Odd dent/mark in rear end pumpkin

I noticed a strange dent in the rear gear case. This is a 2020, I am the only owner, I have never hit anything, only I have drove it. The mark does not look factory to me, the paint is not even scratched. Any ideas here?

 

Is that a hole?!

 

The lack of scratch in the paint is interesting. Had you looked down there when you bought it, or you don’t know whether it’s been there or not?

 

Looks like it

 

That is a hole. Bro....take this to the dealership right away so they can look at it ASAP.

 

It's not a hole, the photo makes it look like one though. It is almost like a continuation of the rolled edge that comes down to the left of the fill plug. I do not know if it's been there since new, I noticed it when I was greasing/servicing. I have never had it off road. The only unknown is when I paid a shop to change the rear axle oil. I don't know how they could have e done it though. It has been to a tire shop also, once. There is not even a scratch mark - just smooth black paint.

 

Looks vaguely similar to the one in the photo that I posted above (not mine).

 

I have a theory about how this happened (hear me out, this may sound a lil' bit crazy..)

Your wife got mad at you because you didn't load the dishwasher until she told you to (hey, why's she gotta tell you to do it!). It angered her so much that while you slept, she crawled under your beloved 4Runner and tried to poke a hole in the rear case cover so you'd get into an accident. Because hey....she'll "show you!".

Now, I could be wrong (and crazy), but it's a plausible theory.

 

That sounds like a lot of work when she could've just pegged him.

 

Think about it. She wanted to go back there poking around. There are easier ways to do it.

 

Wow.

 

I’ll take a look at mine and let you know if there’s anything remotely similar.

 

Op, your rear differential is fine. The crease you see is just how it is made. I took a pic of my 2021 TRD OR a couple of minutes ago so you can see that yours is not damaged….

Cheers,
Bob

 

Thank you Bob

 

Yeah….Some prior work lead me to uncover There are various design strategies that goes into rear dif covers. They do more than just cover gears and hold the oil.
Managing heat, cavitation, debris, flow patterns and so forth….

hence seemingly weird shapes which are engineered…