Finally got round to taking the cover off the rear diff. (ford 10.5 inch)
Could see there was a LOT of slop in the pinion- in and out and laterally.... lots.
Got the front seal off and pulled the front pinion bearing out and off the shaft with a pick. (not good..)
Then popped the cover off the back. Oil running out looked like vegetable soup color- obviously had water in it.
Washed some of the gook off the carrier and ring gear. can see some fine rust pitting on the face of the teeth
on the ring.
Also I see some helical scars on the body of the carrier where it appears that the end of the pinion has been digging
in from having a LOT of end play.
I was going to replace the axle bearing and seals anyway while I was in there..........
Havnt gotten anything out yet- but The inside of the carrier might not be pitted like the ring - will see when I can
get it apart.
Is there ANY tolerance for pitting on the tooth faces of the ring ????? just need to figure out if the ring/pinion are
salvageable- and the same with the carrier assy. The truck had 180k miles on it.
On another observation- whoever had previously done the suspension lift- looks like they rolled the axle backwards a little
to get the front of the rear diff pointing a little upward towards the back of the transmission. That angle sort of makes the
front pinion bearing like a "high point" to some degree as far as the internal oil level. I am wondering that if the oil level
got a little low the front pinion bearing could be starved for oil first- then it would go to crap and then open up to let
the pinion get end play and then the pinion gear could touch the carrier.
Do I want to rotate the diff back to horizontal (or closer to horizontal) and remove a couple of the jack-up blocks-
Was going to lower some anyway later- I don't want to loose a bearing because of that lift foolishness-----
havnt done a diff overhaul before so I have to self educate as I go ! ( have worked as a machinist and aircraft mechanic-
so I hope I can slowly figure it out )
I wont be pulling or hauling heavy loads - but I DO want a trouble free diff.
(going to drain the tranny and the front diff just in case the previous owner went through a stream and it turned out to be
a river- knew somebody that did that with a 4x4 van- 5 feet deep- looked like a puddle of dirty water. Sucked water into
the heads and blew them off the block. I expect that was expensive.
Tim
PS. - found this video- looks pretty educational on doing preloads and backlash-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAqAqODmcj4
Seems like a good teacher !
I will also have to find some on the limited slip parts too.