Hello all,
I've been a member for a couple of years now, when I first discovered my rear diff on my 2000 4Runner was rusting out, like many of you.

I've been topping it off as necessary (or so I thought) but if finally bit the dust a couple of months ago. It's now at a garage 14 miles away and I'm renting a car as needed (ouch) because I can't find an entire rear end to have the mechanic swap with the bad one.

So, I have several questions that I'm hoping I'll get more than a few answers to, so that I can rule out any wrong ones if there are discrepancies.

For reference, I have a 2000 4Runner SR5, 4x4, 6 cyl. auto, locking rear diff, ABS, 3.4L engine (if I remember right), and to the best of my knowledge, a 4.3 gear ratio (I did the spin test after getting 3 different answers from 3 different Toyota dealerships, and an impossible answer from Toyota headquarters.

So my questions are as follows:
1) As far as I know the stock wheels are 16" (the rim says 16x7 JJ 15) and I didn't have a way to measure it when I was last at the shop. Unfortunately, the sticker inside the driver door panel says 15" tires, which appears to be a mismatch. Either that or the dealership swapped them with another vehicle before I bought it, which seems generally unlikely to me, but who knows. So are the wheels 16" or 15", since there's a 16 and a 15 in the rim spec?

2) Why does it matter if the wheels are 15" or 16", as indicated on the following site?

http://www.autopartsfair.com/toyota-...54c&seq_num=14

I would think it would be irrelevant, but if it's important I need to make sure I don't spend money getting a replacement that either won't fit, won't work, or will damage other parts.

2) There are apparently no available 4.3, locking rear diff, ABS available anywhere, and I've called yards all over my state and others. There was one over a month ago in Nebraska, but I didn't have the funds to purchase it yet because I'm between jobs, and now it's gone. ::sigh:: So, can anyone tell me if it's perfectly reasonable to replace a locking rear diff with a non-locking with the same other specs? I don't even want the feature, the truck has never been off pavement, and I'll never use it. My question is more along the lines of "will it fit" in place of the rotted one?

3) That said, my next question regards the 2nd member, the drive shaft. Once the 4 bolts holding the U-shaped parts on each end of the 2nd member are removed, will the entire shaft simply fall out of place (hopefully)?

4) Assuming the answer is Yes to question 3, I'd like some opinions on the next possibility that I read either on this forum or another Toyota forum. Apparently this other guy trashed his rear diff and was out in the middle of nowhere. He claims to have simply disconnected the 2nd member (drive shaft) and driven the truck in 4WD using only the front wheels, for several weeks, until he was able to get it repaired. Is this feasible or probably fiction? Also, is it possible to do this without doing damage elsewhere, on a very short-term basis? If it is, I might remove the driveshaft (assuming it drops right out of place--see question 3-- and only drive it 2-3 miles per day if I have to take a quick seasonal part-time job to make ends meet, until I can either sell it or find a rear diff that will fit.
If you could rate your thoughts on this from 0 - 10 (0="OMG don't even think about doing that, ever!" to 10= "it'll be fine, just don't drive on the highway") that would also be VERY helpful!


5) Let's assume for the moment that I can put in a non-locker. I should then simply tape up the wires, or would I have to put some kind of resistor or something between them to not have the engine cough up blood (so to speak) because there's nothing on the end of the RearDiffLock wiring? Obviously I wouldn't be pushing the dash button for any reason, and would simply inform any future buyer that the rear diff lock didn't exist after the replacement.

Thanks for any and all suggestions you can provide, I really appreciate it. If I can't get some kiind of replacement in it by the end of the year I'll be forced to sell it for parts or whatever. I'm going to answer what I think may be questions that some of you might ask, so the remainder of the post is an assumed FAQ:

--
Q: What happened to make the rear diff fail?
A: I've been topping off the diff fluid every few months, and it was only dripping a tablespoon or so per outing, so I thought it was doing ok when I'd put in 1/3 of a quart every once in a while. I went about 3 months after the last check, and heard the dreaded humming, but it may actually have been humming for a couple of weeks prior to that because I generally turn on the radio shortly after starting the truck so may not have heard it when it first started humming. On the one hand, I was only driving it once or twice a week, approx. 30-50 per outing. Even when I first heard it, the pitch changed depending on the speed, and I stupidly thought it might be more of a brake issue, since I didn't even know about the humming symptom until after the fact. It eventually made a weird noise when I was on the highway; I immediately put it into neutral, rolled to a stop (it was making noises), was able to get more diff fluid in, but noticed it still had sort of a scraping sound about once every wheel revolution. Had it towed to the garage.

Q: have you gotten estimates on the repair?
A: I've had quotes ranging from $1300+ for a new or used housing only. which didn't include the diff repair because everyone wants money to take off the diff, examine it, repair it, hiking the labor costs. Other quotes were even higher. I was told by 2 different people that it was probably better simply to replace the entire rear end if I could get one used. This seemed like a better solution to me, but I'm having difficulty finding an exact replacement. The mechanic that has it now is only going to charge me labor for swapping the rear end if I buy the replacement part, which my best guess will be about $600-800 for the rear end, plus my guesstimate of 5-6 hours (?) for labor? I don't know how realistic this is, as the mechanic said he'd only charge me the time it took to swap them, as he doesn't know what issues might crop up.

Q: How much would you sell it to me for, and what condition is it in?
A: Well, I'm the only owner, and I'm single, so it's only had literally about 100 passengers in the front seat since I bought it new in 1999, and the rear seat maybe a few times... i.e. the interior is great. The driver side passenger door was keyed years ago and I touched it up myself. It's not perfect but you don't notice it much unless the light hits it right. No visible rust on exterior but some on the frame underneath. The blue book value lists it at over $8k. It has the sport pkg, running boards, alarm, tow pkg, sliding sunroof, wind deflector, etc, and has had the usual repairs, such as O2 sensor replaced, radiator replaced (recent), transmission fluid flush, rusted gas line replaced, etc. It needs a muffler, as it still has the original and it's been puttied a few times because I didn't have the money to replace it. It has 115640 miles. Was in a minor fender bender around 2001 (front bumper replaced, front right fender panel needed repair, fender flare replaced). The timing belt has never been changed. Given that I think it could be repaired for approx $1300-1500, I guess I'd be hoping for at least $6000? The vin is JT3HN86R9Y0268747 if you need it. It's located in eastern Massachusetts at a garage at the moment, and I have pics for anyone interested.

Thank you in advance for any and all suggestions regarding replacing the rear diff and the other questions I listed at the top of the post. I'm hoping for job interviews soon and ideally would like to get it fixed by mid-December. If there's any further info you need to answer any of the questions I'll reply as soon as I see them.

Rich