Has anyone replaced a differential gear?

[sheepish_fixer]

I was hoping someone who'd done this could chime in and let me know how hard or easy it was.

Thanks!

[Luckynumber5]

It depends on how bad the gear is damaged, are you sure it is just the diff? There is a good chance it took out more than one gear.

[sheepish_fixer]

Thanks for the reply, Lucky...I wasn't sure from your reply if you had replaced your diff gear?

[Luckynumber5]

Nope, I have run the piss out of my automatic transmission with a modded 3vz-fe v6 and it has held up just fine with 195000 miles on it. That includes some launches, so how did it break?

[sheepish_fixer]

not sure how it broke - it's my moms car...she's 67, and drives very gently.

She said she was at the mall, parked, got in, started, shifted into gear, and it started grinding. no warnings, no prior problems.

The sound is coming from the transfer case - when I jacked the car and put it in drive, I can spin the wheels - when I do, I can hear a clacking sound, metal on metal - sounds like the gear isn't engaging, coming from center/rear of the case.

I'll have the diff case off today, not sure what I'll see, if I'll be able to see anything (tight squeeze). If I can take a picture, I'll post it.

Thanks for the input.

[toyomoho]

You will need to pull the trans, split the case, find the new parts, shim them so the gears will run together correctly, etc. Might be faster and cheaper to find a used transmission then just bolt it in.