Help! Stranded! Need rear diff! Gold Beach Oregon

On a long road trip. Over 2000 miles from home. Rear end broke! Feels like it’s doing neutral drops. Need a third member badly. Mine is 5.29 with Eaton elocker. It is an 8.0 v6 rear. It is not the 8.2 or 8.4. I could use an open diff of any ratio but 5.29 is obviously best. I have pulled the rear drive shaft and drove it to town.
Anyone local have a rear end with the right spline count or know a shop they will help me install it??
Truck is 2021 v6 tacoma. SR with the 8.0 rear.

please help/advise if you can.

thanks,
Heath

 

Since you’re a 4x4 if you can’t scrounge up a diff you could do the trail fix FWD conversion.

Pull all the guts out of your rear diff, remove the rear driveshaft, and then just run it in 4wd hi with power only going to the front wheels.

 

Kinda in that mode now…. I don’t have tools to jack it up to pull the axles. Will have to look into/think how I could make it work with no guts. Would be very afraid of getting into it and not being able to make it work. I am mobile for a short distance at this point.

thanks!
Heath

 

Not a helpful post, just a clarifying question.

With the rear drives haft removed and the truck in 4h only having fwd, why would this not work to drive home, why would you have to gut the rear diff? Yes I know its very far from ideal and would be slower since I understand the front axle is not able to handle the same power the rear can thus driving at slower speeds.

 

Depends on how the rear end let go. If there are chunks of ring gear teeth floating around in there, it could jam everything up rolling down the highway.

 

Exactly on the rear blowing apart…. Plus can’t imagine driving 2000+ miles home on just the front.

 

Ohh yep, should have thought about that.
Thanks. Hope you get it up and running without to much down time and costs.

 

Hope you find a solution quickly.

Curious, what were you doing when the differential let go?

 

It was in constant speed cruise. Uphill. Shifted down to maybe third with 5k rpms. I cancelled the cruise (pulled in on the switch) and applied throttle that would make sense to speed match maybe 4th gear. It acted like it was in neutral and reved to the rev limiter and then slammed into gear. I never touched the shifter and it was always on drive without ect on. It banged very hard. It was hard on everything but I thought maybe it damaged the rear end.

this was a couple days ago. I have been listening very closely to any sounds and overthinking it to the max. Today, I pulled out of a gravel turnaround and spun the tires very very lightly as I was pulling out. When it hit pavement it banged hard and started acting like it was doing neutral drops.

We are leaving CA for TN and are/were taking a long senic route back to TN. Trying to do Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, etc on the way home. Busted in Oregon. Darn. Hope someone local has a rear!

 

I do have a tune and have reached out to them. Very helpful but no one has heard of this as a tune related problem. It sure seems to have started with a software issue and now has lead to this….

 

Maybe you can find something local using this:

https://www.car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi

 

EV’s Hi Tech Auto and Towing gets great reviews 541 698 3140. You would find more in Medford or Grants Pass maybe Coos Bay or South to Crescent City but they are all at least an hour away. Good Luck

 

def try to pull drive shaft. I blew my rear in Baja and drove home 1000+ miles in front 4hi only just took it very slow. Included some mild trails. Stuff was jumping around but we made it home. Or at least get sown where where you can get a tow. I was going to do that once stateside. It it was holding up. We just went super slow and took it very easy.

 

I was actually going to head to Gold Beach today but decided to head to the north coast. Hope you’re able to get everything you need.

 

Was this on a 3rd gen tacoma??

 

No, @nudavinci64 has a 2013 (2nd gen)

 

Ahh just saw this. Try marketplace or you may try to get gears and have a shop pack a new set in. Sum thing happens on another diff leaving my brothers spin the tires a bit while turning onto a road and bam

I do have a 2013 but it would the same on a 3rd gen just different rear end but principally the same thing.

If you loosen all the brackets for the hard lines, you can pull the rear axles out a few inches per side and use sockets or similar to keep it spaced out so you can pull the 3rd out. This saves you from having to bleed the brakes. I used buckets to hold up the axles so they are not setting on the seals. All in all, you should be able to pull the drive shave in 15 - 30 minutes depending on your tools just awkward. The rear, if you need to pull could be done in an hour or so in a parking lot.

I busted my rear end another time before this last Baja incident. Sounds very similar. I was pulling out. chirped some tires while turning, lots of factors, and it said no thanks and popped way worse actually than the Baja trip.

 

One potential option, depending on a ton of variables, like how long you can wait, would be to call ecgs in the morning and see if they could overnight you an assembled third member. They have excellent customer service so if you explain the situation, they may be able to help you out.

It would cost you a damn fortune but it’s a potential option to get you a diff by Wednesday and then swap it out in a parking lot. Not sure how mechanically inclined you are but based on what I’m reading, you sound capable enough to swap it in an autozone parking lot.

 

good call I have heard they will perform miracles when asked nicely! I am giving them a call tomorrow myself for some Diff needs. Depending what they have available that's a damn good option @EatSleepTacos Good call.

 

How did it drive with the drive shaft pulled? If it's driving okay, I would consider calling it and driving home low-key unless you get a diff. You could also look for one on the way or at least get closer to towing distance. Hoping you do find a diff or have a safe drive home.