Rear Differential Carnage (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Aug 23, 2014
Threads
3
Messages
37
Location
Webster City, Iowa
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 me stranded on the side of the road, 120 miles from home. Towed LX 450 home.

2nd rear diff failure.
1st diff rebuilt by a local diff specialist, not a Toyota specialist, but a go fast Chevy/Ford shop. (I thought using someone in state made life easier and supported local businesses)
Put 1500-3000 miles on first rebuilt diff, after dropping kids off at school, headed to work on highway... Garbled marbles sound, again spewing diff oil.

I was very surprised in after removing the rear diff, the amount of metal in there...

2nd diff rebuild, is in the capable hands of Zuk at gearinstalls.com

Taking driveshaft in, both front and rear for rebalancing at a drive line specialist in state.

Going to repack rear bearings while I am here, reminds me need to order parts.

IMG_20170723_111515.jpg


IMG_20170723_111537.jpg


IMG_20170723_111530.jpg
 
Definitely curious to hear what Zuk says. I'm not sure how you could do something like that just by installing the differential, but anything is possible I guess.
 
That looks to me like someone didn't clean out all the remains of the previous failure, then it ate the pinion bearings, allowing it to move and
eat the ring.

I'm sorry for your loss. Glad you found Zuk! He's the man!

Make sure you clean out your axle tubes as well! Sometimes debris can go everywhere!

Since you had two recent failures.....Are you sure the axle housing is straight and true? Could be an external force causing the issue. I think as much $$$ as you're spending, it would be worth a serious look.
 
That looks to me like someone didn't clean out all the remains of the previous failure, then it ate the pinion bearings, allowing it to move and
eat the ring.

I'm sorry for your loss. Glad you found Zuk! He's the man!

Make sure you clean out your axle tubes as well! Sometimes debris can go everywhere!

Since you had two recent failures.....Are you sure the axle housing is straight and true? Could be an external force causing the issue. I think as much $$$ as you're spending, it would be worth a serious look.
Agree here especially given the type of load it was seeing. This isnt normal
 
I would be a little livid, at that few miles, and a failure of that caliber, and a bearing failure to boot, 1 they either reused his old bearings or 2 Chinese junk, and maybe 3 he used some old bearings from another job SMH I'd be having words with them
 
Maybe those Chevy boys forgot to crush the crush sleeve?
 
Maybe those Chevy boys forgot to crush the crush sleeve?
Na, crush sleeve's are used in both 10, and 12 bolt GM rear ends, and both those rear ends are standard equipment for Chevy muscle cars.
 
Carrier bearings were aok.....something happened on the pinion bearing end of things.
Here's the races for both pinion bearings...and the shims used to set pinion depth.
IMG_1121_zps9qwochht.jpg~original




A closer look at the PB's
IMG_1133_zpsnekidvno.jpg~original



The large inner race is beat up bad as can be expected by the metal soup that was churning close by.
Surprised it's not beat up worse.....must have happened suddenly and George must have pulled over quickly.
IMG_1134_zpsl0ouabyy.jpg~original




The smaller outer PB race is in much better condition.
IMG_1135_zps2el1f3mb.jpg~original




Another angle of the small race.
IMG_1136_zpstot75zya.jpg~original



The tapered rollers on the small outer PB are in good condition.
If the driveshaft had been out of balance it would have destroyed the rollers with chunks
missing out of them and there would have been a large increase in pinion noise sounding
like a jet taking off but there was none of that happening per George so eliminate the
driveshaft as a possible cause.
IMG_1137_zpsiur8hclb.jpg~original




Another angle of the rollers.
IMG_1138_zpsp6jqviyv.jpg~original
 
Somehow, the large sturdy inner pinion bearing exploded suddenly on George while he was on the on-ramp to the highway.
If somebody were to beat the bearing on with a chisel and hammer then it's very possible to crack the inner cone raceway
IMG_1124_zpsgrrggmjh.jpg~original




And, like a ticking time bomb, 3000 miles later it could look like this
IMG_1123_zps9f1u0oai.jpg~original





And cause other incidental damage like this.
IMG_1126_zpsu3kgmvfh.jpg~original
 
Yikes! Zuk is the man, and the only person I would have rebuild a Differential!
 
Do you think the PB races were not seated properly?
They were seated correctly. There would have been a groan noise on decel if they weren't....and there were none.
From my conversation with George he could hear a small whistle noise on both accel and decel so that means somebody didn't set the other parameters exactly right.
 
Poor George. When he opened up the diff he must have had a really bad churning in his stomach also. :eek: It took me awhile to get all the metal flakes out of the diff itself. George has to really scrub that housing pretty good. Have to get at least 99.99% of the flakes out. Maybe good ole Palmolive will float most of it out.

Anyways, here's the "widget" I made to get the big pinion bearing on. Made from old bearing pieces.....and the MIG.
It does the job.
IMG_1140_zpsxfdqfoxv.jpg~original
 
So using a starter shim of 049 this DRIVE pattern way to the toe and far too deep in the root.
IMG_1146_zpsr7wgup6n.jpg~original



Here's the coast
IMG_1147_zpsqk9ifddw.jpg~original


Here's the drive of the pinion....comet tail is hugging the face (top)of the tooth
IMG_1149_zpspkx4ypuo.jpg~original
 

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