Hello fellow GSians,
So today I did my first oil change myself at 20,000 miles, and the tire rotation as well. Now before everyone freak out and start hunting me down, no, this was the second oil change on the car, but first done by me personally, so please, dont punch me just yet.

While doing the tire rotation, I came across something that I havent seen before in any of my previous collection. While doing a visual I noticed that the front passenger side axle joint does not have any boot at the point where it connects to the transfer case. Is that normal? I have always seen boots on both ends of both of the axle, never saw boot on one side only and not on the other. Perhaps I am not up to date on the Toyota technology.

Attached are the pictures that I took from my phone. Apologies if they are not clear enough.

Thank you all.

 

What you are seeing there is the mid-shaft that passes through the oil pan using a bearing. That is not your front differential. Look on the other side and you will see the differential and it goes into the oil pan.

 

Ah... Well that makes sense. Thanks for the response.