Troubleshooting my FJC...

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GLTHFJ60 said:
Jeez, I think I have that much play in my diff as well, but it's a low mile FZJ80 diff. When I put mine in it looked perfect.

I guess you've got to pull it and take a look, very depressing...
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With the vid, LT said its "not that bad".

In any event, its worth a visual inspection at the minimum. I'm hoping its just the pinion bearing but at this point, who knows.

The depressing thing is missing the events, last weekend and this weekend...:bang:
 
krzyabncanuck said:
You know Jerry, I have been known to set up a few gear sets in my time.
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Yes Darin, I'd take you up on it but ECGS has them on the shelf (I hope with 4.88's). If not, I'll be dropping by for some help.

But, since you brought it up...I took the time to give things a good look. The biggest hassle of the whole job is getting the E-brake apart on each wheel. But for that, it's pretty straight forward.

I got the axles out and the 3rd out. Now, I'm no rocket scientist or even a fair mechanic and I didn't even sleep in a Holiday Inn last night but, I think I found the problem.

Experts, please chime in to verify...
fjcrpfail-2.jpg


I really like how this piece found a nice, safe place to hide...
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Here are all the pieces I fished out of the diff housing...
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Three different spots, approximately 90 degrees from each other. What surprises me is that none of these pieces showed up when I drained the fluids.

I can only imagine one place where it might have happened. When we did the VA border run, Ramon stopped to check something on his trailer. When we pulled back onto the road, a car was coming, causing me to get a little happy with the throttle and I hit some loose sand when doing so. I never heard anything but I do recall that it didn't "go" as well as it should have.

Oh well, stuff happens and hopefully learn something along the way...
 
Wow Jerry, when it rains it pours buddy. Looking at that gear and most likeley the pinion bearings are shot too, I'd call Chase and have him send you a complete 3rd. Then you can just box your core up in the same box and send it back to him.

Make sure to flush out the axle tubes as well, never know what may have migrated out that way either. Ring me up if there is anything I can do.
 
NCFJ said:
Wow Jerry, when it rains it pours buddy. Looking at that gear and most likeley the pinion bearings are shot too, I'd call Chase and have him send you a complete 3rd. Then you can just box your core up in the same box and send it back to him.

Make sure to flush out the axle tubes as well, never know what may have migrated out that way either. Ring me up if there is anything I can do.
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Luckily, he is only a 20 min drive. I'll be giving him a ring in the morning to see what he has on the shelf for me...
 
Wow. You need to keep the R & P for a paperweight (of carnage).

Looks like you have it under control, but if you need any help buttoning it back up give me a shout.
 
strong_toy said:
Wow. You need to keep the R & P for a paperweight (of carnage).

Looks like you have it under control, but if you need any help buttoning it back up give me a shout.
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Thanks Clint, under control is a relative term in my world.

Chase is putting one together, hoping to get it done today, tomorrow morning at the latest. I'll try to see if he will give me the carnage when I drop off this one. It would make a great trophy for the future. Just remember, this carnage is from those radical trails of the Spring Tide Ride.

Once I get the fresh 3rd, its a shot in the dark for me to be ready for the weekend...
 
jerry, i will be in on cay around 4:00 today , if you need help, just let me know and i can swing by.
 
Jerry,

Let me know if I should bring some work clothes with me this evening!
 
fourtrax said:
jerry, i will be in on cay around 4:00 today , if you need help, just let me know and i can swing by.
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Fort Knox said:
Jerry,

Let me know if I should bring some work clothes with me this evening!
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Thanks guys. At this point, no word back from ECGS so if anything happens tonight, it will be a long shot. So, don't sweat it. I'll see what I can get done tomorrow, assuming he gets it done.

I'm not going to stress about it and want to make sure I give them a proper break-in proceedure. This set didn't get a perfect break-in which may have helped the failure.

Its all good, I've been rushing too many things recently and need to just chill a bit. But, again, thanks for the offers of help...:beer:
 
Good Luck...just replaced front and rear R&P in my LX470.....never hammered it but did have to replace a CV Axle that decided to start flopping at 80mph on interstate outside of Durham last month.....whatever the cause (deflection damage from binding CV Axle at speed over and over....or they lost their temper from the heat being caused...or just gave up)....I lost three teeth but one wedged between carrier and housing so had to find another carrier as well.

Mine was down almost two weeks waiting for parts to arrive and then getting my friend to do all the technical stuff like shimming for proper contact and checking backlash with his special tool. Now for the break in period on the 4.88 in both diffs. :)
 
dang nice to just be able to drop it off ;)

I ended up with Nitro 4.88 from Just Differentials with Master Install Kits and solid pinion sleeve instead of the crush version...and a new carrier for front (used but new to me) for 4 pinion.

Glad to have it done but now I am hearing every little sound....so waiting until break in period is over to see how sounds change from it working itself good.
 
Got back with the fresh 3rd. For those that don't know, ECGS has a system that they guarantee 48 hr turn around when shipping in your core. In my case, he had a core on the shelf so they were able to get started this morning when I called. They called when it was done, I dropped off my ruined 3rd, put the new one in the trunk and away I went (after paying $675).

New set of Nitro 4.88's with a solid spacer as Brock described above, master rebuild kit. First set of contact marks...
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Second set of contact marks...
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Fresh coat of paint, ready for abuse...
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When Chase looked at the ruined 3rd, he called me out for abusing it, said I either ran low on fluid or never changed. He said it was "burnt". He said by looking at the carrier, the color showed it got too hot. Its hard to see in this picture but easy to see side by side...

Old...
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New...
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But, I had to offer my rebuttal...I've changed the diff oil 4 times, at 15k, when the gears were installed at 30k, 500 miles after that and again at 45k. He looked at me with skepticism until I said I put "purple" fluid in it from the first 15k change. He said, "there you go" and as he dropped the ruined 3rd onto the tech's bench, another "purple" casualty.

He said that he sees FJC's running the purple stuff with gears that look worse than a set out of an '85 pickup that never changed the diff fluids. He pointed out to me that the "coast" side looked fine but the "drive" side looked bad.

Now, I also explained that I didn't give it a "perfect" break-in which could have compromised them from the beginning.

In any event, Lucas oil from now on, just in case...
 
Glad to see that you will soon be up and running Jerry. With any luck you will be hassle free for a while. You can get back to working on the 45 soon.

I have used Lucas for years. I've never been convinced that synthetic oil was the way to go. Even after years of abuse gears using dino still hold up. Sounds like Chase just confirmed it.
 
Same here, always with dino oil. It gets replaced every time the axles get completely submerged in water, so there is no sense in using expensive fluid.
 
NCFJ said:
Glad to see that you will soon be up and running Jerry. With any luck you will be hassle free for a while. You can get back to working on the 45 soon.

I have used Lucas for years. I've never been convinced that synthetic oil was the way to go. Even after years of abuse gears using dino still hold up. Sounds like Chase just confirmed it.
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Yes, I need to get out from under the FJC and back to whats important, the 45. I've bitten the synthetic bug a long time ago without any issues, probably because I hadn't pushed the vehicles as hard as I do the FJC. I can see I need to adjust my view on that...

krzyabncanuck said:
I have abused my gears in all my trucks with dino oil and have never had a problem.
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I'm sold also. Wanna buy 7 qts of some purple synthetic? I've got them on my shelf, ready for pickup...
 
I dont like and never trusted the purple...if you look at their info they have really good numbers in one area but compromise on shear and heat resistance and other things.....

I use redline, mobile 1 or amsoil in all my vehicles....I dont trust anything else.
 
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