thirdslide
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2020
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 3
- Location
- Toledo
- Vehicle Year
- 2003
- Make / Model
- Ranger FX4 LII
- Transmission
- Manual
Hey guys and gals!
First, thanks to everyone for posting so much valuable information. I'm working on a buddy's truck (a cherry 2003 FX4 LII with 102k, manual gearbox + stick transfer case selector) and I've gleaned some pretty valuable information here. Awesome forum!
Anyways, he called and said his rear-end started making some pretty loud, rhythmic clunking sounds on his last mile home, which worsened when he took his foot off the gas. He noticed it was leaking a little fluid in the driveway after the trip.
I got over there and noticed that the rear diff was leaking fluid at the pinion seal and that there was a quarter-inch of play between the yoke and the diff. Uh oh. I prepped him for the worst. Fully expecting catastrophe inside the diff, I pulled everything apart to find that the pinion nut had walked itself off so much that I spun it off the last six revolutions by hand. I pulled the shafts and carrier and was able to extract the entire pinion by hand!
So, the noise he was experiencing was the pinion grinding against the carrier. The carrier looks worse than it is and the end of the pinion is a little banged up, but the teeth look great on both. My plan is to replace the pinion bearings/races, seal, crush sleeve, and nut, and then the axle and carrier bearings because we're in there. Leading to me to a couple questions for you Torsen pros:
1. Am I crazy to re-use the carrier, and the 4.10 ring and pinion? I'm going to de-burr the ends of the pinion to clean them up, but it seems like the slight damage is beyond where the properly shimmed ring will contact the pinion gear.
2. The outer pinion bearing goes on and off by hand. I'm used to pressing them on. Is this normal? Like, does the nut torque/crush sleeve hold the outer bearing in place?
3. What fluid does this Torsen like? I've read that Ford revised the original spec on the data tag. Do you guys use friction modifier?
Thanks so much in advance! I appreciate you folks!
Best,
Kevin
First, thanks to everyone for posting so much valuable information. I'm working on a buddy's truck (a cherry 2003 FX4 LII with 102k, manual gearbox + stick transfer case selector) and I've gleaned some pretty valuable information here. Awesome forum!
Anyways, he called and said his rear-end started making some pretty loud, rhythmic clunking sounds on his last mile home, which worsened when he took his foot off the gas. He noticed it was leaking a little fluid in the driveway after the trip.
I got over there and noticed that the rear diff was leaking fluid at the pinion seal and that there was a quarter-inch of play between the yoke and the diff. Uh oh. I prepped him for the worst. Fully expecting catastrophe inside the diff, I pulled everything apart to find that the pinion nut had walked itself off so much that I spun it off the last six revolutions by hand. I pulled the shafts and carrier and was able to extract the entire pinion by hand!
So, the noise he was experiencing was the pinion grinding against the carrier. The carrier looks worse than it is and the end of the pinion is a little banged up, but the teeth look great on both. My plan is to replace the pinion bearings/races, seal, crush sleeve, and nut, and then the axle and carrier bearings because we're in there. Leading to me to a couple questions for you Torsen pros:
1. Am I crazy to re-use the carrier, and the 4.10 ring and pinion? I'm going to de-burr the ends of the pinion to clean them up, but it seems like the slight damage is beyond where the properly shimmed ring will contact the pinion gear.
2. The outer pinion bearing goes on and off by hand. I'm used to pressing them on. Is this normal? Like, does the nut torque/crush sleeve hold the outer bearing in place?
3. What fluid does this Torsen like? I've read that Ford revised the original spec on the data tag. Do you guys use friction modifier?
Thanks so much in advance! I appreciate you folks!
Best,
Kevin