2003 v8 4x4 diff box/rear axel repairs

2003 Tundra v8 4x4
The seal between the drive shaft and diff box gave on the freeway. Locked up the rear axel. Drive shaft is fine. I can't find a used rear axel assembly for the life of me. Is there a chance I would only need to replace the diff box? Advice on finding a diff box and/or rear axel assembly would be wonderful.
ABS 3.91 ratio.
Truck located in Columbus, OH.

 

I'd say pull out the third member (where all those nuts are) and see what's going on in there to determine what all you need. Never seen this happen before.

 

Pinion gear snapped. A tooth could have broken off inside and wedged between the gears causing this.

Get a 3rd member if your housing doesn't have any holes/leaks. Otherwise buy a complete axle housing from a rust free state from somewhere like car-part.com

 

Holy barnacles Batman, when was the last time that driveshaft was greased??

 

I got all the nuts off with an impact wrench, plenty of wd40, and patient elbow grease with a hammer and wrench. Ugh. But, I am having trouble pulling the the third member off.

 

I could not find a rear axel assembly. A mechanic friend searched his nationwide parts database. There were only 6 available in the whole country, and none of them have my specs.

 

Use a jack under the front of the 3rd member to push up and break the seal/connection.

 

Are you sure you got all the bolts?

 

Try car-part-com and yotayard.com

 

And probably a dumb observation on my part, but I don't see any jack stands under the axle...you did pull the axle shafts from both sides, right?

 

For some reason I always forget you have to do this. Should have mentioned it in my prior post. Gotta pull both axle shafts out at least a little bit. Unhook brake lines and such too.

These are just nuts that attach to studs in the housing. I bet because of the rust he ended up pulling most the studs out of the housing vs just the nuts off the studs.

 

Looks like he broke most of the studs.

 

Jack worked great to break the seal. Exactly right about the rust and studs coming out of a few of them. Came back on here, because I got it wiggle loose, but it won't slide off. Then...

I had no idea about pulling the axel shafts out, lol. I am new to all of this. The most I have ever done is change the lower and upper ball joints in the front. I am trying to learn to do all this by myself to save myself thousands of dollars, be more self-sufficient/well-rounded, and I'd love to do custom work to my vehicles in the future for performance, lifespan, and utility in my work.

There is a bit of custom work here and there, I just got this truck late last year and am coming upon lots of obstacles with it. The new frame sold me. Despite these issues, I still got a great deal. I believe the frame alone costs twice as much as I paid for it. It was from a rich kid that was getting a brand new Tundra from his dad.

 

Pro tip - get a FSM or Haynes / Chilton’s manual. Also, YouTube university. You have to watch several YouTube videos and then compare against the manual to get a good idea of tools involved and best process. Doing the work yourself can save $$$. Be aware that some of that money saved will be spent on new tools to do the job right. My favorite part. Also know your limitations. AC work, Transmissions, and more complex motor repairs may be best left to the pros. Great job diving in there and good luck with this project!

 

This is killer advice, summed up way more briefly than I know how.

The one warning I'd issue is on the part I bolded in his quote. The underlined part is emphasized on purpose: You're going to find videos on YouTube that are just straight-up full of shit, bad advice, or stuff you should not do. Three out of five videos I checked out just to see what I was in store for when doing valve cover gaskets on a 2UZ were absolutely full of shit, skipping steps, skipping entire gaskets, not using FIPG to seal corners, etc. Always compare to Haynes, Chilton, or FSM.

I'm not a professional mechanic, but I'm a a seasoned one with a good 3-4 decades of hands-on experience. Even *I* use YouTube before pulling out a single tool or shop towel just to see the motions if it's something I've never done with a specific make/model/drivetrain, or if I may need a refresher, my brain is getting old. With the wealth of hands-on knowledge there, you'd either be adventurous, cocky, or dumb not to.

 

Thanks for the sources. Yes, loving the new tools I am acquiring. Doing the ball joints myself bought me a nice impact wrench with any socket I would need (plus that damn tuning fork, hah). Even after buying tools, I saved hundreds.

 

FSM...

http://toyota.aitnet.org/Toyota/Tundra/2000-2003_Tundra_FSM.pdf

 

The studs can just unscrew. When we put a new axle housing in my girlfriends dads 01 the only thing that wasn't purchased was new studs. Just pulled the old ones out and reused.

 

I know, but look at the picture, there appears to be broken stud in most of those holes.

 

Once the tailpiece comes off, there'll be a good 3/6" of bolt to latch onto for turning out, though. A little heat, some Kroil or PB, maybe any of the number of bolt extraction kits on the market, and they'll come out.

 

PS - I like the ABN stud extractor kit for sale on scAmazon. Can't beat the price, and it actually works pretty well the two times I've used mine so far.

 

I see. Fair enough

 

Field service manual is in my signature. @Bradgical if you're viewing this on mobile, turn your phone horizontal to see the signature. You can download it, and then search for keywords on iI.

 

Thanks guys! Yes, I already found the fsm, and some decent youtube videos to get a better visual of it and some extra info on what to look out for and technique with physically pulling it out/putting a new one in. None of the studs broke, they just unscrewed from the housing.