Shop in RDU/Triangle for pinion seal/bearings - recommendations? (1 Viewer)

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Joined
May 25, 2016
Threads
6
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142
Location
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Hello all-
A local suspension shop is replacing the steering box and tie rod/drag link ends on my '95 80 series. I asked the shop owner to check on a driveline rumble while he was at it. He reported today that that the pinon seal is leaking badly. Suspect that the truck will need a new new pinion in addition to the seal. Can anyone recommend a good shop in the Durham/RDU/Raleigh area for this work?
Many thanks, Ted
 
Agree, but damn... didn't realized they moved to Louisburg :(
Bad for us because we have to drive further. But this new place is massive. All the employees have scooters they ride around on to go to different spots. It’s a really nice place.
 
What they said
 
Hey John et al- Many thanks for the quick reply. Louisburg is not next door to Chapel Hill - but I would like this done correctly. Appreciate the recommendation. -T
 
BTW, the truck has 180k and I have not touched the rear axle except for brakes (quite sure the PO did nothing either). Any suggestions on other PM while they are at it?
 
From the sounds of it, you need at a minimum a new pinion seal, if not a whole diff rebuild (pinion bearings). You can also have them change the wheel bearings, but there's not much else do do while they're at it.
 
ECGS did my regear. Here's a pic of their shop from Google.
1611789916508.png
 
Many thanks again. Spoke to Will at ECGS. He suggested that if I had any plans to regear, now was the time to do it. Hmm..
 
Not the best picture. But here’s the new shop. See the massive difference in size

12ADB54B-81E8-417F-86A4-AF3124B150DD.png
 
Hey - I wanted to thank everyone who responded earlier, and to supply additional detail for future readers of this thread.

I contacted East Coast Gear Supply. Will in Sales was very helpful (919-672-2705 Ext 1011). He mentioned that if I ever wanted to re-gear, now was the time to do it while the diffs were being rebuilt. OK, 4.88s have been on my wish list. He gave me an appointment about a week out. This gave me time to think about lockers, which has also been on my long term build plan. Research on the MUD site indicated a strong preference for Elockers, specifically from Harrops/Eaton. ECGS has Eaton lockers on their site. I asked Will for a quote, and his price for the Lockers ($1,098 per axle) was less than other internet sites I found. The additional labor would only be one hour per axle. This seemed like the time to take the plunge. Will mentioned that they would be installing the Eaton toggle switch on the dash. I insisted that they install the OEM Toyota rotary dial. No problem, he said, that would just require an additional harness (BTW, their price for the Toyota dial and harness were straight retail, no additional markup).

Picked up the truck and everything looked great. The shop foreman came out to tell me that I had some driveline vibration and he strongly recommended getting both driveshafts balanced. Going over the functionality of the new lockers, I noted that the dash light front and rear indicators did not come on. The shop foreman explained that OEM non-locked 80 Series trucks did not come with the bulbs or bulb holders. I asked if I supplied the parts if they could hook these up. No, they replied that their specialty was axle work and they did not perform more involved electrical jobs. A minor disappointment.

FYI, their recommendation for driveshaft balancing is Triangle Driveshaft Service in Durham. I called and made an appointment. The address is in a rural neighborhood, and when I reached the location I thought the GPS had screwed up. Then I saw a small sign with the name, and an arrow pointing to a metal building behind the house. Inside the building was a very impressive machine shop and the owner, Russell. Truck should be ready by the end of this week, and I will post a follow up note on TDS.

Finally, I did order the dash bulbs and holders for the diff lock lights. Given the other demands on my time right now, I would appreciate any suggestions on a shop that could take on this wiring project. Many thanks again!
 
taking the dash apart to get to the bulbs installed in the cluster is a bit if a job. you might want to purchase an additional bulb and replace D (drive) bulb while your in there. it would be way outside of ECGS scope to preform this type of integration.

the factory lockers have a little ECU that sends a signal to the cluster that lights the bulbs depending on where the plungers are positioned in the Diff. i'm not sure what signaling Eaton uses to indicate the lockers are engaged/locked. a custom harness could be created to light the bulb in the cluster might require some additional circuitry.



i have a factory ECU i could let go of.
 
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As @fourtrax said it’s not as easy plugging in lights. You’ll need the ecu/ build your own. Last time I looked Eaton does not use any.
 
I've used TDS a number of times. They're good, but expensive. Last time I needed a driveshaft for moonshine, TDS was a few hundred MORE expensive than ordering from Tom Woods.
 
That factory ECU would be the way to go if you want to completely match the factory operation. In the factory version the lights come on when the solenoid says the locker is locked and blinks at you when the dial is set but the locker hasn't engaged.

Another simpler way might be just trigger the bulb with the switch/signal to the locker. While this would remind you the dial is turned it would not confirm locked axles.
 
I've used TDS a number of times. They're good, but expensive. Last time I needed a driveshaft for moonshine, TDS was a few hundred MORE expensive than ordering from Tom Woods.

Wow, first I've heard them being expensive. I've had them retube and shorten (and balance both times) my rear DS. First time I want to say was $150 (DOM retube, many moons ago) and just a few months ago they only charged me $100 to shorten. That included regreasing all the joints and paint. He's not fast, i'll say that. Hate to hear that he's expensive on a complete DS... then again, it's hard to beat Tom Woods stuff anyway!
 
He's been expensive even for retubes for me. He quoted me $800 to build a new driveshaft for moonshine, and retubes are always a couple hundred. I want to say ~$500 to do two driveshafts for @k4azy 's truck, expensive enough that I've driven to Oliver's in Winston Salem to get better prices.

Maybe he charges me more because I'm a yankee, idk.

EDIT: I will say that the last one I had him do was probably 5+ years ago now. The driveshaft quote (that I did not exercise) was 2.5-3 years ago.
 
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taking the dash apart to get to the bulbs installed in the cluster is a bit if a job. you might want to purchase an additional bulb and replace D (drive) bulb while your in there. it would be way outside of ECGS scope to preform this type of integration.

the factory lockers have a little ECU that sends a signal to the cluster that lights the bulbs depending on where the plungers are positioned in the Diff. i'm not sure what signaling Eaton uses to indicate the lockers are engaged/locked. a custom harness could be created to light the bulb in the cluster might require some additional circuitry.



i have a factory ECU i could let go of.
Hey Eric - Thanks for this information. Was not aware of the factory ECU driving the lights. Will PM you regarding your spare. Any thoughts on someone in the area qualified to do this work? BTW, I ordered a total of six bulbs from total to replace the rest of the panel.
 

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