Rear Diff Problems- Anyone rebuilt a Toyota 80 rear?

[RiverCityDave]

So as I metioned on the "what did you do with your rig today" thread, Im having a growl/howl/whine from the rear of my vehicle. I've done some basic troubleshooting and I narrowed it down to either the diff, or POSSIBLY a frozen slip joint. Unfortunately last night I pulled the drive shaft to find differential oil splattered all under the truck, and an obvious leak from around the pinion seal. This weekend I'll go further, and pull the third member to get a look inside and see what all is bad.

SO, my question is, has anyone on here actually rebuilt one themselves? I have access to a number of good used parts for the 80 and for the short term I'll probably just find a good 3rd and swap it in. I do NOT have lockers, and a long-term project is making that conversion, so I may never actually rebuild this one if plan A. works out. There's about 900 threads on MUD on the topic, and I've found a number of good references online, so Im just trolling for experiences here.

Thoughts?

 

[NorthStar96]

I know enough to leave rebuilding a rear end, is best left to the pros. Personally id source a used one or have your existing one rebuilt professionally. but the first thing I would do, is have it looked at by a pro. it may turn out that its just a pinion seal.....

 

[RiverCityDave]

I've done a lot of this work before, and I have a close family member who owns a shop. I dont plan on doing the work myself, Ive done enough to know I dont like differential lube in my arm pits.

I just like knowing what Im getting into, in detail, you know?

 

[NorthStar96]

I've done a lot of this work before, and I have a close family member who owns a shop. I dont plan on doing the work myself, Ive done enough to know I dont like differential lube in my arm pits.

I just like knowing what Im getting into, in detail, you know?

lmao....yea that diff lube stinks worse than a full Satellite potty on a 95 degree day.

 

[shoredreamer]

http://gearinstalls.com/ Lots of cool pics and such on here. One of the places where I'd be in over my head is diffs.

 

[Trowbocop]

I can't help, but I'm interested in what you find out!


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[RiverCityDave]

Yeah I've spent a lot of time on gear installs, he's a wealth of information. Interestingly, I found that it wasn't the rear diff at all, but rather the front. After a bunch of chasing and troubleshooting we found that the noise was just traveling up the tranny tunnel and faking us out. I'll post up what happens with the rebuild soon.


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