5k Drain and Fill Rear Diff, Look What I Found...

The drain plug was cleaned off before I took this picture FYI but you can clearly see the metal "curly hair" that was attached to it. It was very weak metal and broke apart in my fingers quite easily. Not sure how it got there, any ideas?

The level of the oil was good when I opened up the rear diff but the oil had a lot of metal particles.

 

Is your truck new? Possibly the gears breaking in? Not 100% sure.

 

I had a very similar piece of metal from my rear diff. The fluid looked good and I've had no problems with 38k miles on the odometer. Glad it's a magnetic drain plug!

 

^ Least helpful response ever..

It looks like its just a chip or two from the manufacturing / machining process. Drain it in another 5k and there shouldn't be any more large chips

 

Howling to the moon

 

That is the byproduct of a machining process. I agree that run it and do a drain/fill at some interval and you won't see anything large.

 

It's normal for the first differential oil change to be a little dirtier than most, but those shavings are probably from manufacturing and a little bit wasn't cleaned out before putting it all together.

 

It is from the machining process of components. They dont always get everything out when they blow it off and they accept it on the grounds that it will get caught on the magnet.

 

Could be worse.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/found-this-in-my-diff.609045/

 

Good stuff, thanks to those with constructive comments.

 

Those types of chips are the result of a drilling or tapping operation.

 

Perfectly normal...OP why are you draining the diff at 5K anyway?

 

Put it back NOW!.
Per Toyota is normal and designed like that. Removing it will void your warranty.

 

Your diff isn't that good at origami.





Playing. See other comments for real helpful additions

 

Metal weevils. They eat your gears and poop out curly soft bits of metal shavings. Very common on cheaply made pieces of shit like third gen Tacomas. It's a result of using soft metal. Stupid cheap Toyota.

Won't be covered under warranty. I'd recommend hiring an exterminator to deal with them.

 

Those are definitely curls from a 2 fluted drill bit that is well sharpened and symmetrical. Those should have blown out before assembly. That is carelessness on behalf of the machine operator and or the assembler. They should have caught that.

 

Like others have said, it's from a machining process. Probably drilling. Your gears go through a hardening process after the gear is cut.

 

The other ones got ground into glitter by the gears. Don't worry though they're pretty tough.

 

Why would you even waste your time posting such silly shit?

 

And people think I was crazy for changing my rear diff oil and engine oil at 850 miles.

I've been through a major manufacturing plant and I know that they're imperfect at times.