Installing Front and Rear Differentials (E-Locker and LSD)

I installed new front and rear differentials that I got from ECGS. I went with a front e-locker (Harrop/Eaton) and rear LSD (Nitro Helix) and 4.56 gears in both. This took me about 4 nights to do, working alone, but some of that was waiting on parts that I forgot or screwed up. Here are some pics and tips, for those about to rock.

"New" diffs. The front looked like a new housing, all nicely painted and glossy. The rear looked like my old one - faded and porous from weather. I rattle-canned it with some Rustoleum Black before installing.


Paint Job


Old diff with factory LSD


The rear was pretty easy to swap. Don't forget the gasket, like I did (delay waiting on gasket). I don't understand how a gasket made out of paper stops the oil from leaking out, but it does. Here is the rear axle all cleaned up, and the new unit installed. I used a wire wheel to clean up the old paper gasket, which was baked onto the metal. I also got new dust seal o-rings for the axles and they were definitely needed, as the old ones were toast.




Here are the oil seal and dust seal o-ring. I think these are the old ones, before I changed them.


The hardest part was getting the driveshaft flanges apart. There are four 14mm nuts and bolts per flange. I ended up buying long 14mm wrenches to get some leverage and also using some heat to break those bastards. I also replaced the carrier bearing while I was at it. For this, I only removed the rear section of the driveline and replaced the bearing in place, instead of removing the whole two-piece driveline, like I saw in videos. It was easy to do with an impact driver. This was a Dana bearing from RockAuto for $62, and it has the Toyota name embossed on the black rubber. The old bearing was pretty shot, but wasn't making any noise or vibration.




The front went fine, except I pounded in the passenger oil seal too far. I wasn't paying attention and I thought it would bottom out (stupid Toyota engineers should have put a lip in that tube). That was another delay waiting for a new oil seal. I'll post the spec again that one of you kindly posted recently. I had to swap over the passenger side tube and flange from my old unit. I bought a new o-ring for that and it was needed. I had to use FIPG gasket maker for the flange to diff seal.

I also added a diff drop from Wheelers to help with the CV angle.


Here's where I mounted the Locker switch. Not much real estate in my truck, but this spot worked great.


And it lights up when engaged. The wiring harness/switch from Harrop/Eaton is really nice.


My favorite part of the project - I made a diff oil pumper from an old garden sprayer. I plug in my air compressor and it provides the power. Works good and fast to fill the diffs. I went with conventional Dino oil based on much research, although there are many good reports from synthetic users.


It snowed on Friday night when I finished, so I did three gear break-in runs that night, around the neighborhood, in 4WD. Here are some shots from an easy shakedown run up the mountain yesterday.

 

This is the exact setup I was thinking about going with (except maybe 4.88 if I go with 35s...currently on 33s). I think the torsen style LSD inteh rear and a locker up front when needed seems ideal for a truck that sees DD duty in inclement weather.

How does it perform in the snow?

What was the total parts cost?

 

Very cool! Great job!

 

also interested. this looks like an awesome setup!

 

I am happy with my decision, just like you said "DD duty in inclement weather". The rear helical LSD is awesome and way better than the factory locker in the snow. It takes a little getting used to though. The back end gets loose if I gas it, because it seems to lock up better than the posi-style. But with the original LSD, I would never drive in RWD in the snow. It just wouldn't go, so I always used 4WD, which worked great. Now the LSD actually pushes the truck, but I still use 4WD, as the front pulling keeps the rear from coming around if I'm on the gas.

The 4.56 wasn't totally necessary since I had the 4.10 and I didn't notice much power loss with the 33" tires, but since I was in there anyways, I am enjoying the extra pep. The front locker is a blast, but I haven't done any serious wheeling because I'm still in the 500 mile break-in period for the new gears. But it acts like a tractor in the snow - really heavy steering and it wants to go straight, so not for the streets.

It was about $3k for the diffs and I paid about $400 for the LSD on Black Friday that I sent to them to install. Plus another less than $100 for o-rings, gaskets and seals.

 

Hey my name is David I have a 2002 tundra 2 wheel drive v8 sr5 . Will this fit and do you know what gears are in it. What you gonnna do with it? We could trade for something

 

Lol! There were a bunch of wonderful pics! I should hire a photographer next time to follow me around.

 

Thank you, sir! I had a blast, but it was a lot of work. Worth it to me.

 

Great job with both the swap and write-up. I respect the inclusion of mistakes made. I think most times people leave out their mistakes due to pride or whatever, but the reason we look to write-ups going into a project is so we know what to watch out for. Very well done, and done.
Also, the ‘compressor on the sprayer’ trick is a gem on its own, not to be overlooked

 

I appreciate that. Yeah, we all make mistakes, just hoping someone can learn from mine. The compressor on the sprayer is so cool, and I am proud of it. When I was at HD looking for parts, the guy was like, "yeah, but how often do you need to fill your gear oil??". I almost punched him in his face.

 

Hey David, I'm going to return it to ECGS for the core $600. If I were you, I would call up ECGS and have them build you one with any gearing that you want. My setup has 4.10 gears and 196,000 miles. I don't think it would be worth the core price plus shipping to you.

https://eastcoastgearsupply.com/i-788575-tacoma-8-4-non-eld-t100-tundra-3rd.html

 

For my set up I would go with 4:88 gears. I have handkook 35” mud terrain tires

 

I’ve got a set of 4.88 gears for sale and I’ll be passing thru LA sometime this weekend. Shoot me a PM if you’re interested.

 

4.88’s seem deep for 35’s

I have the common 4.10’s with 33’s and I have plenty of power, and honestly too low for highway, I can’t imagine being any lower. But I do about 40k a year of mostly highway lol.

 

I have 4.56 with 33s, it isn't too much. It didn't hurt highway mileage at all and I've got the extra uggaduggas to combat the heavier tire.

On paper a 4.30 is the right match for 33s to bring gearing back to stock, but that's only by diameter and doesn't account for weight. For 35s the 4.56 is right on paper as well but doesn't make up for weight.

 

A little update on my new setup. The new 4.56 gears, front e-locker and rear lsd are totally sweet! I'm really glad I did this. I went snow wheeling with my buddy and his Samurai. The Tundra kicked ass in 2 feet of snow. I had to rescue his Sammy. The front locker is fun and effective in the deep snow. It also comes in handy going down steep icy roads to hold the truck back. Like it doubles the engine breaking in low gears. Rear helical lsd is great at hooking up. I tested with one rear tire off the road in the snow and the other on wet pavement and gunned it (2WD) and it hooked up immediately with the good tire and launched me forward and down the road.

On the way up


Bald tires, crazy driver - off the road and sliding down into the trees


No problem for the Tundra


Got to use my new Kinetic Rope -- works great, made in USA https://www.billet4x4.com/pro-kinetic.htm

 

Edit - Somehow the pics in the first post disappeared. The Mods aren't sure what happened, but I have re-uploaded the pics. That must have been what @Darkness was talking about. Sorry about that.