Don Rey wrote:
> Hi, I've been lurking for quite a while... it was a busy semester at school.
> My 89 Dakota convertible just started giving me problems tonight.
>
> The rear differential seemed to suddenly start crapping out on me. It still
> drives alright as of now (though now that its parked in my driveway, I'm not
> taking it anywhere soon!) It started grinding and clunking badly just
> tonight. In the past few days it just started making different slight
> grinding noises when I would take significant right turns (especially at
> speed). The grinding was just starting to become audible over the driveshaft
> howl... and tonight when I started driving, it made several clunking noises
> coupled with a much louder grinding. I drove it the remaning few miles to my
> destination and then 7 miles home and it started smoking. I looked under
> there when I parked it, and it was dripping (one drop every minute or so)
> and was audibly boiling. The whole diff case was hot; the dripping and
> boiling sound was coming out the front.
>
> In a few minutes I'm going to pop the cover off and take a look (no I havn't
> done that yet). What I'm considering is going with an Auburn posi as a
> replacement. Can anyone tell me if thats a good idea or a bad idea? Should I
> not be assuming that it will drop right in? Are there better options...
> should I not go to posi? I've never done rear-end work before but I need to
> learn and I've got the manuals. I have to do this fast; this is my main
> vehicle... (on my Dart I'm still workign on the camshaft, heads, intake,
> etc). BTW, the truck is a pre-mag 3.9L auto 4x4, currently not posi. To my
> knowledge its never been rebuilt... and its got 226,000 miles on it. Pretty
> sure its a 3.21 ratio (I'm about to go make certain of that). Also, what
> distributors would you suggest? From a quick search online, National
> Drivetrain offers the Auburn posi for about $330.
>
> Thanks in advance for your help!
>
> Don
> 89 Dakota Convertible 4x4
> 74 Dart Sport 340
> CT
>
Sounds to me like the diff let go and grenaded (wow - leap of logic for
me eh? LOL). Probably ran low on fluid and ground the gears to bits due
to lack of lube. Notice if there was any leaking fluid in the rear
brake drums? Could indicate bad axle seals. You may as well replace
the rear bearings and seals when you have the diff replaced since you
are going to have the bugger open.
Sorry - I don't have any tips for where to get the gears done. But you
can get a bone yard diff pretty cheaply.
-- -------------------------------------------------------------- ***** Countdown to 2004 DML BBQ (62) Days Left! *****Terrible Tom -- AIM & Yahoo Name: SilverEightynine http://members.aol.com/silvereightynine/
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