Differential Howl still a problem with the 4th gen. Update: Differential officially cooked

Just got my 24 TRD Sport and what do you know, it’s got the infamous “diff howl” at 70-75mph when lightly on the throttle.

Both of my 3rd gens did it at around 50mph.

Any other 4th gen owners experiencing the same?

UPDATE: I went back to my original dealer twice who basically told me to fuck off. They told me that’s how Toyota designed the car and I should wait for a potential TSB in the future to address the issue lmao. I took it to a different dealer who drained the oil which was completely burned and was full of metal. Now I’m waiting on a new differential. To say the least I’m not happy.

https://youtu.be/J6PGWgLULxE?si=JRPTTXxpQOxGgARg

 

Nope, 700 miles on my 2024 Off Road

 

No howl hear (Off Road). Just me smiling and singing while driving.

 

I've got 117,000 on my 2016 and haven't heard the howl...

 

My friend has a 2023 Tundra has a differential howl too. They replaced the differential on his 10 mile truck 6 months ago, took it for a test drive after the new differential was installed. Majority of the howl is gone now, but there is still a slight howl at high speeds. Dealer said thats normal. hmm

 

It would be funny if the 4th gen had the same issue. Toyota still can't correct a 20 year old problem lol.

 

They didn’t fix the frames for 30+ years (assuming the new gen won’t rust away like all the rest) so a differential bowl isn’t surprising.

 

LOL! Some things never change. Mine has howled since I got it at 24k miles and heavier 75W90 gear oil didn't help a thing. Toyota used the same rear end in the 4th gen so it's not super surprising that it has the issue as well.

 

what problem. My 08 doesn’t.

it’s a new gear set. Are people breaking them in as you should? Probably not.
Factory break in procedures for an engine are generally similar to diffs.

doubt they’re going to spend money on treatments to avoid break in such as REM polish

they’ll assume most will be fine from normal driving and have no issue replacing a few under warranty.

 

Never experienced the dreaded howl on three trucks personally. But if they can finally install a hood w even gaps, I’ll be seriously impressed.

 

I drove a 2nd gen for 18 years and currently in a 2023. Never even heard of this problem and never noticed any howling. Not saying it doesn’t exist, but it’s probably not as widespread as it’s being made to sound like.

 

Some people are just more sensitive to it. They “all do it”

 

My 15(2nd gen) 18 and 23 all do it lol. I wouldn't consider any of them to be loud, but the noise is 100% there.

My 23 was bought new by me. I took it very easy on the truck for the first 1000 miles and this one is the loudest of the 3 trucks.

It doesn't have anything to do with "break in" Plenty of solid axle rear trucks on the road that don't howl.

 

I noticed my differential howl after a 5000+ miles plus on my 3rd Gen *(but not on the stock diff, the stock diff was fine until about 55K when I changed my differential gears to 5'88"s). It's actually quite loud drone sound, which over time I have learned to tune out, but if i try to focus on it, it is hard to get out of your head. Sadly I cannot go back to my stock diff, our model truck suffers from extreme low torque at the low rpm curve, and i have bigger wheels. I did have a chat about the howl with ECGS, I bought the assembled third member from them, but they said sadly there isn't much they can do about the noise, and were willing to buy back the 5'88"s. I have to choose between low to no torque, super slow pickup, or the noise. I chose noise.

 

No. About 1,000 miles on my 24 OR MT. Of course, my wife claims I never listen so there's that...

 

5 foot 88 inches huh? those sure are some tall gears.

you may have meant 4.88

 

it’s a pretty well documented issue, so a search for “diff howl” on here and you’ll probably get a hundred different threads.

the general consensus is that it’s not a mechanical problem but a harmonic thing. I think early on with the 3rd gen Toyota was just replacing differentials. When that didn’t solve the problem they did some sort of damping fix to quiet down the noise.

 

It must be one of the most documented issues on the 3rd gen forums.

 

Mine started or got more pronounced after a few thousand miles like @bacon_st. There is a tsb for non-OR 3rd gens that added dampeners. As others said, this has been a topic for a while and is believed to be caused by resonance at certain speeds (65-69mph for me). With how much complaining goes on in the 3rd gen side, there have only been a few legitimate rear axle-related issues (some self-inflicted).

Maybe someone can figure out a mod to make the turbo waste gate blowoff sound constantly at certain speeds to drown it out.

 

this is happening on your 4th gen?