Off-Road Tires & Lift cause Rear Diff. Damage?

I’m the son and for those of you that think I abuse my truck you couldn’t be more wrong. It’s maybe seen 4 dirt roads and pulled a trailer here and there. Parents got me the truck in high school and I realized how lucky I was so I have taken perfect care of it and kept it as clean as possible. Would gladly upload pics of the rear tread for those who think I’m ripping my tire off. When the driveshaft and U joints went out from the wreck the “mechanic” at the body shop said that they repaired everything and ended up somehow engaging the locker to where it was always on. So for around 1k miles it was flat out on all the time. I didn’t have time to get to the shop because I had a full school schedule as well as being a college athlete which some of you do not realize requires more hours than a full time job and parents always told me that school and baseball were my job because they earned me a full scholarship. With that being said, it was kind of just left on due to not having time and my ignorance of not knowing the true damage that it was doing. I think my parents and I have both learned stuff from this with hopes that it never happens again. For those of you that were helping my mother, thank you a lot!

 

so your on your 3rd Rear differential replacement because the 1st one just broke, and the second one supposedly was installed wrong by a mechanic and the rear locker was engaged at all times and it grenaded? and you didnt have the time to get it figured out before the #2 replacement blew up? when the locker is engaged there should be a light on the dash that goes on which clearly indicates the rear locker is engaged and that never occurred to u that this might not be a good idea to find out what the light meant and turn it off, its pretty simple. push button in locker on, push button out locker off, that's a pretty high price to pay for not literally reading one page of the owners manual that will tell u what the locker does and when to use it. I don't know about u if a red light indicator goes off on my dashboard I want to know what it means and make time in my day to read the owners manual to find out could be something important that could cost thousands of hard earned dollars if not taken seriously, than id have to work 3 jobs and have to pay for my mistakes.

 

I just said the mechanic that supposedly fixed the driveshaft and u joints engaged it and the normal abs light, traction, and rear diff light weren’t on. Obviously if those were on I would’ve taken it right back but none of those were on during that period somehow someway. It’s been an odd situation with the first one going out and ever since then because it had its times when it acted up. Like I said, I truly didn’t have time to because of a full schedule and my vehicle was working enough to get me around. Try that schedule out without a vehicle and you’d see what I’m talking about.

 

your right college and baseball is a rough schedule, wait till your married with kids and paying bills

 

Yeah it is a tough schedule lol. Going from 6 am workouts with class all through the day and not getting done with practice or games sometimes till 11 pm.

 

oh my you poor child, your going to be for a big surprise if you think that's tough

 

oh this thread just got GOOD.

 

Millennials...

 

The keywords are playing and sports, neither of which are a tough life. Wait until you get a real job and work those hours, especially one where if you screw up you or someone else gets seriously injured or killed.

 

I heard the lift kits companies actually own the rights to the prerunners rear diffs. They make product to intentionally break them so they can keep selling you diffs. Fight the power, OP.

 

OP - Others on the thread point to driving the truck with the E-Locker engaged. Perhaps that circuit has a "short" in it? If, by chance it were always engaged, or intermittently, it would seem to me that it would affect the way it drives and handles, maybe even poor gas mileage. Just a suggestion...

 

LOL, exactly

 

If it was hooked up to be engaged all the time, is the current mechanic going to fix that before returning the truck with the new rear diff? Has he told you why the rear diff was stuck on all the time? Did you just forget to turn it off?

 

I want to sit in the outfield and wait for flyballs and make millions a yr. Think that's possible.

Right!!!! Try being a single parent and the primary one at that.

I wish the Greatest generation was still around to kick some of these kids in the butts.

He may be one of those new Z generation now. But what about @Comatose and @EatSleepTacos do they get a pass, asking for a friend

 

Why are people such assholes?

Help this mother and her kid out or GTFO. No one gives a damn about your parenting or life philosophy. "Being an adult is so hard, kid you have it so easy boo hoo hoo." Sounds like a lot of personal regret and bitterness. Take your sob story and move along since you provide nothing of value to this thread. Don't shit on other people because your life sucks and you think you're special because you're an adult.

 

Boom. I agree with you.

 

Agree. The kid's going to college on an athletic scholarship. This is his way of paying his way through school, no different than working at a regular job nights and weekends to pay for it.

I'll be shitting my pants with happiness if my kid is in a similar situation in 12 years.