Does anyone see a problem in this picture?



I need this vehicle monday. It's the front diff in my 98 gc 5.9. Can I just leave the axle shafts out and bolt the hubs back to the steering knuckle?

WOW. thats definitely not good. looks like your pinion is rubbing on the carrier. so the gear mesh is probably off as well.

To answer your question, yes it is fine to take the shafts out and bolt the hubs back up. it will act like a regular 2 wheel drive car.

if you have the full time 4wd type of transfer case (select trac, or whatever its called.), be sure to set your parking break when you are parked, because they have been known to roll when the front axle is dis connected.

Wow, thatÆs impressive. I would be interested to hear what failed to cause the contact between the pinion and the carrier. I would be willing to bet its a pinion bearing failed, the pinion nut backed off, or the pinion shaft sheared. Regardless that doesnÆt look like it will a cheap fix.

Got it all out, pinion bearing failed. Before I cracked it open I removed the front drive shaft. I could move the companion flange around quite a bit, the pinion nut was still tight though. I think the carrier is ok, but everything else is trashed. Pinion teeth are curled over a bit at teh top, some nasty marks in the ring gear teeth from hitting the flange behind the pinion. I'll put some more pics up tomorrow. I have a feeling this all goes back to the pos viscous coupling in my 249 going out and putting more stress on eveything. I'm bolting it back together as a 2wd until I fix that. So here's what I guess I have to do, if I miss anything let me know.

New Ring & Pinion
Possibly new carrier.
all new bearings seals in diff.
I need to find a decent 242 transfer case to swap.
New hub for pass. side. (already replaced driver side)
pressure wash or somehow clean all the metal out of my diff.
put it all back together.

that shouldn't cost too much <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

what kind of axle is in it? I have some hubs for a dana 30, as well as a 3.55 R&P set for a D30 that I'm looking to sell.
maybe save you some money.

wow What did it sound like when you drove? I had a similar problem on a firebird. I took it to the track and the sound coming out of it was horrible. Like driving at 65 in first gear..but real loud.

I need 3.73's and I already picked up the hub, thanks for the offer though.

It sounded nice, started out as a whine (hence the changed wheel bearings) and developed into.....I don't quite know how to describe it, the pinion was randomly digging into the carrier assembly, started when I was going about 75....it was like hitting the rumble strips on the interstate, but rumble strips made out of speed bumps.

When you get the axle apart, give it a REALLY good cleaning. Man, you wouldn't believe how all that metal can find its way around.

Very nice analogy. and yes, completely disassemble the axle and clean all of it. in all the deep nooks and crannies od the differential, as well as the axle tubes just to be safe.

You might as well change the axle seals while your at it. save some time later on.

I would price everything out before you buy any more parts. You might find its cheaper to get a whole axle depending on what is damaged. You have to ask yourself why did the pinion bearing fail? Was it something in the pumpkin? A crack, or an improper fit between the bearing race and the housing so the race was spinning too? Just be sure the reason the bearing failed can be tied to something other than the housing. If you do re-use the axle housing, I would give it a thorough cleaning with break cleaner, then soap and water, then I would take a magnet and glue it to the end of a long wooden dowel and run it up and down the tubes and get all the little bits out. You will be surprised what you pick up. I had to do this on my Ford 9ö when a wheel bearing went bad. Definitely replace all bearings and seals.

Sean