Fabricated Rear Diff. Cover

Hey gang,

Seasons greeting from New England! I've been meaning to post something for a while, I feel like I should contribute something considering how much this forum has helped me along the way. In october ('14) I bought my '02 2.7L Access Cab 4x4. At time of purchase I was aware that it hadn't had a state inspection for the last year that it was driven. I was a little nervous initially but I'm reassured that these trucks are unbelievably tough and any investment would likely be worth it. In retrospect I overpaid a bit, but you live and learn. Right?! Anyway, the two issues I found when I got her home was that both the rear differential cover and the oil pan were leaking. Upon inspection, the oil pan seemed to be rusted around the bottom part where its welded. That was quite a bit of work but with a sleepless weekend and some help from a handy friend - we got it done.

We pulled the front diff out to get to the oil pan:


The rear differential cover was an animal of its own. As you well know, you don't access the innards of the rear axle via the back like most. So, there are no bolts on the back. Instead the "pumpkin" is a welded on the fill side and bolted on the drive shaft side. Unfortunately, my leak was from the weld rusting through. The cover would flake away with little effort.





I opened a case with toyota to no avail. I realized I wasn't getting any help from them, and I definitely didn't have enough money for a new axle so back to my metal working roots I go.

First step was to chop off my old cover. Between a 4 1/2" grinder and a dremel tool with cut off wheels, i was able to get a reasonably clean cut.



Of course you can't just buy a new cover for this style axle but I heard that landcruisers had a similar size cover. I rolled the dice and bought one for $40 on ebay.



It was a little bit too big with the bolt ring. It hung out off of the axle a little bit so i cut it off, leaving just the domed part of the cover.



The land cruiser cover wasn't quite deep enough to clear my gears so i had to modify it a bit by cutting and pounding out a valley.




Apparently that wasn't enough to clear either. I was starting to panic a bit because at this point I'm about a week into this and its getting pretty cold at night after work (garage ain't heated!) Luckily my wife got a new car and we still hadn't sold her previous one yet so I was able to get back and forth to work while my truck was out of comish. Anyway, I had some 1/4" round stock kicking around from my previous project (magnaflow upgrade) and I had the bright idea to use the round stock to make the cover deeper by making a rim with it. So i spot welded and hand bent it around the cover, bit by bit, until i got all the way around.





I cleaned around the axle where i cut off the old cover (sorry i forgot to take pics) and dry fitted the adapted cover. Fit well enough so I welded it thoroughly, grinded, and flapperwheeled 'er down to a finished product.


Then it was time to weld it on.


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Took a wire wheel to it and got rid of all the spatter. Then it was time for some paint. If it hadn't been so cold I would have cleaned up the rest of the axle and painted it. I only had enough patience to heat up and paint the cover to protect it from these harsh New England winters.




Not to shabby!

Leaks a little bit through some pin holes in the welds but it can certainly wait till spring/summer before I dig out the welder again. *note* My axle called for 1.1 quarts of gear oil before and now it takes roughly 1.5 or so.

Thanks for checking out my build and stay tuned!

 

Thanks mate! It's become apparent that this truck has had NO love haha. Little by little I'm trying to do right by everything that Tacoma's stand for!

 

Nice story. Fun read!

 

If the oil pan is rusting that badly I would be really worried about the rest of the truck. You know, like the frame and the leaf spring hangers...

 

I hear ya. Luckily the frame looks good and while I was talking with Toyota they verified that the frame had been replaced in late 2011. As for the oil pan, in retrospect, possibly it wasn't to the point of leaking due to rust. There was rust there to be sure but, I'm thinking it might have just been worn out rtv. I figured that if i went to all the trouble to dig it out, I might as well have a fresh pan. Ya dig?

 

Wow. Major props to you!!! I would have just swapped the axle

 

Haha I had the time and the skill set. No funds for a new axle

 

Fair enough! I wish I had the time to do that

 

It was long, cold nights after work. Not fun - just necessity. I'm thinking about doing the deck plate mod this weekend. Although its supposed to be subzero temperatures.

Although this little firecracker will likely keep me warm: