rear axle problems

okay so this is my first post here so ill do my best to include everything. About 2 weeks ago i was driving to work and my truck popped out of gear at a stop sign. It wouldnt go into park, reverse, drive, nothing. The rear shaft would spin when in gear though. So i engaged 4wd and everything worked fine. So i was thinking it was a broken pinion gear until i was messing with the truck today and decided to turn my e locker on and what do you know, it works in 2wd as it should. Only thing is both wheels arent locked only the power wheel is spinning. I have no clue what it could be, so i made this account to get help from yall. Btw truck is an 03 tacoma sr5 8 inch rear with e locker. I do have the grey wire mod done so i can engage in 2wd. Thanks

 

Maybe a sheared rear axle shaft? Pull the one that doesn't spin.

 

Pulling a rear axle shaft isn't a bad first step...but it doesn't sound like a cheap repair...

Howard

 

Its 4 bolts to pull the axle, and if you can find someone that is parting a rear axle out you can just swap the whole new axle shaft assembly in brakes and all. If you are even remotely mechanically inclined you can do the whole repair for 100bucks (or whatever the axle will cost you).

 

Yea, but we don't know if the axle sheared or if the splines in the diff failed or yet a third unknown failure mode. Time to start taking things apart until we find failed metal

We can do all the FMEA (failure mode and effects analysis) we want, but until we start pulling parts and getting our hands dirty, we are only guessing.

 

The side gears on that rear have been known to shear from the hub portion subsequently stripping off the last 1/2" of axle splines. Pull them shafts and go from there.

 

thanks guys, i talked to a buddy and he said it might be the spider gears. I'm planning on regearing down the road to 5.29 then this happened, so it might just be less of a headache to buy a complete third. any recommendations on places to buy a complete third member from, or a good set of gears to upgrade to?

 

ECGS - East Coast Gear Supply
They'll get you what you need, give em a call after you diagnose your issue completely.

 

I would pull the axle first and eliminate that possibility before you start ordering 3rd members. Here is some good tech and info on how these e lockers work and a potential failure point if the axle is not the culprit.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/toyota-truck-4runner/787561-elocker-achilles-heel.html

 

pulled the axle and it is a snapped axle shaft. ive been looking everywhere online and cant find a tacoma abs axle shaft. are the shafts different in 2wd tacomas that have abs but no e locker. im trying to not spend an arm and a leg on new parts.

 

Perhaps it is time to talk to the local salvage yards, they can go online and track parts...