Tough day on the trail- 2x CVs blown out

Thanks- It would been awfully tough for AAA to get to me on the trail, I woulda had to call an off road recovery crew or something if I wasn't prepared. The thing that kills me is that I had a spare and made the fix in good time, only for it to happen again. If you are ever in this kind of pinch you will need to know how to do this otherwise you risk the axle shaft spinning and beating up everything in its path. The suspension, brake lines ext. Since I had to cut my axle shaft off I now carry a CV cup and CV end (basically a CV with the axle shaft trimmed off). This allows me to run in 3 wheel drive to limp out and not bleed gear oil all over the trail. This is also important to put the CV end in the spindle so you can tighten the axle nut and wheels without crushing your wheel bearings. A saw or angle grinder is an important tool to carry when wheelin so you can do this, and sacrifice an axle shaft and not every other part around it.

 

Dang…. You guys are hard core. I’ve drag raced and replaced ring and pinions in the pits but at least we had a tow vehicle and a trailer full of tools, lights, electricity….

 

UPDATE 4/27
Took the truck to TRU automotive and the guys are stumped. They checked the alignment and it was good, they though it might be lower diff mount arms, they were straight and bushings looked okay. We were all scratching our heads on what would cause excessive travel on that side because it was only the passenger side. We looked all around the diff and frame for cracks and anything that would let the tire, spindle and axle to travel far enough to pull out of the cup. There were 1" diff drop spacers on the lower arms (I didnt install, must have been previous owner) and after lots of head scratching, we decided to pull the passenger side diff drop spacer and clamp the arms to the crossmember as a test. This corrected the cv angle and made the axle shaft have a normal distance from the LCAs but it is VERY weird that it is sloped to one side only.

My thought is that it could be the diff mount bushing/ carrier that bolts to the main diff mount off the frame crossmember. Toyotas are notorious for bushings that look good from the outside, but the internals are trashed (EX- radiator mount bushings). Since I have replaced almost every rubber bushing that is OE with a poly bushing and this is one of the last one, I am inclined to think that this could be the culprit. The position of this mount and that is off center to the driver side, creating a cantilever that would lean to the passenger side also lead me to believe that this mount and bushing could be shot.

If you think about the Diff mount and the problems that I have already had with my diff mount SEE HERE it makes even more sense that this mount could be toast. If you don't click the other thread, WE THINK the dealership lowered the truck off the lift while there was a jack stand underneath it still and the weight of the truck was transferred into that area and destroyed my front diff mount, ballooning the thin sheet metal upwards. I had a local off-road shop chop off the top of the mount and replace it with a piece of 3/16 and weld it in ( you can see it in the pics of the diff mount). All this stress around this area, welding heat, and constant abuse from wheeling could of easily destroyed the internals and make the weight of the diff, that is off center already, to lean heavy to the passenger side.

After unbolting the arms and watching how the diff reacting to removing and replacing each bushing and clamping it back up as if it was bolted, we decided that it would be safe enough to give it a try and hopefully not cause other problems. The part is 82$ for OE and I will be picking one up tomorrow and install tomorrow night. Holler with thoughts and incite- thanks yall

 

also contemplating this kit. The part numbers for the OE part from Toyota are the same for 2nd and 3rd gens so I think it will fit, but I will need to do more research when I have my wits about me.
https://www.energysuspensionparts.com/8.1108

 

The diff mount shouldn't be the problem since it already happened when I first got the truck and I welded in a very thick plate as well as a mending plate to where the DS spun around and chewed up the crossmember. You are correct that this is the problem spot though. The bushing that attaches to this location I THINK is my problem. The part comes in tomorrow and I will install it tomorrow night. PIC is from at least 3 years ago, maybe more.

 

UPDATE: friday night. I got the new diff bushings from the dealership and after pulling the old ones out it looked like it was gonna be a good night and my problems were going to be solved. The old bushings were toast and have a serious lean to the PS. I figured that lean on the bushings were allowing the diff to lean that side and fresh ones were going to solve it. I press em out and swap in the new ones and no luck. The PS axle shaft was still really close to the LCA. I played around with swapping the tops of front diff arm bushings bushings from side to side to see if maybe they were the culprit and no real change. I am going to get new fronts on order, hindsight I shoulda ordered and done em all at the same time, but they looked to be in pretty good shape. The axle shafts are currently sitting almost equal with a diff spacer on the driver side and none on the PS which is good and bad. Good bc they are equal but also bad because WTF! Why is is sitting crooked?

What woulda happened to allow the diff to sit with 1" of disparity between DS and PS is the real question? Maybe I don't stress about it and let it ride, but I am worried about causing more damage, blowing up my diff and locker or ruining more CVs. I am going to wrench on it more tomorrow and try a few more things but I am pretty stumped.

Also- noticing some things that also look out of place. My Diff looks real close to the mount, and when I took off the diff support arm, the hole was a little ovaled out on the PS towards the rear of the truck. Its taken some hard hits wheelin so I am not surprised. I am thinking about welding a correction washer over the top to brings that hole back to round.

 

2nd pic, that bolt going to the UCA from the spindle looks bent. Is it?

 

the upper ball joint which icon calls a Delta joint? It could be actually, I am gonna pull the spindle UBJ nut and take a look.

 

Might worth it to order those bolts ahead of time. That way you can compare both sides to new.

 

well I think I got it figured out. I was pointed towards this video on YT HERE of a guy with a GX that was having similar problems. He tears the whole front diff out out of his GX and once its out of his vehicle and next to his replacement, its clear that is the problem. I removed both the front spacers and bolted the lower diff arms back to the crossmember. With a digital level its clear that the passenger side diff extension tube has twisted and rolled to the front of the vehicle. This closes the distance between the cv shaft and the LCAs as well as made the front diff arm on the PS only touch on the very front.

This is a real PITA but at least I have an idea of what the fix is. I will continue to update throughout the fix.

 

update 4/29:
I got the part after searching all weekend on marketplace, ebay and used car lots/ junkyards near me with no leads. I did have one potential lead where a guy was selling the exact part I was looking for on FBMP and he was close to me so I hit him up. He said he had it posted for a while and didn't get any hits, so he took it to the dump just a few days ago and forgot to take the listing down. FML.
I had some funny run-ins with some scammers and man some of the pages on FB are teeming with them. I was hopeful at first because after I posted on these FB pages that I was looking for the axle tube extension I had messages from a few people that said they had one. It was weird bc I searched all over and I could find a bunch of complete DIFFS but not just the axle tube, and yet all these people were saying they had one. I was already suspicious and when you read the convos you can see when I just start having fun with it bc I knew I was dealing with a scammer. So in an effort to cut through the BS I came up with an idea. I asked these people to take a pic of the part they had, with a dollar bill or coin next to the part, so I could check the scale and ensure it was the right part. That way, if they did actually have the part in their garage, I could filter out the BS scammers who just use google image search against the people that might actually have the part.... Check the pics for a good laugh.

I pick up a whole new diff tomorrow and will steal the extension tube from it and hold on to the diff for the future. I got everything else I need (Diff service items, crush washers, gear oil, gloves, rags, transfer pump, e14 socket, diff RTV) and I am going to attempt to do the swap in place and not remove the entire DIFF. It looks like all I gotta do is remove the 4x e14 bolts, the cv on the pass side, the ADD plug and a few deflectors and wire carriers and diff carrying arm and it should come right out. Only time will tell. Wish me luck.

 

You can absolutely swap the add tube without removing the diff

 

sweet- that is the plan! Have you done one before? any tips/ tricks/ things to look out for?

 

Done it a couple of times. Most recently to swap in an fj tube to delete the add all together. Remove the front 2 differential mounts bolts so that the clamshell hangs down, allowing more room to get to the torx bolts. A few wacks with a rubber malet should break it free from the rtv. I like using "the right stuff" from permatex as you can return to service instantly. Never had a leak with it yet.

 

Good luck with the repairs…
Yes FBMP is full of scammers! I’ll post up something for sale and then within 5 minutes get about a dozen responses from people whose FB profile was created that day. They are from out of the country but always have a relative in the US and need some weird form of 3rd party money transfer. The grammar and spelling is always a bit off as well. I like to yank their chains and waste a bit of their time as well. Later in the day….. their FB profile is gone.
Scammers suck.

 

update- Fixed -
I picked up a used front diff from a 21 taco for about 250 from a used part dealer. Stole the extension tube with all the internals and swapped them out. After pulling the tube from the donor and the bent one from mine (mine has a rag- donor has the red plug) you can see the major difference between the two. The numbers look funny because the digital level was calibrated upside down, but the point is that they were different. Once I put the donor tube back on my truck, sealed everything, reconnected the breather, removed the diff drop spacers and torqued everything down I am sitting about level. I will take a .1 difference between the two sides I measured since those arms are cast, and have casting marks on them, throwing the measurements off a tiny bit. Drive line angles are good and cv to LCA clearances are back to normal. I head to moab on tuesday (with a spare CV, driveshaft and TREs, limit straps installed, and all the tools to repair anything that could break). Thanks to @Strictlytoyz and others for the advice, the swap wasn't bad but it did take some time. Holler with any questions

 

Right on bro, have fun in Moab!

 

Problem no more, dang excellent heat/penetration with your welding. I bet that’s stronger than stock by a country mile.

 

No doubt stronger than OE. Anyone that runs bigger tires and a locker should check out the welds taco (on insta) FDR kit. It does almost this same operation but you don’t have to remove the diff. You remove the lower diff 12 Allen that holds that diff stud to the OE mount and weld in a plate and a sleeve from the bottom. Similar outcome with way less work. That dude can weld.