Rear diff breather mod

Completed the diif breather mod today.

 

Nice!
Was easy, right?

 

Good to see you got it done!!

Such a quick and easy mod. Really hard to justify NOT doing it !!

 

Real easy to do. Had about $20 in parts. Breather, union and 4 ft. of hose. I used 3/8 hose, fit tight on the union but was loose on the breather. I used hose clamps so it didn't matter.

 

Now, if you do need to cross deep water, the odds of contaminating the diff oil are almost zero! It was quite an eye opener that my 6-month-old truck (in 2010) had milky looking oil when I returned from our epic Mission Santa Maria 4WD trip. HB Murphy was introduced to my kind of Baja fun on that trip!





Anyway, this kind of road is where water can contaminate the rear differential if it is not vented like the front one is!

 

@David K Have been reading through some other threads on this. Makes sense from a technical perspective, just seems odd that Toyota doesn't just put a breather (like the front diff) on the rear end.

Any recommendations on which way to go?
1. Toyota dealer parts; joiner and Breather with 5/8" hose and clamps and zip-ties from local auto shop (cheapest ~$30)
2. ARB makes a full kit, with combined breather housing to mount in engine bay (more expensive~$70)
3. Other offroad companies like BRC with more robust full kit (~$150)

 

So a few months ago I asked Toyota, oreilly, and napa if they could find me a union and a breather. Not one even knew what I was talking about, my dealership would have to order one specifically for me since they don't stock them, or something... I feel like it shouldn't be this hard to find so am I looking in the right place?

 

I provided photos of the Toyota parts with stock numbers!

See the link in my sigs below. Here it is: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/my-differential-breather-mod-photos.111954/

 

I went with option #1.

 

I went with the ARB breather and mounted in the engine bay. Eventually plan on linking the front diff and transfer breather to this as well.

 

That looks nice and clean...is that mounted on the firewall?

 

No, its mounted where the clutch reservoir would be if I had a manual

 

i don't know why it's so hard for the them to figure out hah, it took me 5 minutes online to find them myself

 

Somebody have an online source for the "3/8 x 5/8 high pressure tube"...?

 

Get some fuel line from your local auto store. They sell it by the foot.

 

Wrenching is fun but still not sure why y'all do this if this thing is a one way EXHALING breather. Makes no difference if the pumpkin is submerged! Y'all gonna relocate your exhaust pipe too??

 

The one way creates a vacuum that causes water to suck in around the axel seals. The new valve is two way like the front so it solves this issue. Thus it must be located higher. Cheap compared to a new rear.

 

What??? The way I've seen people do this is to just clamp on a hose on the one way plug on the pumpkin so doesn't matter what fancy valve they use in the other end...

 

This won't work as a substitute for the actual breather, will it...?

$10 Dorman 924-262 Differential Vent Valve Compatible with Select Lexus / Toyota Models

https://uedata.amazon.com/Dorman-92...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=Y3Y673EZKH2B5STE4AEW

 

Then they will pretty much have the same issue. To do this correctly you actually replace the one way valve with the two way one that is used on the front diff thus it must be higher and removed from the elements.

You discard the old breather valve. Replace with a threaded nipple on the rear. Run your hose then install the same two way breather as is used in the front at the end of the hose thus allowing your rear to breath when submerged in water when it is hot and alleviating the vacuum caused in such an event where exterior contaminants can be pulled into the rear. If you have witnessed someone simply installing an extended hose I would not take advise from that person or let them work on your vehicle in the future.