Ford 10.25 rear end, JUNK??

[CaseyJones]

Ok, these things look beefy enough to rival a Dana 60, The one in my fleet van (97 E250 E4OD 5.4) failed early this year, howling and clunking...now the one in my recently acquired personal vehicle (89 F250 4x4 7.3) is howling and the gear lash appears quite excessive. My fleet truck dropped one last year also.

Do these things suck or is this just a series of freak events?

Should I bother rebuilding this one or seek out a different model rear end, I know Im into it already for bearing/seal kit and ring gear/pinion should I decide to redo this one. I can do the labor myself.

Opinions and experience please, Am I ******* in the wind? Is this unique to me or have others had this failure w/ the 10.25. Also a good cheap source for parts....or a local Rapid City SD person w/replacement diff.

Thanks.

Tony

 

[typ4]

If the e is a 8 lug it should be a dana 60. The pickup may just have a loose yolk, my splines were wore out and a new yolk solved the whine and slop. Does require a new crush sleeve to do properly. I get parts from randys ring and pinion. Great prices but I buy thru a buddys shop acct, Keeps his volume up and i dont have to open another acct.

www.ringpinion.com

 

[krawlr]

The carrier shims on mine were out of place when I went to change the diff grease. It "lost" all the carrier preload. The bearings looked fine. I added shims to get it back in spec. See what happens next change.

It does bother me that it was like that. If the bearings were in bad shape it would make more sense. The original shims were loose enough to drop out on the passenger side. Maybe it's a casting issue??

 

[CaseyJones]

Thats interesting. It would be really nice if it were splines. Im going to pop off the cover tomorow and see. I can turn it nearly 1/4 turn and watch the yoke nut move with it. The howl is pretty loud, sounds JUST like the van did!!

The van was a sterling ford 10.25, I remember that part as I was handing over almost $2k for the repairs. Its an identical looking diff to whats under my truck, the numbers cross to an open diff 4.10 Ford 10.25.

We have another truck w/the same rear end and suspected trouble w/that one to. It gets me wondering if this may not be the finest equipment I can find under a stock Ford truck.......... If its been a good unit for the masses Ill rebuild it and see what happens.

Tony

 

[f-two-fiddy]

This is prolly the first post I've read in 5 years of 10.25 failure. It seems pretty much bullet proof.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Man alive, 2 grand. I bought a Dana 60 from an E250 last year for $100, complete with springs. Local U-pull-it salvage yard.

I'd take a hard look at buying a good used axle for your '89. You could even bolt in an F350 axle if you can find one in the right ratio. Yea, you take the chance of having it fail, but you can buy a lot of used axles for 2 grand.

 

[Michael Fowler]

At Crazy Ray's U Pull It yards all around Baltimore, they list " Truck rear end" for $60
You could buy 36 of them for less than the $2000 for new--providing you could find them..

 

[RKOCH]

The dana 60 does not hold a candle in the wind to the strength of a 10.25. I have worked on Fords sense their introduction almost I have never seen one fail other than lack of lube in one.

 

[dsblack]

Mine failed also. I do not know eneough about the set up, so I paid a shop. Should have just replaced it cost wise. But I plan on keeping it close to forever, so the I know what I have factor caused me to do the rebuild.

 

[Dave Sponaugle]

Check for wear either in the yoke or the pinion shaft grooves.
Wear in those areas can cause the pinion nut to back off.

As far as is it a good axle?
I have had over 5 tons of rock loaded on my dump bed and a 10.25" Sterling axle on a regular basis for years. It is still ready to haul right now.

 

[typ4]

I use synthetic gear oil in all my diffs, got 300k on a cherokee that is notorious for needing bearings at 100k. changed it once and if I wouldnt have had the oil I might have put it back in, didnt smell like old gearlube does or anything. I love the stuff.
I use Texaco Synstar because thats what the Helicopter co. keeps bringing over. Once they open a bucket for service they cant use it if it sits. Good for us hot rodders in the shop. Sorry for the long reply. my 2 c

 

[Agnem]

What is the maintanance history of these rear ends? The only problem with the 10.25 was the inner bearing seal which had a tendancy to leak on the early ones, until Ford came out with a corrective bearing and seal upgrade kit that fixes the problem. I'd say you're not maintaining the lube properly, or your just unlucky.

 

[bikepilot]

I've not had a problem. 128k miles on my first one, then I swaped in a different one just because it had 3.55's instead of 4.10's. The newer rear was $150 at a local salvage yard (they pull the parts).

 

[RKOCH]

Hell I could give you all the 3.55 you want. The first thing I do is rip the 3.55's out and put 4.10's in.

 

[bikepilot]

doh, wish I knew that a couple months ago. Oh well, live and learn.