BAD, BAD, BAD Luck

[jeverich]

Yesterday....wheeling....hear a loud 'clink'....assume that it's just a rock or something hitting the drive shaft. Drive home, hear yet another 'clink' 'clink' sound, speeding up when I speed up.

Get home, see that my emergency brake cable is parted, tap bell cranks back towards drum, figuring that the 'clink' sound came from the bell cranks rubbing against the brake drums.

Drive again, the sound still has not gone away....in fact it has gotten worse....

Tonight, look under truck, see differential oil all over the rear of the truck....this is bad.

Find a FxxxING bed spring wrapped around the rear drive shaft....wound up into the oil seal....

So.....the spring must have caught on the shaft, then whipped around and parted the emergency brake cable.....

Luckily, I had my welding gear at my apartment...get out the grinder, finally get the spring out by 9:00PM.....

The lesson I learned.....Don't Litter......Don't drive through trash......Clinking noises are usually not good.....


What should I do, replace the oil seal on the rear diff?

Please, any suggestions are appreciated......!!!!

 

[RredFJ40]

Got pics? I'm totally not visualizing this. How did the bedspring do damage to the pinion seal? That's just crazy bad luck.

 

[jeverich]

Pictures

I'll post pictures tomorrow....it's dark.

What happened is the spring wound itself right up against the deflector....

 

[D'Animal]

If the seal is leaking oil, replace it.

 

[jeverich]

On Vehicle

Can the seal be replaced on the vehicle?

-jake

 

[D'Animal]

Yes it can.

 

[SD_rdcruzer]

This wouldn't be yours?



I kid, I kid

 

[SD_rdcruzer]

If the seal is leaking oil, replace it.

X2 on what D'Animal says, if it's leaking, fix it and be done with it.

 

[jeverich]

Um Yep

Um...yep. Just like mine....minus the rest of the s*** on the drive shaft....you must be really really good with photoshop or something to get those pictures

Where is the best place to order the seal....$OR, or dealership?

This wouldn't be yours?



I kid, I kid

 

[Randy88FJ62]

Wow...

 

[Lost]

wtf barb wire and chicken fence?

 

[kling-on]

WOW thats a bed on the drive shaft ... thats not cool at all

 

[Joe_E]

WOW thats a bed on the drive shaft ... thats not cool at all

Hokey smokes! I just realized that. I guess i'll never drive over and old mattress or box spring ever again.

 

[Southeast Overland]

I had to replace the same seal on my front diff on my Pig. I ordered the seal from the dealer (Rick Arflin @ Ralph Hayes Toyota - see my sig) gives 25% off to MUD members. The seal is pretty cheap IIRC.

I dropped my driveshaft, yanked out the seal, and carefully tapped with a mallet the new seal into place. Fitting the new seal took several tries but after it went in I don't have a leak anymore!

 

[Michael Hanson]

Never would have thought a spring would have done that!

 

[Bret]

That sucks! They can also be hell on starters. Someone threw a mattress in a mud hole and I didn't see it. A piece of wire caught the plastic piece on the back and broke it.

 

[BG_TX]

Wow! Sorry to hear about that but glad this was posted... people seem to love to discard old mattresses and box springs off road rather than a dump. Now I know to never drive over them when I see them (the mattresses not the people illegally dumping)...

 

[Spike Strip]

Be careful when fitting a new pinion seal - it's not as simple as people say because you have to put the stake nut back on EXACTLY as it came off or you'll mess up the pinion bearing pre-load and the diff will have to come out. Count the # of threads and mark them.

Don't just torque the nut back down to spec 'cuz you'll over-torque the crush sleeve and you're screwed.

I know 'cuz I did this.

And you won't be able to meaure the pinon preload 'cuz the axles will have to come out.

 

[fj60dave]

bad news man. never saw anything like it.

however, about 30-years ago I did manage to make contact with an automobile transmission in the middle of the interstate, in a big city, on a dark december night...not pretty.

 

[PabloCruise]

Be careful when fitting a new pinion seal - it's not as simple as people say because you have to put the stake nut back on EXACTLY as it came off or you'll mess up the pinion bearing pre-load and the diff will have to come out. Count the # of threads and mark them.

Don't just torque the nut back down to spec 'cuz you'll over-torque the crush sleeve and you're screwed.

I know 'cuz I did this.

And you won't be able to meaure the pinon preload 'cuz the axles will have to come out.

x2 on assessing pinion preload while you are in there.

Pull your shims and make sure they are good - I believe in 1986 it was still shimmed vs. crush sleeve.

I believe you can measure pinion pre-load on third member w/ axles still in place.

I have a thread on this - click link in my signature