Posted by Keith in Washington [162.158.106.195] on Sunday, July 22, 2018 at 14:19:55 :
In Reply to: Wheels posted by Milo in Pa [172.69.62.7] on Sunday, July 22, 2018 at 12:23:46 :
The other day I pull out my spare 5.83 to 2 differential. I removed it several years ago from my PW when it ran low on oil and heated up. I replaced with another one and put it on the shelf as it look to be ok. The ring gear showed very little wear and no chipped teeth. There was one mark on the outer diameter of the ring gear. It was fairly clean with very little sludge build up.
I decided to flush the differential out and put a new pinion seal in it. I had no problem getting the seal out. I took a flashlight and looked at the pinion gear it had a couple of chips missing. So I decided to tear down the differential.
I pulled the ring gear assembly out. The bearings were in great shape with no heat discoloration. I pulled the pinion gear and it was badly worn to the point that the edges were sharp. The pinion wear did not match the ring gear wear. The ring gear showed only minor wear. The differential had a rebuild tag on it from about 8 years before I got the PW. I checked the numbers and dates on the two gears. They did not match. It looks like someone replaced the ring gear and left the original pinion in place. I took the ring gear off the spider gear case and noticed that the cap to the case was loose. Two of the case pins were sheared. I could move the cap with my bear hands. Someone did not know what they were doing when they rebuilt this differential. They did not use a matched ring and pinion to start with. Then if they rebuilt the spider gears they did not put the cap on correctly. They apparently tightened the cap to the point where the original pin holes lined up and called it good. They needed to torque it to specs then drill new holes to drive the pins into. So now I can’t trust the spider gears.
I have a choice what to do. I have a spider gear case with a LocRite installed that has the large bearings pressed on. It may have 2K miles on it. I also have two ABF lockers sitting on the shelf. If I use the ABF then I need to figure out what to do for a pump on the 6 volt truck. Either way, I need new gears and I will install everything into a centered differential axle that I have for the PW. I will also put disk brakes on it. I already have new pinion bearings and seals.
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