Rear diff shavings found at fluid change

Found a good amount of shavings while changing rear diff fluid today. Truck has 35k. I don’t tow very often and when I do its a utility trailer and lawn mower. Truck has been driving and shifting fine. Has anyone had this much shavings before?

 

Ouch.. that is way more than I have ever seen on any of my Toyotas. I'd be taking it to the dealer..

 

Yep, especially on the very first change, there is lots of gunk and shavings.
But hard for me to tell if that is a chunk or just sludge down at the bottom , if a chunk, that is pretty big piece.

 

what is the dealership going to do though? Realistically

 

You should have a warranty, no? At a minimum, they can record the incident which may help if you experience further problems.

I mean, the same could be asked about posting here. What's that going to do for you?

 

Other than that one big chunk, that looks like the heavy side of normal for the first change.

 

Mine looked about the same at 70k miles when I bought it. Scared me but read up that this isn't rare.

 

If your diff blows up at 100k you’ll be glad you took it in and had it documented.

 

i didn’t mean to be dismissive. Yes I imagine it’s covered under 60k powertrain, but if there’s no active issue I don’t see them doing anything, but I understand getting it documented.
I got a better pic of the large piece. Appears to be a flat strip, not a 3D chunk.

 

ah, much better, at least in my option. It seemed like a huge solid chunk before. Let toyota know and document it, double check there is no issue, but I dont think that looks too abnormal.

 

Lol

 

I probably say just take it in just for it to be documented. I did mine at 50k it had shavings but not like that strip of metal

 

Thanks everyone for your input. Not going to stress it, we’ll see how it looks in another 15k.

 

This was mine at 40k.

 

Is it magnetic ? Either way, it wouldn't bother me.

 

Yeah that large piece was on the magnetic drain bolt

 

I am going on a 3+k drive and I will be changing my diff oil out at around 15k just for shits and giggles. I am now curious as to what I find. I also not doing the 10k oil changes like Toyota wants. Doing one myself and the free one at the dealer. And they are not touching my wheels EVER AGAIN. They put like a torque multiplier when they rotate my wheels.

 

They definitely over tighten everything. It’s obnoxious. I Nearly broke my oil filter housing last oil change cause they over tightened it so bad. I’m curious to see what your diff plug looks like at 15k as well.

 

I bought the aluminum filter housing just because of that reason. I had it in my last tundra and have the special tool for it. It’s pretty badass. Sometimes I don’t even want to go to get the free oil change but it’s free and I paid for it. Sneaky Toyota tells you free oil and tire rotation for x amount but the sticker clearly shows it as a charge.

 

If it’s not making noise and it has normal backlash, they won’t do a thing. Shavings are normal for a broken in diff. Change the fluid and check it again in 10k. If you still have a lot of shavings, I would then bring it in.

The ring and pinion essentially polish each other during break in. The metal has to go somewhere. This is why there is a magnetic in the differential.

 

This. Also cheap insurance to changing out the trans fluid more often. Especially on the newer tundras without the trans cooler like mines. I will probably do it at 30k. And then do a fluid and filter at 60k. Truck has to last because the 22 are appealing and probably $$$.

 

Wonder if it machining or from break in. Since the gears have to be shimmed, I wonder if some do a better job than others. Or they weren’t ocd when they shimmed it.

 

It’s from the break in but it is also just the nature of the beast. The gears are made from 8620 steel and heat treated via carburizing. This heat treatment leaves scale on the surface of the steel since they are effectively pumping carbon into the surface. During break in, the hardened gears polish each other and you get a lot of slag that sticks to the magnet. The larger pieces are burrs that did not burn off in heat treatment.

A polishing procedure would do away with much of this but that costs money. If they are not going to give me a transmission cooler there is no way they are polishing my gears.

 

if I knew what i knew now I woulda done it at 10k when i got the truck with 10k. Thanks

 

Thanks man!! We’ll see what It looks like next time. I’ll post a pic again in 10-15k on this thread if I remember.

 

I would love to see the difference between an OEM operation and an aftermarket operation.

I spent one day at IMTS in Chicago to look at a machine with my dad before we bought it. It would take a whole week to see the show. It’s that big in Chicago. I am certain that they would have a section dedicated to gears. I feel like most of the guys here would love it.