ECGS Diff Swaps - Thoughts for others on the actual R&R

I just got done doing a front and rear East Coast Gear Supply diff swap on a 2015.

This is for the actual removal and replacement.

For those fellow researchers out there wanting to DIY this, I thought it would be helpful to answer some questions that I had before I started, now that I know the answers to them.

The extent of my research before doing the actual removal and replacement:
I read ECGS article on the front diff removal.
I watched K-flo and Tacomaholic's videos on the process.

1.) Q. Do I need to disconnect the rear brake lines in order to pull the axles out enough to remove the rear diff?
A. No, you can technically "stretch" (bend) the hard lines...but I probably will disconnect them next time. I had a 3 1/8" spacer on the passengers side and a 3 3/16" spacer on the drivers side between the axle housing and the wheel bearing hub (between the items i'm pointing to in the first photo, this was after reassembly). That allowed me to remove the diff, but I learned at reinstall that I had bent the brake lines fairly significantly, i'm guessing part of that was where the left and right lines come together at the bracket on top of the axle housing (second photo). I wasn't a fan of bending my brake lines back into place to get the brackets to line up again, we're talking maybe 4"-5" in some places.


2.) Q. Where should I disconnect the front diff breather lines?
A. At removal, I disconnected them at the top of the lines, and threaded them down through the engine bay, leaving them attached to the differential, and being careful not to snag them on anything as the diff lowered. However, when I put the front diff back in, it was impossible to leave the hard breather lines attached to the diff with the bracket while getting the diff back in. The front diff assembly is just too unbalanced and awkward to not bend and damage the hard breather lines when reinstalling the diff. The hard lines were also hitting something and keeping me from being able to rotate the diff and get the rear mounting bracket "hooked" and in place. I unbolted the breather line bracket from the diff and pulled the hard lines out of the flexible lines right at the diff, and basically removed the entire breather line assembly. If I had to do the diff removal over again, I would remove the breather lines again as soon as I could get to them, and reinstall them whenever I had the diff mostly back in place when I could still get to them easily. Photo is of the breather lines, pointing to where it was unhooked.


4.) Q. Do I need to remove the CV's?
A. Personally I would say No, just unhook the tie rod and the bracket under the lower ball joint so that you have the freedom to pull the wheel hub back. First pop the CV's out of the diff, and then push them away now that the wheel hub assembly can swing out of the way. You can push the CV's out of the way enough to get the diff in and out without removing the CV nut at the wheel hub. They do kind of get in the way while putting the diff back in but it's manageable. *Note: Don't stretch the flexible connection on the CV...I don't know about Tacomas, but you can separate a CV internally. Just grab the ends and push so the whole thing compresses, not the other way around by just yanking on the end of it.
Photo of the tie rod and ball joint bracket unbolted.


3.) Q. Can I remove and install the front diff myself, using a jack and straps?
A. Remove? Yes, throw a strap around the front "arms" and crush your chest with the back and roll it off of you. I'm not a big guy and it was do-able.
A. Install? No, not without potentially dropping the diff on myself. It's just too unbalanced. Get a helper for sure. I barely got it back in with an extra pair of hands. Having to lift the heavy "rear" side up at an extreme angle to get the driveshaft flange to clear the pan/body and get the mounting bracket over the crossmember just wasn't feasible for me to do alone, especially since it nearly fell of the frame crossmember and crushed me several times. The floor jack seemed like a good idea, but the amount of rotating of the diff required made it impossible to keep it from falling off the jack, and the jack was always in the way of me being able to get under the diff to get leverage to move it around.


Keywords for thread searches: East coast gear supply, ECGS, diff, differential, diff swap, regear, re-gear, clam shell, clamshell, third member, 2nd, second, gen, generation

 

How do you like these? I have a 3rd gen and am looking at these as an option.

 

I’ve just hit the 500mile break in mark and will do the fluid change soon. So far it definitely feels like it accelerates better, but I was driving “underpowered” with 33’s and no re-gear for almost a year before doing the gears, so one would expect to notice a difference. If I were only driving it on flat roads, I probably wouldn't regear. I did it for 2 reasons though. I hate driving long road trips and having it down shift or unlock the TC in headwinds and on hills/mountains and stay there for a long time. Don't want temps to get to high with the TC unlocked. Since I'm just now getting the break in complete, I haven't had a chance to test it on long road trips out west yet. I've got a few trips planned in the texas hill country in the next few months, so time will tell how it shifts.

The larger tires (33's vs 31's) make you lose about 7% torque, and then the 4.56 re gear bumps you back up to about 14% over stock. From what i've read, that extra 14% will help with the heavier tires and future armor weight. On paper it's more than needed, but in reality most guys on here say it's about right. If I had any plans for larger tires, or if I didn't need to drive it on long road trips, I would have gone bigger like 4.88's. I just decided that 35's or 37's and lockers would be for a different project down the road some time that I didn't mind beating on.

I'm also working on an offroad trailer/camper build and figured it would help with towing. If you've got the money and aren't someone who frets over higher RPM's and worse mileage, I don't see any downsides.

As far as ECGS was concerned, it was plug and play. Great to work with.