My truck is on its 4TH REAR DIFF

Hi all,

I am a new poster to the forum, though I came here often when conducting the research to purchase my truck in 2019. Now I return here again, looking for advice and to tell my story.
I will do my best to be concise.

I purchased a 2017 TRD OR in 2019 from an old man at around 10k miles for a nice 5k off the original sticker, thought I was getting a pretty good deal.

Not so sure about that now.

At 14k I took the truck in for a whirring/whistling noise coming from the rear end, and they replaced the rear carrier assembly, gear oil, and gasket under warranty for the cause description "SCORED BEARING AND METAL IN FLUID."

https://parts.lakelandtoyota.com/p/__/CARRIER-ASSY--DIFFERENTIAL--REAR/3918691/4111035A50.html

I noticed the sound again approx 200 miles onto the 2nd differential. Perhaps I should have taken it back immediately and asked what the hell was up, but I assumed that it was the infamous rear diff howl. Before a road trip I casually mentioned it to the tech at 20k miles and they made a big deal of putting it back up on the lift to check, and then replaced the carrier assembly again. Same cause, "SCORED BEARING AND METAL IN FLUID." They gave me a rental and sent me home so I didn't give them any grief, though I was a little concerned about my safety given their eager attitude to replace it before the trip. Now I am wondering if they were just trying to get some warranty work in their shop.

Nonetheless, I AGAIN noticed the sound approx 200 miles onto the 3rd diff (driving a mix between city and highway). Then, on my way out to Montana the 3rd(!!) differential developed a very loud chirping or rhythmic whining noise around 70 and 76 mph. This was actually concerning to me, so I took it in, they looked at it, and replaced it again. "SCORED BEARING AND METAL IN FLUID." This time it took about a week because Toyota and the Dealership had some sort of dispute over who was going to pay for this ~3000 dollar warranty job, so that kind of piss me off, being stuck in the middle and all. Then the dealership tried to fight me over paying for the rental car...

So here we are now, I am on my 4th diff with, you guessed it, a slight whirring/whistling noise coming from the rear end. You can only hear it with the windows down, especially the rear window. Starts around 20mph, goes away around 50 when the other noises start to drown it out. At this point I don't give a damn about noise, but I don't want to die out on the highway going 80 mph if the diff explodes. So here are the questions I have for you oh wise ones.

• Do you think Toyota is replacing this part because it is legitimately dangerous or was the dealership just trying to get some warranty work in their shop?
• Is the rear diff actually wearing out prematurely, and if so should I purchase the Toyota financial services extended warranty to protect myself? I would like to note that I am normally in the camp of those who say extended warranties are a rip off, but this truck has had more than $10,000 in warranty repairs in less than 35k miles... so I am debating it.
• Is what I have described the infamous rear diff howl? I have read many other stories of dealerships saying that noise from the rear end is 'normal' and that they would not do any warranty work for that issue... so I really don't know what I have or what is going on.

Thank you in advance for your responses and considerations.

 

I’m surprised they keep replacing them. There is a TSB out now for that noise saying that the noise is actually “normal” and they basically put some rubber body mount bushings under the bed to dampen it from the cabin.

 

1.Sounds like a lemon law issue
2. Are you doing the provided 1k break in procedures? Every time you put in new gears, the break in procedures must be followed, or premature wear / noise is going to happen.
3. I have aftermarket gears, and they make noise. My original gears also made noise.

I'd lemon law it if I was you. Get a new truck, start from scratch

 

Wow, I have really not considered it a lemon but you might be right... I am in TN and "If the manufacturer can’t successfully repair the nonconformity, the Tennessee lemon law mandates they must replace or repurchase the vehicle. The Tennessee lemon law defines “reasonable number of attempts” as three or more attempts for the same problem without success." I would have to assume Toyota would fight me tooth and nail on this course.

EDIT: "This Law is ONLY applicable if the vehicle was bought new." RIP

A tech drove it for the first ~40 miles after the new gears, and my service advisor said as long as I didn't take it on a long trip in the first 500 miles I didn't have to do anything special...

 

I had no idea, well maybe that TSB is why Toyota and the dealer had the dispute on the 3rd diff... although given the actually loud/concerning noise I think there might have been something legitimately wrong with it. The Remedy Desc parts list on the repair doesn't have anything about rubber body mount bushings.

 

Are you doing full drag burnouts with this truck?


Thats wild, I wonder whats causing your truck to eat diffs like that. Might be time to have a chat with the service manager and ask them to investigate it a little more. Hope you get it resolved.

 

Lemon....hopefully you have all documented paperwork from dealer and have opened case with Toyota. They will buy back. Been there done that

 

In most States, Lemon laws only apply to new vehicles. OP purchased his truck used.

 

Time for a currie rear end eh

 

Only a few states have used car lemon laws, so you may not be able to use lemon laws here.

 

I'm not a tech but the odds of you getting that same problem 4 times are really just about not possible. My point is this, is something else misaligned or bent causing the issue with the rear differential? I had a similar sound from new, took it in at 1,200 miles and they replaced it. So far so good with about 500 miles on the second one. It's not something I would be willing to accept.

 

failure within 200 miles indicates the diff wasnt st up

Correctly to start with

had U looked at either of the diffs damage would have been evident

not sure specifically what type diff U have.............' normal ' depends on the type

second guessing toyota wont get U much.................its been on their dime each time

 

Yeah, TN lemon law doesn't apply to me... sad days. And they had it up on the lift and I am assuming if the driveshaft was misaligned they would have noticed... I'm going to call and talk to the service manager. I saw this T-SB-0013-18 but it doesn't apply to an access cab(??) but I do have the BD22 rear differential

 

My thoughts too. I would have already dropped in an ARB and gears and not looked back.

 

Sell it to Caravan or Carmax right now while the values are inflated and go get another one....

 

Sounds like a complete rear axle exchange is in order, I think the bearing seat in the differential housing is misaligned and the pinion bearing can't seat properly and prematurely wears the seat, and would eventually fail itself. It wouldn't take more than a few hundred miles for it to show up.

Al Toyota is doing is opening it up, seeing the failed bearing and replacing the parts, without looking into why the thing is failing in the first place

 

I'd have it evaluated by a known quality independent rear end specialist. Usually have to find them close to a larger city to support racers, hot rodders and off roaders.

Based on their recommendation/estimate, have them either make the repair, pay OOP and move on, or sell the truck to Carvana. Or trade it in.

Side note

I had a friend with a similar issue in another marquee. I pointed him to a shop that I knew of, and they fixed it for under $1k. (It is NOT a $3k job)

He presented the bill to the marquee main office, and they offered to pay half, based on his recurring issue and not being 'pre approved' for an outside source.

Never howled or leaked again.

Another friend had the rear of his PU blown out by a teenage son shenanigans. Fully rebuilt for under $1.5k by the same shop.

 

Yeah there is something else impacting the life of that diff. Alignment, clearances somewhere. Toyota diffs, aside from noise, as pretty bullet proof. If I were you, I would even consider a good low mileage used diff.

 

I am on my second. First was making noise right from delivery. Incorrect spacing from factory, found chunks and metal in the fluid and replaced no questions asked. Its been silent since.