What's broken in my front diff??

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Broski said:
A few things come to mind.
Before I pull or winch anybody, I tell them if anything happens to their rig that’s their fault. If anything happens to my rig that’s their fault too.
If they don’t agree, I don’t pull them out.
Famous words from the late tools, rest in peace, brother!

Second thing if you drove a few weeks with shared bolts at the drive flange, you must have had the center diff locked and if you didn’t hear that noise until you replace the hub and the drive flange, then the damage is new or you would’ve been hearing all the time there’s something else at play Possibly your locker is damaged or something of that nature.
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I only drove it once before I figured out the flange was gone, first time I hit a slightly slippery spot I had to engage the lockers to go, which is obviously not normal. I then did a walk around looking for a cause for needing to lock it and found the sheared flange. I would guess I put over 500 miles on it (including plenty at highway speed) after replacing the flange before it ever made any noise. I did have to drive out of the mountains about 30 miles after I started to hear it. I am very acutely dialed to noises in my vehicles, I've built many hotrods and fast cars over the years.
 
Mark W said:
To be honest, I would have expected the parking pawl to fail first. Obviously it didn't.

The front diff is basically the weak link in the '80 series. This is a classic failure. :(




Mark...
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My guess is that the parking brake was set and and saved the parking paw in the trans.
 
Elkwagn said:
I would guess I put over 500 miles on it (including plenty at highway speed) after replacing the flange before it ever made any noise. I did have to drive out of the mountains about 30 miles after I started to hear it. I am very acutely dialed to noises in my vehicles, I've built many hotrods and fast cars over the years.
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Then I stand by my assumption that the ring and pinion damage came afterwards, as you would have heard it.
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This damage started as a ticking noise almost like a rock stuck in in a tire. The faster I went the faster the ticking.
Probably put a 100 miles on it ticking. when I got home and started looking to find the noise I pulled the rear drive shaft to try to isolate the noise and it let go as soon as I got out of the driveway.

IMO I don't think you could drive with out hearing damage to the R&P especially if your dialed into noises in your vehicles.

When I'm doing technical wheeling I never listen to music as I'm listing to the reg talk to me.
 
Broski said:
Then I stand by my assumption that the ring and pinion damage came afterwards, as you would have heard it.
View attachment 3593151
This damage started as a ticking noise almost like a rock stuck in in a tire. The faster I went the faster the ticking.
Probably put a 100 miles on it ticking. when I got home and started looking to find the noise I pulled the rear drive shaft to try to isolate the noise and it let go as soon as I got out of the driveway.

IMO I don't think you could drive with out hearing damage to the R&P especially if your dialed into noises in your vehicles.

When I'm doing technical wheeling I never listen to music as I'm listing to the reg talk to me.
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My rig is almost exclusively for hunting here in Montana, basically an overgrown side by side for me, and the radio never even comes on. I will admit though that the tires are quite loud, at any speed over about 20mph. Whenever and however the damage occurred the result will be a rebuilt member, and hopefully many more years of enjoyment, this is the best rig I have ever owned (even though in 7 years I have only put 4k miles on it!)
 
Elkwagn said:
My rig is almost exclusively for hunting here in Montana, basically an overgrown side by side for me, and the radio never even comes on. I will admit though that the tires are quite loud, at any speed over about 20mph. Whenever and however the damage occurred the result will be a rebuilt member, and hopefully many more years of enjoyment, this is the best rig I have ever owned (even though in 7 years I have only put 4k miles on it!)
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Definitely great rig's

Where all here to learn and share Knowledge. 😎
 
JoeCova said:
Dude, need a write up for this!
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In my build thread Page 13 starting on page 249. Matt of Bleeping Jeep has a video how to of the wiring :cool:
 
Just curious. Were these broken rings aftermarket? I’ve been told a few times that the OEM rings were much stronger than any of the aftermarket options.
 
NorthWA said:
Just curious. Were these broken rings aftermarket? I’ve been told a few times that the OEM rings were much stronger than any of the aftermarket options.
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Most aftermarket are forged 8620 out of Korea and most issues are related to setup or gear ratio changes. The aftermarket bearings you normally get in an install kit for the pinions are NOT the correct bearings. I think these issues impact differential strength and reliability much more than the forging process.
 
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Elkwagn said:
...the radio never even comes on. I will admit though that the tires are quite loud, at any speed over about 20mph. Whenever and however the damage occurred the result will be a rebuilt member, and hopefully many more years of enjoyment, this is the best rig I have ever owned (even though in 7 years I have only put 4k miles on it!)
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Same here. I took the radio and speakers out of mine.
 
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