Dropped my 3rd member - what should I check? (1 Viewer)

[Moby]

I pulled my rear 3rd member this morning and it slipped off the crate that I was using to supported it as I slip it out from under the truck. It only fell about 8" but it landed on the ring gear. No sign of damange to the ring gear (not even a scrape) but I'm wondering what, if anything, I should check to make sure that I didn't do any other damange to it.

 

[Wile E Coyote]

No visible damage? Then clean the dirt off and move on. There's nothing to further inspect.

 

[brian]

but I'm wondering what, if anything, I should check to make sure that I didn't do any other damange to it.

the floor, fill your divots.

 

[Spike Strip]

Just imagine how much abuse those things take over a lifetime... That metal is waaaaay waaaay harder than the concrete... Just be thankful one of your body parts wasn't under it when baby came down...

So as brian said, fix the floor. Move to next step.

 

[Moby]

Thanks, I was hoping that "move on" was the answer. And yep, my floor has a couple of nice divots

 

[vipergrhd]

move on

Just clean it up real good and it should be fine,ring gears do take a beating and they can handle it most of the time.I drop a dana 70 carrier one time and it took a good chunk of concrete off the floor btw it was about 4 feet of the ground when this happened.


John

 

[CTFJ]

I've done ring & pinion jobs. I would get the 3rd member on a bench- in good light- where you can turn the pinion yoke and see everything really good. Clean down any old oil and crud. Get a set of marking compound (it's just paint) and brush some on the ring gear teeth. Just a 2-3 inch section will do.

You will be looking for a good wear pattern- google that term and you'll find good pictures. That will indicate that the pinion and ring gear are contacting the way they should.

NExt, I would check the pinion preload, not sure what it is exactly for this axle, but it's measured in inch-lbs (and you'll need a torque wrench capable of inch-lbs). This is measurement of how 'tight' the pinion is and how much force it takes to overcome interia.

Pinion-wise, aside from the preload, check the pinion seal. If you have to replace it (oil leaking through to yoke end), make a mark or script a line on the end of the pinion gear (yoke end) and onto the pinion nut. YOu'll need this to know where to tighten it back down to when reassembling, saving you from setting the pinion preload again. Remove the pinion nut and washer (if it has one) and pop the yoke off. Replace pinion seal- be careful to seat it straight the first time. Use RTV between the seal and diff housing. I also run some heavy grease where it contacts the pinion shaft. Reassemble in reverse order after replacing the pinion seal and mind your orientation mark.

Backlash is also a good one to check- you will need a dial indicator capable of thousands of an inch and stand to check this. Mount the dial indicator on the diff housing (cover bolt holes work for this). Zero the dial and move the ring gear with the pinion locked still. The amount of 'play' is your backlash- you'll have to google the exact tolerance for that axle.

For the carrier, you can check the inside of the bearing caps for odd wear in the races.

That's really everything short of removing the carrier, but you need a whole crapload of other tools to do that correctly.