2001 toyota tacoma trd offroad rear differential issues.

I recently started having an issue with the rear differential on my 01 Tacoma. t started when I was turning and when I went to accelerate I heard a pop and lost power to the rear. Thank god there was a gas station that I coasted to and park the truck. When I went to put it into park it didn't engage (no drive or reverse) and I had to apply the e-brake. When I towed my truck back home I expect the issue to be with the tranny but a noise was coming from the rear differential. I notice that the drive shaft was rotating so I elimated the tranny being the. I got the the bright idea to turn on my lock for the differential and with that I was able to put the truck in gear nd drive up and down my drive. I just drove the truck this morning 10 miles,with te lock on, to my dad mechanic place but he has to ask around sine he never seen this problem. So now Im here with truck and no idea what issue it has. I was wondering if somebody on here gas ran into this issue before? If so how much I'm looking to put into this? Also what cause this problem to occur?

 

Sounds like maybe a broken axle? With the locker unlocked it wouldn't move the truck and it would move freely when in park. The open diff dumps the power to the least resistance.

 

Yeah I'm going with broken axle aswell

 

The busted axle call is valid, given the symptoms. In addition, the exact same symptoms will result from a broken side gear. It is not uncommon for the e-locker rear to shear the gear portion of the side gear from the splined hub portion. Unfortunately in this case the inner 3/8" to 1/2" of the axle splines get erased with it, adding the cost of a new shaft to the diff repair.

Looks like a tear down is in order. When the axles are pulled the failed side gear scenario will be apparent.

 

Yup, your diagnose was correct. Would it be easier to just find a whole diff with the lock? Or the rebuild?

 

East coast gear supply has rebuilt third members, lots of people go there for gears. They can be very time consuming and require a good amount of mechanical knowledge to get right..