thankyou for your response, in fact it was the rear uni joint of the front shaft that was squeaking, completely dry as it turns out. and you should have seen it when i finally got round to replacing it this weekend just gone. remember seeing one on a holden hk panel van about 30 odd years ago that was in similar condition. the owner had not even tried to replace it, he had simply tied a metal strap around the cap ends & soldered the ends of the strap together to stop the caps from coming off. true as i sit here. that sort of repair does not sit well with me. both uni joints replaced, everything at that point going well. and the diff oil was replaced several months ago, the first time in its life by the look of the contents of the diff when i did it. had to give it a complete flush out with kero, twice, then some nice new oil. the good thing about it was, there was no unwanted or unusual noises coming from the diff when i did the the job, i was simply looking for the squeaking noise. it wasn't the diff. and even after the double flush it makes only the sounds a good diff will make. it was the hubs. when i got them off, for the 3rd time, it was the large spring that wasn't releasing, so i put the new pair on that i'd bought, & voila! everything is now working as it should. thankyou again for your input, regards, miyoot. On 28/02/2014, at 8:07 AM, Toyota Owners Club - Australia <noreply@toyotaownersclub.com> wrote: