New ARB Locker & 4:88s in rear diff catastrophe (1 Viewer)

[offroadin4fun]

So recently I had the gear shop install front and rear air lockers and they didn't like the way me previous rear gears were wearing so after speaking with the ever so famous Georg I agreed to replace everything. Cool. Shortly after a bad leak from rear diff cover I bought the OEM gaskets from the dealer and asked them to use them since I have a thing about using factory stuff. They used the rear one and fixed the leak but not the front since it's not leaking "yet".
Again... I'm a Team Player so COOL.
I recently brought it back under warranty after experiencing what I would diagnose as severe backlash in the rear diff and they scooped out some shavings and asked me to bring it back after the first of the month so I am scheduled for this Monday for a bearing replacement. As of yet I haven't found out what transpired as the service manager is next to unreachable because it's a high volume shop and the end of the month is a bad time to do warranty work because they are a franchise and want to keep their books in the green and I'm cool with that, after all- nice guys and they said they would take into account the time I reported it and would take care of me.
Problem is it's been getting worse and worse waiting for the "right time" to fix it and the warranty is only good for so long so I'm starting to become concerned about where these shavings are coming from?
I am a great remove and replace guy but gears are out of my league and I'm good with paying the experts. Let these young guys do it and I'll gladly pay for the warranty. Let's Keep America Great! Spread The Wealth!!!
However as the backlash keeps getting worse I have yet to find an honest shop in my area and am hoping I finally found one.
I have no doubt they will solve the bearing problem but my concern is everything else involved getting trashed.
If some of you mud heads can send some of your knowledgeable attitude my way what are the right questions to ask and requests to be made regarding this repair?
I want to trust all my local shops but it seems every repair I ever get done anywhere I have to come back agai and again and don't have the resources to keep dropping my vehicle off again and again so please do it right the first time! I have no problem paying my money but this is getting old people!. I spent a good part of my retirement on this conversion and just want to enjoy myself up on the mountain, not in the shop waiting for it to finally get fixed right.
Thanks

 

[cruiserpilot]

Well, if it’s making metal stop driving it. I would personally cut my losses and find another
shop. Boise must have more than a couple of Cruiser guys who can provide info on a
reputable shop.
New lockers and gears means all new components, bearings and seals. Is the invoice you paid for
itemized so are you confident all these things happened? I rebuilt a rear diff. Took it to the local guru expert.
It came back exactly as I left it, with a bill attached. I figured it must be good. It lasted less than a year and
is now in a tray in the shop. Pinion bearing gone, setup not done correctly. Cost me money; cost him
a customer for life.

 

[MarkBC]

From the threads I've read here I would only trust a few cruiser expert shops in the country to do it properly. I'd stop driving it and pull off the third to look.

 

[offroadin4fun]

Jumping shops is not an option and I am 100% sure I'm not getting scammed.I am hoping to locate the issues through your eyes. Things likely have gone South but moving forward I hope to find out the likely weak links with what went wrong. If I need to replace the entire works I would prefer that over the possibility of having a total breakdown up on the Mountain. 10 years ago I would walk down the mountain, Nowadays prevention is the best medicine.

 

[MarkBC]

These couple of threads might be relevant reading.

Front pinion bearing replacement.

I have looked thru the FSM and can't find ant procedure on how to replace seals and bearings. Can someone point me to a spot where this info can be found. I have a vibration that is loosening a few of the nuts on the dif cover and causing a leak. I would like to replace the bearings in...

forum.ih8mud.com

Rear Differential Carnage

Well I finally had a chance to get my rear third member off my LX450. What I was hoping would be a easy fix, might be more ugly than before. She was packaged and sent to Zuk at gearinstalls.com. Some of my facts/misfortune: Driving home after Craigslist purchase, rear diff spewed and left...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[WILLD420]

At this point it's already damaged. Drive it. You can try throwing a hand full of magnets on the cover to collect the chunks out of the oil. I've seen horrible things come out of a diff and they keep going, just noisy.

 

[FJACS]

I’m not catching on to the point of this thread?

- You had a gear shop replace the gears and add lockers.
- They didn’t set it up correctly and it’s eating itself.
- They aren’t making any effort to resolve it.
- “jumping shops is not an option”

Either go to another shop and get it fixed properly, or park it in front of a bay door at their shop, drop the keys in the slot and tell them to call you when it’s done.

 

[cruisermatt]

I am a great remove and replace guy but gears are out of my league and I'm good with paying the experts.

Why are gears out of your league? What's the risk? It's not like the "experts" seem to being doing any better.

 

[Cruzerman]

Don't think there is anything

From the threads I've read here I would only trust a few cruiser expert shops in the country to do it properly. I'd stop driving it and pull off the third to look.

No need for a cruiser expert for installing gears and a locker. Lots of non-cruiser specific places can setup gears / lockers. Apparently just not this place.

 

[OSS]

If the shop is going to reuse the stuff you're grinding down now as you're driving it (except the bearings) the more you drive it screwed up like this the more damage you'll have to live with later

 

[staggrlee]

I’m not catching on to the point of this thread?

"Brokediff Mountain"
Category: Drama.
Retired man has long term love affair with troublesome 30 year-old. Fears becoming stuck and seeks help from a local therapist who proves to be uncaring and unreliable.

 

[offroadin4fun]

OK, So my communication and writing skills leave little to be desired. All I was hoping to do was arm myself with some sort of knowledge of what may be the problem... what to look out for and does anything here throw a red flag as potential internal damage to the differential/ axle housing itself. And what the potential for long term reprecutions may come back to bite me in the ass after their warranty expires.

 

[staggrlee]

Sorry for poking fun at your trouble, but you presented a black-box puzzle that nobody can really help you with until you or someone else cracks it open to see what's going on. Sounds like that will have to be the shop that did the work.

We can all sympathize and understand the need to have a bit of a rant, but at this point you need either a good mechanic, or an old priest and a young priest.

 

[tmxmotorsports]

Driving it is just going to make things worse could get way worse like locking up while your driving possibly braking your drive shaft or ruining your gears in the tcase and don't forget that if it does lock up it may cause you to have an accident that may injure yourself your passengers and other people on the highway.

 

[offroadin4fun]

LOL.... I was just throwing it out there..... This website never failed me before. I welcome any Tom, Dick or another Dick.... there seems to plenty of them to say yeah- that happenned to me & after it was fixed no more problems. But there might be the other "Dick" and he says the same thing happenned to him and it was ok for awhile, then he started having problems out of warranty.... it looks like they used some JB Weld to make everything tight for awhile. That's when I have to get aggressive. Pretty sure I'm not the only one here that has experienced this. I recently retired- I did combat as an active Teamster for thirty one years, now is time to chill. I paid my dues and am tired of doing battle- lifes too short. Whether I want your opinion or not throw it out there if you wanna give me s***- I might be that guy you needed to take it out on instead of kicking the dog. Don't do that.... Your Dog loves You.

 

[tmxmotorsports]

I am not giving you s***. Jb weld has no part in ring and pinion set up. Name is Tommy not Richard

 

[3_puppies]

I'm confused also.
where in North Idaho are you?
you are having obvious issues with the rear end and don't want to take it back to the shop under warranty?
every place in your town sucks and can't do a job right the first time?
if you don't want to take it back under warranty, buy another unit online from several vendors and install it and eat the first purchase.

 

[cruisermatt]

buy another unit online from several vendors and install it and eat the first purchase.

Any then sell me the damaged ARB to recoup some cost