anyone?

 

Hello everyone here is the story. I did the roll on paint job on my truck and while in the process of painting my tailgate a friend ran over it. I called around to some junk yards to try to find a decent one to replace it with. I have stock 4.10s in my differentials with about 180k miles on them so I figured while looking for a tailgate why not ask about differentials. Well I found a really good deal on the entire front diff and the entire rear axel with 4.30s however one side of the rear axel housing is bent. I dont need the axel housing just the third. My question is when I go to check this out what should I look for to make sure the third wasnt trashed whenever the housing got bent. I havent seen it yet so Im not sure how bad it is. I will definatly want to see the third removed from the housing before I buy it. Besides the obvious missing or chipped teeth anything I should be aware/concerned about? Well thanks for any replies, Caleb.


Oh yeah the guy said the rear axel is not a trd, which is what I need, so Im going to confirm that.

I'd look at it. The diffs can take some abuse so can the shafts. Not going to hurt anything to check them out, if they are thrashed then you are only out time and a bit of gas.

 

Just check out the splines, I agree with above, is probably OK.

 

Thanks Guys

 

IMO the spider gears are what would take the most abuse in a situation like that. The bent tube would preload the axle, which could do damage to the spiders. Check it out and see if they are good, if so, it's your call.

 

Actually, this is what happens in that scenario:

Toyota rears are semi-floating - the pressed on bearing and a small snapring are the only thing holding the wheel on. A bent housing applies a lot of load to that bearing and eventually, it WILL loosen up and out the axle goes!

Even after this, the diff (with Detroit locker) was still good.

 

Nice!! At least you got it to the side of the road.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone. I went down to that junkyard today to check out the diff. It was in really good shape despite the housing and one of the axels being bent up. The spiders, splines, and gears all looked fine everything seems tight. The diff only had 30k miles on it too out of a 2003. Well I have a family reunion I must attend this weekend so Ill hopefully have it installed Sunday night or Monday afternoon.

 

Well Just figured I would post a follow up about that third I picked up last week. I replaced both inner axle seals and installed the diff yesterday afternoon. It kinda took a while (3 hours) just because I was trying to be really clean with everything and some of the bolts needed persuasion. Took the truck on a roughly 20 mile test drive. No noise or leaks and there was a noticable difference between the 4.30 ratio when compared to the 4.10. All in all pretty easy job as long as it doesnt blow up next month. I gotta pay rent before I can go buy the matching front. Being broke sucks...