very scary Lockdown! need c6 Help??

[greg_a_morton]

Guys I have been driving my mercury because it is cheaper to drive than my gas crewcab as of lately. I entered a construction zone today that is normally 4 lane and its narrowed down to 2 lane for road widening. As soon as I entered into the 2 lane my truck locked smooth down at 55-60mph. Truck was fishtailing and jumping all over the place and nearly hit three state trucks. I come to a stop and got out and now was blocking my whole lane so it was down to one lane at 4 in the evening with good amount of traffic. Well any way my truck would not roll in neutral or any gear. The roll back drug me up on an headed to the house. My question to yall is what do you think happened? I think the tranny was low on fluid but have been checking pretty regular trying to figure if there is enough in it as my lokar style stick is hard to read. The pan was real hot but I could not get a good reading on the stick. Once we got home the truck rolled off the truck with no issues and seemed fine. I cranked the truck and backed it in the shop but sounds like there may be a thud noise coming from the tranny. I guess I need to know how many quarts of fluid I should need after I drop the pan to check things out? I am worried about putting a new filter and fluids in it and there is something still wrong. What do yall think?

 

[Jake_IN]

First thing I would do is drop the differential cover and check all that than just work your way up the drive line.

 

[sassyrel]

as Jake said.. i can tell you this,,you got something d@#$ hot,,and it stuck,,and when cooled,,let go..if its the rear axle,,replace the whole housing assm,,as that would be cheaper than changing gears.............if its the c6,,its the first ive heard of,anyone letting one run low enough on oil,,to seize something inside the trans!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hopefully,,it aint the transfer case low on oil,,cause if it is,,find another one!!! WHATEVER got that hot--is damaged,,it just a guess,how much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[smolkin]

Will it shift into 2nd? If not, then that's what happened to my old C6 exactly. Completely locked up, only had 1st and reverse once it cooled down. Rebuilder told me the drum came apart in three pieces. Hopefully it's something cheaper with yours.

 

[greg_a_morton]

its 2 wheel drive and the rear end was filled up will oil 2 days ago. I have a gear vendor but dont think it would be it as the fluid is fresh on it and it does not have a thousand miles on it. I am assuming tranny was low on oil. I think I used around a case or so all together with convertor. The transmission was out of 86 f250 and it was rebuilt a few years before I got it.

 

[greg_a_morton]

I have not tried to let it shift in second as I am afraid it will lock down again. I need to figure out if it is low on fluid before any thing. The plastic dipstick is real hard to read!

 

[greg_a_morton]

I also forgot to add that the shifting has been erratic! Some days it shifts soft and fast and others it shifts hard and at high rpm. I set the vacumm module one day and I liked it and it shift firm. I have never messed with the screw on the back of the tranny.

 

[greg_a_morton]

well I dropped the transmission pan and it seems to be very clean with no chunks or shavings. The filter looks clean and I cant see any thing other than it. To see if there is any thing wrong would I have to take the valve body off and is there any thing I could hurt by doing this? I am worried the gear vendor my have caused this but it does not seem that there is any way it could make the truck lock down solid like it did. I am going to drain the rear end after I get the tranny fluid cleaned up.

 

[towcat]

well I dropped the transmission pan and it seems to be very clean with no chunks or shavings. The filter looks clean and I cant see any thing other than it. To see if there is any thing wrong would I have to take the valve body off and is there any thing I could hurt by doing this? I am worried the gear vendor my have caused this but it does not seem that there is any way it could make the truck lock down solid like it did. I am going to drain the rear end after I get the tranny fluid cleaned up.

with the violence on how you came to a stop, there has to be evidence somewhere. I've broken GV's before and imho they aren't strong enough to do what you went through. pull the diff cover and see if there is anything obvious there. my suspicion from what you have described is the problem is in the rear end. I've seen more than once where a vehicle would lock up on the road, gets dragged up onto the deck screaming and kicking. when it comes off the deck, it is acting fine. whatever was in the diff had come loose in transport and is now doing ok. If you did blow your planetaries in the trans, it would lock up the moment you fire up the truck and put it on forward or reverse gear.

 

[greg_a_morton]

thanks towcat I will check the rear end in a few. This morning I cranked the truck and backed it in and out of the shop a few times so It goes in gear fine.

 

[Agnem]

Put the rear axle on jack stands, disconnect the driveshaft, and roll the wheels around and listen. If you've got a chunk of metal missing, you may be able to hear or feel it. My bet is something is laying in the bottom of the diff housing, and you managed to hit a bump that threw it up into the gears going through that construction site. Another posibility is one of your brake linings has come unglued if they were the bonded type.

 

[greg_a_morton]

well I drained the rear and a rolled pin looking thing came out and a piece of metal about half the size of my pinky. It looks like one tooth on my pinion gear broke off. It would seem to me that the size of this would crush up under the gears while sliding. I have never had this issue with any rear end I have ever had but I have mainly dealt with 9" rears. Looks like I will have to take my dana 60 to the shop to get the 3.54s installed. I have to grind the spring perches off and move them out just a bit as my rear is a cab&chassis with 2" spacers to make my dually bed work. I will go get a pic of what I have pulled out so far and maybe yall can tell me what the pin thing is.

 

[greg_a_morton]

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the rolled pin thing does not look scared up like it ever went through any of the gears.

 

[Flagship]

For what it's worth, and my info is MANY years old, I've seen parts like those come out of Chrysler rears. It was caused by the driver getting stuck, usually in snow, and spinning his way out. With one wheel going 100 miles an hour and the other stopped, the spider gears spin at an incredible speed. As there is no pressure lube to these gears, they weld themselves to the pinion shaft, the pinion shaft then spins, shearing the pin that holds it in the differential case. Looks like what you have there. After a while, months even, the weld breaks and the pinion shaft drops down, out of the differential case and hits the inside of the housing. This WILL stop the wheels from turning! Back the vehicle up and the shaft has an opportunity to slide back into the case. I've even gotten home by inching back when it locked up every 1/2 mile or so. Totally destroys the inside of the rear housing though.

If your pinion shaft has come loose in the differential housing, you can be sure this is what happened. Sounds and looks like it from here.

 

[greg_a_morton]

got the dana 70 pulled out and got the dana 60 under the truck ready to go in. The spring perches from the dana 60 wont work as they are .75" to wide. The original perches on the dana 70 are almost like solid steel about 2 1/8 wide and I am not even going to try to remove them. I am looking at some trailer perches that are for 3" tubing and rated for 6500lbs and 2" wide. Do yall think these will work fine after welded? I am going to run the 3.73s to see how I like them and can always have the 3.54s installed later.