Is my diff toast?

[Shran]

Open diff isn't really that big of a deal... with 200k on yours, the clutches are probably long gone anyway, it may have been operating as an open diff for a long time!

You could also remove the carrier from your axle, buy a new clutch pack and have it set up in your junkyard housing.

Kinda curious what actually happened to yours though - I think you should pull the carrier and inspect everything. Could be that a spider gear broke. If the ring & pinion are in good shape and the bearings don't look awful, I'd be tempted to clean it out really well, replace the spiders and run it.

This is what happens when C clips fail or are not present by the way

 

[Dirtman]

Open diff isn't really that big of a deal... with 200k on yours, the clutches are probably long gone anyway, it may have been operating as an open diff for a long time!

You could also remove the carrier from your axle, buy a new clutch pack and have it set up in your junkyard housing.

Kinda curious what actually happened to yours though - I think you should pull the carrier and inspect everything. Could be that a spider gear broke. If the ring & pinion are in good shape and the bearings don't look awful, I'd be tempted to clean it out really well, replace the spiders and run it.

This is what happens when C clips fail or are not present by the way

That's just redneck wheel spacers...

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

I found a local yard that already has a 7.5" 4.10 pulled with 100K miles for $200. The only thing is that it is open diff instead of limited slip. Any serious downsides from going with something like that? There's the obvious "one-tire fire" when in 2wd, but any other serious downsides?

I have a 7.5 4.10 open up for sale for less in the classifieds

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Open diff isn't really that big of a deal... with 200k on yours, the clutches are probably long gone anyway, it may have been operating as an open diff for a long time!

You could also remove the carrier from your axle, buy a new clutch pack and have it set up in your junkyard housing.

Kinda curious what actually happened to yours though - I think you should pull the carrier and inspect everything. Could be that a spider gear broke. If the ring & pinion are in good shape and the bearings don't look awful, I'd be tempted to clean it out really well, replace the spiders and run it.

This is what happens when C clips fail or are not present by the way

Thats why ford shoulda kept the 9 inch

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Thats why ford shoulda came out with rear disk brakes sooner

FIFY

 

[Shran]

Thats why ford shoulda kept the 9 inch

Haha... 9" are great axles... but I will tell you that I have personally seen the axle flange break off of a 9" shaft. On a Bronco II, of all things! That was an interesting repair, took several hours of grinding and welding to put the shaft back together and get out of the trail we were running.

I'm honestly not sure what I would enjoy less, fishing broken axle shaft chunks out of a 9" tube with a magnet or dealing with a broken C clip on something else.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Haha... 9" are great axles... but I will tell you that I have personally seen the axle flange break off of a 9" shaft. On a Bronco II, of all things! That was an interesting repair, took several hours of grinding and welding to put the shaft back together and get out of the trail we were running.

I'm honestly not sure what I would enjoy less, fishing broken axle shaft chunks out of a 9" tube with a magnet or dealing with a broken C clip on something else.

How did that even happen?

 

[Shran]

No idea. I would guess that it had a stress fracture from some other time/place and it just happened to let go while I was watching. It wasn't even a hard section of the trail we were on. IIRC it was a Currie aftermarket shaft too!

 

[Ehendershot]

Open diff isn't really that big of a deal... with 200k on yours, the clutches are probably long gone anyway, it may have been operating as an open diff for a long time!

You could also remove the carrier from your axle, buy a new clutch pack and have it set up in your junkyard housing.

Kinda curious what actually happened to yours though - I think you should pull the carrier and inspect everything. Could be that a spider gear broke. If the ring & pinion are in good shape and the bearings don't look awful, I'd be tempted to clean it out really well, replace the spiders and run it.

This is what happens when C clips fail or are not present by the way

I had felt some vibration before and just thought it was odd tire wear. Guess I was wrong. I'm wondering if I had a slow leak from a bad seal or something and then it got low enough to stop getting lubrication to the bearings. I'm wondering if the bump that I felt was a bearing seizing and then letting loose again?
I'd be very hesitant to run this diff without a major overhaul. Seriously, the amount of smoke that came rolling over the truck when I came to a stop looked like I had a campfire going in the bed.

Between two kids under 5, getting a 24x36 garage put in and having all my stuff I storage, and working full time, I don't have the time or specialized tools to do a rebuild.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I was going to say something about breaking a spider gear, but those looked cherry... the attached picture is the spider gears out of my '00 Explorer when I got it when I was "hoping" it was just that being the problem... I fixed that little spider gear issue for free and added a quart and a half of gear oil (I keep forgetting to either add more or change it...) and put 40k miles on the thing with no issues with the rear axle.

I imagine the issue is with pinion bearings somehow

 

[rusty ol ranger]

No idea. I would guess that it had a stress fracture from some other time/place and it just happened to let go while I was watching. It wasn't even a hard section of the trail we were on. IIRC it was a Currie aftermarket shaft too!

Im throughly impressed.

 

[Ehendershot]

Picked up that rear over the weekend. Didn't get a chance to install it yet, but it looks great. Even pulled the drums and the shoes have plenty of pad left and the drum faces look great.