Help identifying part ???

[MrHotRod5263]

Need some help identifying this part.

I have a 71 c20 Eaton ho52 WITH Load Bolt.

I drove the truck about 2 miles and heard a pretty signifigant roar from rear end, only while on accelerator, so i opened up the rear inspection plate to look at gears, figuring it was the pinion not seated far enogh in the ring gear.

I Found this part laying in the bottom of the housing.

It does look like someone has been in the rearend reasonably soon, the axle bearings have been changed to tapered bearings , and the gear oil looked really fresh.

P.S. You can rock the ring gear about 1/8" back and forth between pinion gear teeth. too much???

[dwcsr]

That is the thrust cap for the load bolt. Often people remove that bolt thinking its a fill plug knocking off the thrust cap. It needs to be fixed or you will damage the gears

[Tinkermc]

1/8th is a lot to me

[MrHotRod5263]

thank you dwcsr. i was thinking thats what it was, but i couldnt find a diagram that broke the ho52 down piece by piece. Should i be able to pull load bolt out, balance cap on end and re-install, or will i need to pull the ring gear out to put it on?

Tink, i remeasured when i got home, i was going off of best memory, it is 1/16 of an inch.

[bollybib]

Seems to me if it fell down just because the bolt was backed out you should be able to get it back in place without tearing anything apart. The trick would be to get it back up to where the bolt is obviously.

This probably isn't much help but I have an H052 so I'm interested.

[bollybib]

Fig. 34

[LockDoc]

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Might be able to get it back in place with an extendible magnet...

LockDoc

[bollybib]

If you're running no load all the time (like I do) it probably won't matter if it's installed or not. It's there to limit ring gear deflection during high load events.

A magnet securely fastened to a flexible wire might work otherwise.

[pumpkin]

Magnet will not work as its made of brass, or something like that,,,,non magnetic. Unless your hualing HUGE loads its not really needed. After all a 14 bolt that everyone thinks is so strong is just a redesign of the eaton without the load bolt. The 14 bolt was only used up to one tons. The eaton was used up to three tons, possibly five tons. One of the third members I picked up came from a wrecked truck that had 19.5 duallys. There was no cab, it was just the frame, so I didn't get to check what it was for sure.

[MrHotRod5263]

I saw where someone said it was brass on another thread, but it didnt feel or look like brass to me and being skeptical, i grabbed a magnet , and sure enought it is magnetic. So it must be made of a soft steel or something.

[dwcsr]

Originally Posted by MrHotRod5263

I saw where someone said it was brass on another thread, but it didnt feel or look like brass to me and being skeptical, i grabbed a magnet , and sure enought it is magnetic. So it must be made of a soft steel or something.

Its not brass. Its case hardened steel. There are brass ones but this one is steel

I would try the magnet and a six pack with a radio on. It may take a while. If your hearing a roar under load It may be time for a bearing check. Taking these apart isn't that hard.

[MrHotRod5263]

ok new question, I pulled the axles out on lunch and this is what i found, i'm thinking i need to replace the axles, but since im not very keen on rear differentials i'm asking your opinions.

i'm hoping that maybe the different pictures might help, being that they are from slightly different angles.

[71K20chevy]

Today I polished and waxed the interior...much better

[dwcsr]

The axles look fine. The areas just after the splines show wear when there should not be any in that spot. You may be looking at a bearing job.

[SS Tim]

Have you tried pulling the load bolt and comparing the shank diameter with the cap O.D.? From the cross section illustration it looks like it would install from the outside. If it fits grease should hold it together to set the clearance and lock down the jam nut.

[MrHotRod5263]

Haven't had chance to look at it any further, but I'm hoping I can pull the bolt and put it on, instead of having to pull carrier out.

I noticed the extra wear on the shaft, and honestly don't think I want to spend what bearings cost and the time to do it, just to be stuck still having 4:10 ratio, any idea on a axle that will directly bolt in, that can be swapped to 3:55 or 3:73 ratio? I don't mind swapping over to 5 lug from the 1/2 ton if necessary.
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[special-K]

I think your bearings were probably just replaced and that wear on the axle is from the old bearing that went bad. Do the ring & pinion look possibly new? Often when the carrier bearings (or just one) goes,the teeth on the ring and/or pinion get damaged. Bad carrier or pinion bearings are generally the cause of ring & pinion failure. I'm wondering if you r rear isn't recently repaired and not properly set up. If that's the case,it just needs the right hands on it and you'll be good to go for a long time.
You can swap 14-bolt axles and carrier into an HO52. It requires taking some length of the axles. 14-bolts were available in taller ratios. Complete 14-bolts require some adapting to put in pre-73s,but not too bad. I like 4.10s in a 3/4t truck. I feel they aren't too low for the hiway and not too tall for off road or hauling well.

[MrHotRod5263]

Finally got the rearend together and completely back together . The bearing were all new and after adjusting the ring gear into the pinion , i took on a very short drive, probably got upto 35-40 mph at most and it wasnt roaring anymore at those speeds, time will tell at higher speeds once i get the front end done and then timing adjusted correctly.

I hadnt paid too much attention to the wheel seal when i removed the drums, but when i went to pull seals and replace them i realized why all of the new shoes were covered in gear oil. The seals were installed backwards by the P.O., should have been too much of a surprise after all of the other issues ive seen done wrong by them.