My 2006 taco has 40K miles and this is the first thing that has failed so I can't complain. I did a search here and couldn't much.

I took the rear drums off to have a look and one was full of grease and I could see where the grease had run out and down the inside of the wheel. i don't know how long it has been like this, but I think for quite a while as the grease on the inside of the rim had dried up with dust and mud absorbed into it. The brakes seemed to be stopping her fine but the rear drums don't do much anyway but when it's fixed I might see a difference.

I put my finger in the fill hole for the diff and couldn't reach the fluid so I dumped a bunch in there.

Question; could this have hurt my rear diff if it has been like that for a long time, which could have been a year or more?

My dealer said it will be covered under warranty but could there have been damage to the diff which will show up after the warranty is gone?

As long as gear oil was found on the teeth of the pinion and gear it should be okay. Having it dry will cause premature failure. The best thing to do would be to remove the third and check it or drain it and check the fill plug for any metal chunks! Also, if the gear oil was really low, the oil also helps lubricate the inner seals. Having that dry would also cause failure and lead to leakage.

As long as gear oil was found on the teeth of the pinion and gear it should be okay. Having it dry will cause premature failure. The best thing to do would be to remove the third and check it or drain it and check the fill plug for any metal chunks! Also, if the gear oil was really low, the oil also helps lubricate the inner seals. Having that dry would also cause failure and lead to leakage.

Thanks, I'll get them to check for any pieces when they look at it next week. I just realized that this post should have been in the drivetrain forum so I posted there as well.

NP. I'll move this thread to that forum and delete the one you created.

Had the truck into the dealer today and they replaced the seal and said everything else was ok. Charged me $35. for the diff fluid! but i was kinda of expecting that.