pull a 16-foot trailer once.

Today, I noticed an unfamiliar noise coming from underneath the truck, towards the back. I can't really describe the noise, but it's like buffeting or shimmying; I realized while driving from work to my girlfriend's apartment a few hours ago that I'd never gotten the diff fluid changed; I called Pete and he confirmed that it was not done at 160K. It may have been done at 150K miles and I'm going to have him check that, but my truck's Carfax report does not show a diff fluid change. My mechanic was not reporting service records to Carfax at the time he did flushed the diff fluid in 2019.

My truck accelerates and drives just fine, and there are no grinding or scraping noises that would indicate an issue with the diff; I do not think there is anything wrong with my truck, but I am taking Pete up on his offer to put it on the lift tomorrow morning free of charge and check the diff fluid level.

What does everybody else think?!?!

 

Id think ujoints before differential. I cant remember if you had ujoints done

 

No, it last got done with somewhere in the range of 90K-100K miles on the truck; I did in fact exceed it by 16K miles. What is an AAM axle?

 

I wouldn’t worry about it.

If I told you we changed the differential fluid once in my dads Ranger with 260k miles on it.
Would you believe me?

If I told you that my old boss has an early 2000’s Chevy van that has never had the diff fluid changed and has wined for 5+ years would you believe me?

I didn’t even change the diff fluid in my truck until the axle seal went out. And that was at 70k or so.

My point is, the most neglected fluid on most vehicles is the differential.
They are a lot tougher than some would have you believe.

It’s not an excuse to not change the fluid, but 60-70k on diff fluid isn’t something I’m worried about.

I don’t think I’d worry about it at all, not until it starts to wine really loud.

 

I got the steering U-Joints replaced sometime in the summer of 2022, and Carfax says that the driveshaft U-joints were replaced in December 2022 at like 160K miles.

 

I’ve never changed my u-joints yet.
I’m at almost 170k.
But I do grease them pretty often.

 

Are ur u joints greasable ? If so try greasing them that maybe a quick and cheap fix.

 

You should be ok.

 

And my truck has one of those?

 

What the hell does my truck have?

 

It’s a Yota

Get the fluid changed, keep on trucking