soaringlex

So yesterday I battled removing my rear diff for a good hour or 2 and had to give up because of the rear support bolts. I couldn't get them to budge.

I didn't go buy a 12mm allen socket, but I had a 12mm allen that I cut a 1'' chunk off of and used a 12mm 6pt socket for leverage.

But I couldn't get them to budge, even with a cheater bar and adjusting the angle of the rear end constantly, I gave up in fear of stripping them out. What's the trick for removing those bolts easily???

INTIMAZY

iTrader: (5)

Impact gun. They come off really easily, and like all the Toyota steel we are blessed with, are super sturdy so don't be scared to put a 750+ pound impact to it.

soaringlex

So removal of the rear sway bar is a must?, I can't imagine being able to fit an impact gun on there without dropping the rear subframe.

k7q

iTrader: (37)

i used a snap-on breaker bar (best investment ever!)

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

Yes, you must remove the rear sway bar to get to the differential. It's not many more steps. An impact gun can help but I HIGHLY recommend the correct 12mm allen socket. Use some PB Blaster for about ten minutes before you try to break the bolts loose. It really doesn't hurt to order some new 12mm bolts either. In the event you even partially strip one trying to remove the diff-- just replace it without a second thought.

This goes double for the six axle bolts on each side (10mm I believe). I would order about four or so spares as it is VERY easy to strip those trying to break them loose. They are not expensive bolts. Whatever the factory torque ratings are I found that Toyota over-torqued a couple on my original diff. That or the problematic ones had seized on there. I had to tap out two of them from 10mm to 12mm to get them out. An impact gun can be useful for these but because of the tight quarters a breaker bar works best.

soaringlex

Thanks, the axle 10mm bolts were actually super easy to break loose, i'll have to go at it again this weekend.

GTE4Life

iTrader: (6)

+1 on the impact gun, I got a full set of the allen sockets at Advance Auto for like $30 and they have a lifetime guarantee, I even asked the guy if I blew one up with an impact gun if they would replace them and he said no problem, I figured I couldn't go wrong the impact took the bolts out no problem.