Since I purchased my 99 LC over two years ago, I have known that the weak two pinion diff needed to be upgraded. I kind of ignored it and built the truck up and figured I would upgrade it when it broke.
On a recent trip out to Death Valley, we were crawling up a canyon that lead to a large mine (Defense Mine). I'd done much more technical stuff on prior trips and really didn't think much of what I was going over. At one point the rear got hi-centered. I turned on my rear locker and tried to move forward over the rock thinking my front tires would pull me over.
The best I can remember was the front tires started to rotate and then I heard a loud clicking sound come from the front end and the front tires stopped turning. The witness said the front wheels did not bounce. They were turned about 1/2 way when I was trying to get unstuck. At that point, any gas applied just created a loud clicking sound.
I immediately figured my front diff had blown. It took some time to get the truck in to a position that allow me to crawl under it to disconnect the drive shaft and flanges. I was able to make it out in 2wd and drove 250+ miles home the next day.
When I got home, I turned the diff manually with my hand and could feel binding every 1/2 or full rotation. Based on conversations with a few people, this means my spider gears are most likely toast.
I'm driving around in 2wd until next week when I plan on having my mechanic take everything apart. I plan on taking photos to determine if we can learn anything new from what happened here.
I'm considering re-gearing since I may end up drinking some of the 35's cool aid in the future.
Decisions: ARB vs TJM ? I'm sure this debate has been beaten to death and I'll spend some time searching.....
On a recent trip out to Death Valley, we were crawling up a canyon that lead to a large mine (Defense Mine). I'd done much more technical stuff on prior trips and really didn't think much of what I was going over. At one point the rear got hi-centered. I turned on my rear locker and tried to move forward over the rock thinking my front tires would pull me over.
The best I can remember was the front tires started to rotate and then I heard a loud clicking sound come from the front end and the front tires stopped turning. The witness said the front wheels did not bounce. They were turned about 1/2 way when I was trying to get unstuck. At that point, any gas applied just created a loud clicking sound.
I immediately figured my front diff had blown. It took some time to get the truck in to a position that allow me to crawl under it to disconnect the drive shaft and flanges. I was able to make it out in 2wd and drove 250+ miles home the next day.
When I got home, I turned the diff manually with my hand and could feel binding every 1/2 or full rotation. Based on conversations with a few people, this means my spider gears are most likely toast.
I'm driving around in 2wd until next week when I plan on having my mechanic take everything apart. I plan on taking photos to determine if we can learn anything new from what happened here.
I'm considering re-gearing since I may end up drinking some of the 35's cool aid in the future.
Decisions: ARB vs TJM ? I'm sure this debate has been beaten to death and I'll spend some time searching.....
