Having a 350 chev driving the Landcruiser, it was inevitable that after 300,000+ kms the diff was going to let go at some stage. Luckily for me it was on a bitumen road, and close to home, so the drama of skidding to a halt was minimal. What amazed me more was how easy the diff is to replace…

Now we’re talking here about the full floating diff, so you’ll need to double check that you’ve got the same setup. The steps for a semi-floating diff are a little more complicated.

First thing to do it remove the axels. There’s a six bolts around the axel stub (the wheel end) that you loosen without removing the nut fully.Then grab a hammer or mallet and tap the end of the nut. You’ll see a cone shaped washer start to dislodge. Once the washer is to the point where you can remove it with your fingers, take away the all nut and washers.

Then grab a screw that will fit in the threaded bolt hole on the axel hub. You might need to clean away some of the grime inside the thread. Slowly tighten the screw and it will start the separate the axel from the hub. Once you’ve got a bit of a gap, use a big screwdriver to finish it off. The Axel should now be easy to pull out. Repeat for the other axel

Now jump under your truck and remove the tailshaft. I recommend removing it from both ends to get it right out the way, but it’s only essential to remove the diff end.

Before you continue, drain remaining oil from the diff.

To then remove the diff, remove all the bolts surrounding the diff housing, and use a screwdriver to dislodge the diff from the housing. Be careful not to leave anything under where the diff will fall – she’s heavy.

So that’s it, your diff is out, now just some final things to do before you replace it with your new one.

Make sure you remove all leftover gaskets bits on the axels and around the diff housing. Replace them with new ones when you install the new diff.

When you install the new gaskets on the axel, put a bit of grease on the gasket before you tighten.

Important: Make sure you clean out all the metal from the inside diff housing before you install your new one. This includes any metal that might had worked it was into the axel shaft. I used a broom handle and rag to push the metal out. Spend some time here making sure it’s clean. Any metal will shorten the life of your new diff.

Installation is the reverse of removal.

Enjoy getting back on the road!

One Response to “Replacing the rear diff on a 60/62 series Landcruiser”

• June 16th, 2008 John:

  Thanks for the advice… off to change the diff now

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