DIY: Differential Breather Extension

I'm lazy so I ordered a kit online for $20. Took about 20 minutes to install it through the gas fill hatch. I was looking at the other breathers located in the engine bay and I may redo these as well. They're extremely corroded and they're mounted low on the inner fenderwell.

 

I'm pretty sure I paid a few bucks over that to gather the parts separately. Not to mention gas and time to go get those parts.

Can you post a link so others can get the kit as well?

 

Got mine from Low Range Off-Road:
http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/inde...ther-kit-5-ft-hose-1-cap-1-barb-2-clamps.html

I was wrong. It cost me $25 but still, if you don't have a dealer close by or if you need other things, it's not a bad price.

 

http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/index.php/differential-breather-kit.html

This is the piece I was talking about in a "Toyota" package.

 

Okay, it makes sense now that I see how its marketed. They're marketing to rock buggies and similar with an extreme amount of flex. Having long hoses on a buggy with extreme flex would get in the way of other things.

For a DD/average trail rig, I still think the breather extension with tubing would be a better option.

 

Did mine today. Wasn't planning on it but I got up under the truck to look at something and the breather caught my eye. I dug through my tool box misc drawer and found a hose barb that probably came with a gauge or something, the thread pitch was the same as the stock breather. I taped it and installed it and then dug around the garage and found some nylon 3/8" high pressure pneumatic hose. Slipped it over the barb and clamped it down with a crimp clamp. I fed it up into the wheel well and drilled a 3/8" hole in the filler neck plastic and put another barb on that end to keep it from slipping out. I left enough room for flex and zip tied it to the crossmember. Cost: FREE. Time: 10 minutes.

 

Is 5 ft of hose enough for a truck with a 2.5" lift on it plus accommodating for flexing?

 

It might be. I asked for 8ft at the auto parts store and ended up getting a little more since it was the end of the spool. I think I had 4ft cut off. Not 100% sure what I started with though :-/

I didn't install the union and just used the stock breather and clamped it down with a hose clamp. Seems to hold pretty well.

 

Rear view...


Hose barb with 3/8" nylon hose clamped...


Routed up and zip tied to shock crossmember...


Over the frame rails and behind the inner fender well cover...


And out of the fuel neck with another fitting to keep it from slipping out of the hole...

 

whoa whoa whoa whoa... whoa. This is not my batman glass. Why has no one told me to do this until now? Am I suckin up shit when I get into the deep stuff? If I'm wheelin in 85 degree heat and go through a deep mud puddle that cools and contracts the diff/tranny housings am I pulling in crud? Someone tell me it isn't so. Have people had damage because of breather location? If so, I need to make a trip to the hardware store.

 

You could have, drain your diff and if it's got a brown tint to it then there's your answer haha

I highly suggest you do it before going through mud or water again.

 

I've been wheeling in my truck for almost 175,000 miles now. Hot going through icy cold creeks, muddy water puddles, etc..

I still haven't done this mod but when I changed my diff, transfer case and tranny fluids last, they were all perfectly normal.

I still intend on doing this mod, no doubt though... just for peace of mind.

 

that's what I'm curious about; has anyone found infiltration of foreign material in their diff/tranny that was not attributed to a crack/seal leak and must have come in through a breather? Can anyone say that NOT doing this mod has allowed shit into their diff?

 

There are people who have had water in the rear diff because it went in through the breather.

 

my concern is that I run a powertrax locker in the rear which leaves very little space in that diff housing, and it's a big ball of small springs. I expect it to be more prone to damage and seize if unwelcome things find their way in.

 

good work with the deff.

 

I just did mine the other night and there was some water mixed in among the fluid. Albeit not a lot, but at 160k miles it can't hurt to change the fluid, also my stock breather had a bunch of rust inside of it that I got to fall out by whacking it pretty hard. I think it will also really help up here in AK because sometimes after driving in the winter on paved roads I will drive in powder, which immediately cools the differential significantly thereby creating a partial vacuum and air coming down thru the breather.

Hope that doesn't sound too technical to understand...

 

No, i mean, that's not very technical at all; it's the same scenario I posted earlier. I feel like I'm more likely to pull out an extension hose if I hit something the wrong way, and then I'm really in trouble. If you wait too long diff fluid is always gonna look wrong. I change my diff fluid every 30k and I've never found anything too concerning. I just turned 180k with a pretty good amount of off road/snow driving. Nobody I wheel with has them. I'll keep it in the back of my mind, but I got other stuff to do first.

 

question for those of you that went with the small filter method. I routed mine into the engine bay and the other day i noticed that the filter looked like it was soaked in fluid (diff fluid im assuming). Anybody have this issue?

edit: pic for reference

 

I've read through this thread back to the original post in 08 or whatever. And what you are describing was something I was curious about.

That check valve or one way breather on the rear diff allows for a slower equalization in the diff, correct? (If air goes out, air has to come back in or else the diff would implode eventually, so the valve must provide some slow breathing back into the diff.) When the atmosphere inside the diff gets heated up it can burp out that valve, and that valve allows for a slower return to "normal" pressure inside the diff once the truck is stopped. This makes me think the rear diff is engineered to operate under a higher pressure, since the temperatures don't equalize as rapidly. Now, if you remove that one way valve and replace it with a two way breather type deal, like a fuel filter or just open, you are allowing a more rapid equalization of pressure to occur. So, whatever pressure that one way valve was designed to contain now goes shooting up that tube and escaping easily into the outside atmosphere, taking some fluid with it. The shorter the tube you install, the less travel, so the greater the chance of fluid escaping over time? I dunno, but seems to me like an engineered one way valve replaced with a two way is significantly altering how the thing is designed to operate.

Just wondering.