Front/rear diff fluid replaced with interesting results

[berry802]

I have a little over 10k miles on my 24 LC and decided to change out both front/rear differential oil, I was surprised to see a lot of swarf on the magnetic plugs with oil being almost black on the front diff and a nice golden color on the rear. The front diff was x10 worse then the rear on swarf and color of oil. Definitely happy I didn't wait any longer.
FYI-I did this same service @10k miles on our 23 Runner with the same results.

 

[katekebo]

I have a little over 10k miles on my 24 LC and decided to change out both front/rear differential oil, I was surprised to see a lot of swarf on the magnetic plugs with oil being almost black on the front diff and a nice golden color on the rear. The front diff was x10 worse then the rear on swarf and color of oil. Definitely happy I didn't wait any longer.
FYI-I did this same service @10k miles on our 23 Runner with the same results.

Sounds right. The front differential has very little fluid, the rear axle hold way more. That's why the Toyota maintenance manual says replace front every 15k miles, while the rear interval is 30k miles.

 

[Nuke]

Is it possible the front diff utilized a different lubricant from the factory, possibly with a moly component? Has anybody checked the front diff shortly following delivery to see if the fluid was essentially clear?

 

[Bad1975]

I changed mine at 2k, it was clear but had the same metallic/moly like sludge around the drain plug. Same for xfer case and rear diff on the sludge.