1995 Tacoma Front Diff Drain plug?

Okay, so I am an idiot.

I was changing my 1995 Tacoma’s front diff for the first time. I crawled under, broke loose the fill, took out the drain plug, drained it, and put the plug back in. While torquing it, it snapped off in the housing. I was able to extract it, and just ordered a new one.

The new one came in and was twice the diameter of the old one… and then I realized I didn’t take out the actual drain plug, but some other smaller plug on the passenger side.

I can’t for the life of me identify the smaller plug to replace it. Any help?

See the pics of the housing (hole I drained from, and the actual correct side plug) as well as the old smaller plug next to an actual drain plug.

 

Here's a picture of the relevant page from the factory service manual for 1998 model year. I don't see anything that looks like that plug. Might be a quirk of earlier years?

It's too cold for me to look at an actual diff right now.

@Speedytech7 do you recognize it?

 

Kind of looks like the ADD oil deflector.Page 2 middle 1/2 way down.

 

Looks like the drain plug for an auto trans

 

Did the smaller plug you removed allow the diff fluid to drain? Is that plug on the opposite side of the diff (passenger/driver) from the actual diff drain plug?

 

Yes it did drain the fluid. It is on the passenger side and the actual drain plug is on the driver side. Finally went to the dealer and they pulled the parts diagram for my truck and there it was. So strange. I didn’t see it on other diagrams. Here’s the part!

 

Is it another drain plug for the front differential?

 

Fill plug maybe?

 

It’s definitely a second drain plug. It’s at the bottom of the diff, so not a fill. Its strange.

 

Here is the parts diagram for my year model from the dealer.