According to the FSM, my front pinion bearing is
toast, along with whatever holds the pinion gear to
the front of the differential. Went over some train
tracks, and
the drive shaft fell off the pumpkin. The big external
nut that holds the pinion to the rear U-joint is gone.
I coasted to a stop, in a left turn lane, and while
stopped, the parts must have fallen back into the
gears, and now the differential is locked solid. Took
two tow trucks to figure out how to get me out of
there, with a locked axle, they didn't want to haul it
up onto a flatbed, with no way to get it off. The
driveshaft (1 piece aluminum) is scarred up, and I
hope it's not toast too. It's unbeliveably light! At
least the tow to the shop was withing the AAA limit.
So - to the wisdom of the DML, better to get a
rebuilt axle, or let the shop rebuild it on the truck.
The FSM shows lots of shims, crushable preload
spacers, and non-reuseable bolts. I'm at a non-Dodge
shop, AAA rated though. Any good differential rebuild
shops in Los Angeles ?
Mike
--Original Message Sat Jan 28 2006 :
Well, I've got about 75K miles on this rear axle, was
replaced under warranty, the axle tubes were coming
loose off the pumpkin. I'm sure I got a rebuilt one,
it was all rusty, not factory fresh.
What's it doing ? Glad you asked. In addition to
the normal whine change from drive to decelerate, it's
now started a "growling" and vibration, noticeable in
the floorboards. Opened the diff up, changed the 90wt
in it, added new 'friction modifier' for the LSD. Only
saw a small amount of light metal in the bottom, all
gears looked OK, nothing looked bad, but after putting
it back together, its sound and vibration is
unchanged. Braking makes no difference.
Auto transmission seems fine, shifts normally. Sound
seems more pronounced on right rear wheel, but all
looks good there.
Any ideas on what I should look at next ??
Mike '98 CC 318 auto LSD Tow package
Ministry of Truth:
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength - G. Orwell, 1984
Can-Spam is a Success - FTC 12-2005
"Welcome to the Darwinian Gene Pool Preserve.
Go ahead and lean over the safety rail as far
as you like and hand feed the carnivores."
Non-Sequitor by Wiley
.
.
.------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Make your plans NOW to attend the National DML Meet in Colorado! |
| Date: July 15-23, 2006 - More info: http://meet.dakota-truck.net |
`------------------------------------------------------------------'
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Mar 20 2006 - 10:38:58 EST