Has anyone with the howling rear end gone into the rear?

When gears make noise, it's usually a clearance issue. If it's too tight, then it just won't last. If it's too loose, it'll make noise.

I'm just wondering if anyone has actually gone into it and checked backlash.... maybe before regearing?

 

I mentioned the same thing earlier. Said someone has to bite the bullet and just pay to have it looked at by a differential shop. Only way to find out what it really is.

But not aware of anyone doing so yet.

 

I'm guessing we won't see anyone doing this until more and more 3rd gens are out of warranty---

 

If it's something Toyota won't fix, I'd probably go into it.... if I wasn't going to sell it soon. If nothing else, just to take measurements. My truck doesn't have the howling, but I hear so much about it on this site, I wonder why someone just doesn't fix it.

 

Because some people love to complain just to complain.

 

He's right you know.

 

Because if Toyota does come out with a fix they may not do the work on your unit because you tampered with it. Also I'm not for voiding the warranty less than six months into having the truck. And the squeaky wheel gets the grease so complaining, especially to Toyota directly, may eventually produce a satisfactory outcome.

 

Setting proper backlash and engagement is not a big deal, mostly just time consuming, having the needed shims and a supply of crush sleeves for the pinions. 10 years ago I spent a week of my vacation changing rear-end gears in my Mustang more often than I did underwear--had a really annoyed wife that week.

Stock was 3.27:1, tried 3.55, 3.73 and 4.10, settled in on the 3.73s...

 

Yup....about people complaining.

 

Whenever you get a howling sound from a differential, it is due to a clearance issue like the OP said. If it does it when new, it usually means that the pinion preload or the backlash wasn't adjusted properly at the factory. If the noise begins later, it means that the diff went out of adjustment for some reason, or a part is starting to fail (usually the pinion bearing). On my wife's '88 Chevrolet Trooper (same rear diff as on Toyota back then), I removed the pinion nut, cleaned the pinion and the nut, applied some LOCTITE, and retorqued the pinion to spec. The howling went away.
Whatever the problem, if the dealer can't (won't) fix it, I would take it to a reliable shop. Whenever a diff howls, it means that the gears will not wear evenly and will have to be replaced down the line if not readjusted properly. Preventative maintenance is always cheaper than waiting until something breaks.

- JAMES

 

Everyone just assuming it's the ring and pinion...

 

@Woodrow F Call has a practical idea if one has a keeper truck and no success with warranty repair.

For anyone with a 3gen in the Clearwater/Tampa/NPR area who wants to experiment out of your own pocket for the good of the order, these are the guys to go see.

I've sent folks to them with broken street car stuff that got fixed on a fair budget, I've seen things fixed on cars multiple dealers were unsuccessful with while under warranty.

Not to mention like 80 bizillion race car set ups and truck regears.

 

Because they are the primary components that create a howl, yes it may be a bearing or something else but the bad bearing causes gears to misalign and wear oddly cresting noise. Also I feel it's easier for an engineer to put down the wrong spec, maybe off by a few thousandths, on a gear assembly drawing and send it to the plant than for a company to manufacture hundreds of thousands of bad bearings or other component that are probably used in other vehicles not having this issue.

 

@splitbolt Do you have a different opinion? Care to share what it is?

 

You would only void warranty work associated with a part they aren't fixing anyway. Plus you could have a reputable shop do it, document it, then Toyota would not likely have a leg to stand on as far as honoring a warranty claim.

I'm not disagreeing with the squeaky wheel, but the squeaking needs to be to Toyota and not here to be effective.

 

I'm still holding off for the Regional Toyota Engineer and my service manager to get back to me on this. Toyota engineering has supposedly been researching and working on a fix but news is slow to come. In the meantime I've become pretty good buds with my service manager. This reminds me, I need to send him a text to touch base with the FTS. If the decision is that Toyota is just flat out not going to do anything about it, OK, I'd just like to get a final answer...if and when that happens I may look at paying a differential specialist to investigate the issue.

 

Just to add, bearings don't usually make noise for long...... gears can though. I had a howling gear set in a 1995 Caprice (I suspect the previous owner raced it a little). I got the car with 109,000 miles and drove it to 221,000 miles then sold it. Never did fix it..... A bearing would have given up.

 

I look forward to hearing the results.

Go ahead and regear while you are at it!

 

Not going to put large tires on this truck. Been there done that with other trucks. No need to regear.