Opened 10 1/4" diff..Hmmm

[riotwarrior]

OK NO PHOTOS right now...soon...

Just took and inspected my rear 10.25 diff today, removed one drum for now only ...drum not best will check with gauge! Shoes look good, just dirty, so a few cans of Brake clean in order ASAP.

Going further I popped the rear diff cover off! WOO HOO an open diff as I had thought! Nice super clean gear oil too.

One thing though, carrier shows signs of well...ring gear teeth marks on it as if it had a failure at some point. Everything looks reasonable though I noticed slop on the spider gears...NOT to worry I have a Lock Rite from Darren that's going in and SOON!

So I'll clean up this diff housing and prep/paint it for install new seal on pinion and so far axle seals not leaking not going to bother with them, however the AXLE itself where it bolts to hub will get a new seal.

Thus I guess I'll be prepping the diff for install at same time I swap the ZF in and out seeing as I have to pull drive shafts anyway... Makes sense, to hold off the one to do both! Now this means I'll likely have to destroy the drums on my current diff to get them off since they won't budge what so ever and spin so freely cause brakes...well are something more of a curiosity than actuall functional item...don't get me wrong they work...just I can make em not contact drum with adjuster and still drum won't come off hub!


Al

 

[Dieselcrawler]

i had that same issue, stupid open rears.....




not no more!!!

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[riotwarrior]

i had that same issue, stupid open rears.....




not no more!!!

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Dat be one way to go, however I'm building daily driver capability in to my truck.

Best part, I am swapping the Posi rear for a small aluminum tool box for my deck! Woot!

 

[fordf350man]

are your axles open diff? mine is limited slip, very good for a daily driver just have to keep fluid changed and clutches can wear out but they work great

 

[Dieselcrawler]

that welded one was a DD. drove it to college and back many time. 900 miles one way. welded for 4 years of DD service before becoming trail rig.

 

[Greg5OH]

How was it going around turns?

 

[RLDSL]

THat welding is fine off road, some folks even get by on the pavement ..... for a while , running around empty, but ever see what happens to an axle shaft on one when someone with welded spiders decides to load the snot out of their bed , or hook up a real heavy trailer?. Suffice it to say, they very quickly find themselves the owner of a 2 piece axle shaft

 

[icanfixall]

I'm really surprised those gears will take to welding and not cracking in two... Nice looking welds also..

 

[89greendiesel]

I'm really surprised those gears will take to welding and not cracking in two... Nice looking welds also..

+1 on that....nice welds

 

[89greendiesel]

THat welding is fine off road, some folks even get by on the pavement ..... for a while , running around empty, but ever see what happens to an axle shaft on one when someone with welded spiders decides to load the snot out of their bed , or hook up a real heavy trailer?. Suffice it to say, they very quickly find themselves the owner of a 2 piece axle shaft

how heavy of a trailer do you think it would have to be to break that axle. i pulled both of mine to replace seals so i know they are pretty stout. just wondering is all.

 

[RLDSL]

how heavy of a trailer do you think it would have to be to break that axle. i pulled both of mine to replace seals so i know they are pretty stout. just wondering is all.

It generally only takes enough weight to assure that one tire cannot under any circumstances, break traction. The differential action is there for the simple reason that if it is not, either one tire has to slip, or an axle will breal. Something has to give. If you have both rear tires getting perfect traction due to heavy weight, with a welded set of spiders, then only one thing can happen....*snap* something is going to break. If it isnt the axle, it will be the flange bolts on one side at teh hub but something will break eventually Heck, Ive had a set of flang bolts go on mine just after putting a new set of clutches in the posi and and torquing it too hard with a load if that diff is too tight , it can give you problems.

Folks get away running around empty because that rear 10.25 axle shaft is about 1.5" thick and with nothing in teh bed cruising around a tire will skip, even with light loads, a tire will skip on most road surfaces, a lot of trailers dont get loaded nose heavy, but the moment you do, its all over but the tow truck. I used to turn wrenches at a jeep dealer and we had guys ding this stuff all the time and I heard every story in the book.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Riotwarrior, are you gonna do the D70 ring gear bolts swap? What about crush sleeve elimination? And what gaskets are you talking about between axles and hubs, them are O-rings on the Sterling and hardly need replacement, unless yours are petrified (hanging brake?) or you somehow managed to tear them.

i had that same issue, stupid open rears.....
not no more!!!

You must be registered for see images

Nah, that ain't nothing - no pics of my creation, but imagine yours w/ gears also fully welded to the carrier, and if that wasn't enough there was a flat plate inserted against the cross shaft and all gears welded to that as well... This done on both sides of course. Someone warned me that w/ a dually on pavement I may break the welds or the carrier, so I made sure that is damn near impossible to happen... Axle shafts are easier to replace, not that I ever needed to.

About the trailer question, a bumper pull that only puts a few hundred pounds on the drawbar will probably be just fine (I had no problems), but w/ a big heavy goose or 5er you're pretty much asking for it. And in my experience on a truck that gets loaded heavy there is little need for a lincoln locker, even a worn out factory LSD will work magic on loose/slippery terrain. The locked rear does help greatly w/ empty bed (it is what got me out of some rural Alabama "shoulder" that resembled a ditch more than many ditches I've seen) and is absolutely wonderful when one set of wheel is on terrain that provides little to no traction (aka wet grass, the bane of every 2ws dually since the dawn of mankind).

 

[79jasper]

One thing though, carrier shows signs of well...ring gear teeth marks on it as if it had a failure at some point.
Al

Mine had gear marks from the pinion on the center thing. And the cover was scratched up by the ring gear, but they looked like old repairs. The ring gear itself looked fine.

Riotwarrior, are you gonna do the D70 ring gear bolts swap? What about crush sleeve elimination?

What is that?

I've read about the crush sleeve elimination, but nothing too specific, like what years to do it on.

 

[RLDSL]

that loc rite is going to be a great setup. I have a couple of cars with lockers and love teh things. Before I rebuilt the clutches in my truck, I really wished that I had an open diff so I could slip one of those things in( it would have been a whole lot easier than rebuilding the posi, thats for sure) but since i had the posi, I went ahead and got the clutch kit to save some cash amd with that rear, its turned out to be extremely tight, it will pull with one side off the ground even after 100k miles ( I didnt think it would last that long seeing how trashed it was when I got it, but it had around 200k of severe towing on it with what was most likely the original fill in the diff

When you get that locker in there , if you plan on driving in snow, invest in a full set of GOOD REAL snow tires ( not just ones that have that stupid M+S on them ) and you will be unstoppable, otherwise you may find yourself in some interesting situations

 

[LCAM-01XA]

What is that?

You replace your factory Sterling ring gear bolts with factory bolts for a Dana 70 axle. Why? Cause apparently it is not uncommon for the Sterling bolts to back out on their own, while D70 bolts have "teeth" cut in their heads where they contact the carrier and those "bite" into carrier thus preventing bolt from backing out. Add loctite on threads, and bolts ain't going nowhere. Gonna be playing w/ those in the near future, maybe also regear to 3.55 at the same time, and either rebuild the LSD or restack its clutch packs.

Also, RLDSL, you may be better off w/ the clutched limited slip you have now - everything I've read and heard about the "lunchbox" lockers says they're not suitable for heavy loads or large tires or both. Your tires ain't oversized, but w/ 5er in tow the load on that axle is up there... Same reason why I pulled my go-anywhere welded diff and replaced it w/ a factory LSD unit - LSD is not as good on loose soil and gravel as the welded diff was, but on the other hand I don't break anything when I put 3k or more on the axle and drive on hard surface. By the way, when you rebuilt your diff did you restack the clutches for an extra plate, or just arranged them like factory did. Also I wonder if adding an S-spring would be beneficial, supposedly some Sterling differentials had that in them...