pulled diff. cover today(not pretty)????????

[oldschooler]

Hey guys,
How is everyone? Well I pulled my diff. cover off today. First ?: Shouldnt this have had a gasket? I also found that 3 of the teeth on the ring gear were broken off. second ?: What could have caused this? Third ?: Would the pieces of gear been ground up or do I need to tear apart whole rear(which needs new pinion seal anyways), and degrease, clean out and replace ring gear, and new synthetic lube? Any info would be a big help. Thanks, Rich

P.S. I havent had any problems, howling or knocking in the rear. Just pinion seal leaking. The only reason I pulled cover off, was to clean up and paint, drain lube and replace

[EAST SIDE LOW LIFE]

Originally Posted by oldschooler

Hey guys,
How is everyone? Well I pulled my diff. cover off today. First ?: Shouldnt this have had a gasket? I also found that 3 of the teeth on the ring gear were broken off. second ?: What could have caused this? Third ?: Would the pieces of gear been ground up or do I need to tear apart whole rear(which needs new pinion seal anyways), and degrease, clean out and replace ring gear, and new synthetic lube? Any info would be a big help. Thanks, Rich

P.S. I havent had any problems, howling or knocking in the rear. Just pinion seal leaking. The only reason I pulled cover off, was to clean up and paint, drain lube and replace

**********************************************************

I did the same and I did a post on this. You can use a gasket but there are products on the market that are way better then fibre type OEM gaskets. I do not know how to advise you on the condition of your diff. (bummer) except to say that if it were mine I would want to know where the bits and pieces are. Did you check your old oil to see if there was any metal in it?

If you are interested in giving my post a read go to page 5 of my post's and look for heading HELP...!

esll.

Good luuck with the diff.

[brianthelion02]

Usually pinion seals leak for a reason!!!!!!

[oldschooler]

The truck sat for 2 years before i purchased. Tranny pan gasket was leaking and pinion seals also. I am thinking they got dried out and cracked and started leaking. Thanks for your reply, Rich

[prg machine]

Pull the whole rear end outa the truck. Put it on a bench or saw horses and take everything apart and re-build accordingly. This is a lot easier and faster to do than under the truck. Just think about crawling under and out of down there about 200 times and you see what I mean.
Good luck on what you find. The spider gears could be in trouble and the carrier itself. Parts aren't that expensive and there are complete kits and even some with videos on how to set up the gears. If you like, take the whole rear end down to a reputable shop. They will prefer it outa the truck also.

[mvfd70]

You may save yourself some trouble if you just rebuild the whole thing. Take the axles out and look for the chunks. If it has that kind of damage to the ring, I'd be worried about the pinion. Might as well have it replaced too. I know that's a little more $$$ but it may save cash in the long run

[oldschooler]

I would like to know where the pieces are also. The problem with checking old oil is that I drained it into one of those oil catch cans that has oil from a couple of oil changes. Could these pieces have gotten in the axel tubes? I felt around in the diff. and couldnt really feel any metal chunks laying in the bottom, unless they were flushed out when the oil came out. Who knows????? Thanks for your reply, Rich

[oldschooler]

Originally Posted by oldschooler

Hey guys,
How is everyone? Well I pulled my diff. cover off today. First ?: Shouldnt this have had a gasket? I also found that 3 of the teeth on the ring gear were broken off. second ?: What could have caused this? Third ?: Would the pieces of gear been ground up or do I need to tear apart whole rear(which needs new pinion seal anyways), and degrease, clean out and replace ring gear, and new synthetic lube? Any info would be a big help. Thanks, Rich

P.S. I havent had any problems, howling or knocking in the rear. Just pinion seal leaking. The only reason I pulled cover off, was to clean up and paint, drain lube and replace

o.k. guys,
here is what we got. I took out the carrier & axels. No sign of metal shavings, chunks or otherwise. Pinion gear and spider gears all look great. Can I just put in a new ring gear? Will the shims on the spider gears still work or will they possibly need re-shimmed? How much play is acceptable? Thanks for all the advice so far, Rich

[franks72]

I'm not sure but I think the pinion and ring gear are ground as a set and they wear a pattern together when installed new..your this far apart ,I would buy a new ring&pinion or a matched set out of used rear..

[oldschooler]

Originally Posted by franks72

I'm not sure but I think the pinion and ring gear are ground as a set and they wear a pattern together when installed new..your this far apart ,I would buy a new ring&pinion or a matched set out of used rear..

That's what it looks like. I checked a couple of places and they dont sell just a ring gear. They are sold in sets.

[prg machine]

Bite the bullet and get a gear set from a reputable source. I have used the Yukon stuff before okay and then found Dana for the same price from on-line people. I believe you are going to get introduced to ring and pinion set up. Don't be afraid of it. It is not rocketa science. Pretty basic, just requires patience and a positive mind. Sometimes I have set up and changed/transfered shims about 2 dozen times to get em just right . Other times it falls right in with a few tries.
As a suggestion, buy new carrier and ring and pinion bearings. Take yoour old ones and hone them out for slip fit and use them for setting up and when you have it right switch in the new bearings. it saves using pullers to remove/re-shim bearings every time you adjust.
i lay out all of the shims in individual stacks on sheets of paper that are marked for the thickness of the shims to make it quicker when selecting the shims. Whatever you do, no matter how re-dundant you think it is, each time you shim and try, record the shim packs and keep a runing accoount of what you are doing. Forgetting what you did makes it 10 times more difficult. You can also look back at what you had the last 2 trys and see a direction that you are headed.
the pattern that you see on the gear teeth tells the story. Don't rush. Don't fudge it.
You will do good.

[oldschooler]

Originally Posted by prg machine

Bite the bullet and get a gear set from a reputable source. I have used the Yukon stuff before okay and then found Dana for the same price from on-line people. I believe you are going to get introduced to ring and pinion set up. Don't be afraid of it. It is not rocketa science. Pretty basic, just requires patience and a positive mind. Sometimes I have set up and changed/transfered shims about 2 dozen times to get em just right . Other times it falls right in with a few tries.
As a suggestion, buy new carrier and ring and pinion bearings. Take yoour old ones and hone them out for slip fit and use them for setting up and when you have it right switch in the new bearings. it saves using pullers to remove/re-shim bearings every time you adjust.
i lay out all of the shims in individual stacks on sheets of paper that are marked for the thickness of the shims to make it quicker when selecting the shims. Whatever you do, no matter how re-dundant you think it is, each time you shim and try, record the shim packs and keep a runing accoount of what you are doing. Forgetting what you did makes it 10 times more difficult. You can also look back at what you had the last 2 trys and see a direction that you are headed.
the pattern that you see on the gear teeth tells the story. Don't rush. Don't fudge it.
You will do good.

Thanks for the info, I will keep you in mind when I am doing this. I hope you dont mind me throwing a few ??????????'s at you. Thanks again, Rich

[jerry moss]

Rich,
ring and pinion are sold as a set. at work we put the carrier in the freezer for a couple hours (after removing the old bearings) and the new bearings in a toaster oven "til they're good and hot. when you drop them in place they fall on with little effort. then follow the shop manual and set to specs. we use yukon gear sets that come complete with bearings, seals, shims ,etc. and have had good luck with them.
p.s.- we do the hot/cold thing because we don't have a press and it's much quicker anyhow.