broke a tooth in my rear differential gear box

[Curious Hound]

Yup. Pull the cover.

 

[Josh B]

Good luck with it Buck
Be sure you chock and block and stop every wheel from rolling before it gets started

 

[youngbuckwithapickuptruck]

Is there some specific reason to keep the wheels from rolling when the gear box is open and driveshaft disconnected, or just general rule of caution?
I am going to look up some videos on rear diff inspection and go pull mine open.
*edit* The videos i watched either say "check the gears for wear and damage" or they involve micrometers and other precise measurements. Advice/tips?

Do rear wheel bearings needs to be serviced as often as front wheel bearings?
Should i just pull an axle from pick n pull or are there businesses that refurbish differentials in rear axles for resale?
I found a low mile yellow ranger... cleanest one in the yard but stilllll, it has hauling wear marks alll over the steel bed, seems like a decent doner.
There is also an 99 explorer sport there which i believe has a compatible LSD axle.
Also every rear differential cap has two holes drilled in it, will i still be able to check residual oil for bullcrap? i suppose i should also check the magnet for chunks. Thoughts/advice?
Will i be alright to reuse my 6mo old gasket?

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...if anyone ever wondered about the dumb username, i had stock business cards printed out "young man with a pickup truck" and i chose cards with a horse on them, lol.

 

[dvdswan]

General rule of caution. Rear wheel bearings are lubed by the gear oil. You can pull the axle shafts out and inspect them but if they're not making noise you should be good.

I would just pull the axle from a pick n pull. Refurbished axles are going to be pricey just like having someone install gears.

Why not pull the 99 explorer axle and stab it under the truck?

 

[bobbywalter]

Explorer axle is not a bolt in unless you know how to make a flip kit.

 

[dvdswan]

Are Explorers SUA and Ranger SOA?

 

[bobbywalter]

Yes. Plus they can be wider.

 

[dvdswan]

Good excuse for a wide track kit on a Ranger lol How much wider? An 1"?

 

[bobbywalter]

Depends on years involved. Up to 3in iirc

 

[superj]

Is there some specific reason to keep the wheels from rolling when the gear box is open and driveshaft disconnected, or just general rule of caution?

i forgot to chock thr wheels on my wrangler when unhooking the driveshaft and it rolled on me and crunched my left shoulder and collar bone. It sucked. Took a year to fully heal

 

[sgtsandman]

Is there some specific reason to keep the wheels from rolling when the gear box is open and driveshaft disconnected, or just general rule of caution?
I am going to look up some videos on rear diff inspection and go pull mine open.
*edit* The videos i watched either say "check the gears for wear and damage" or they involve micrometers and other precise measurements. Advice/tips?

Do rear wheel bearings needs to be serviced as often as front wheel bearings?
Should i just pull an axle from pick n pull or are there businesses that refurbish differentials in rear axles for resale?
I found a low mile yellow ranger... cleanest one in the yard but stilllll, it has hauling wear marks alll over the steel bed, seems like a decent doner.
There is also an 99 explorer sport there which i believe has a compatible LSD axle.
Also every rear differential cap has two holes drilled in it, will i still be able to check residual oil for bullcrap? i suppose i should also check the magnet for chunks. Thoughts/advice?
Will i be alright to reuse my 6mo old gasket?

.
..
...if anyone ever wondered about the dumb username, i had stock business cards printed out "young man with a pickup truck" and i chose one with a horse on it, lol.

Always, always chock the truck to keep it from rolling. Things happen and you are messing with the main thing that has the stuff that keeps it from rolling.

The rear wheel bearings are lubed by the gear oil in the axle and get "serviced" when you change the gear oil.

Make sure the replacement axle falls in the right year your your truck. They changed the sensors and where they plug in from time to time. I believe yours has a sensor on the differential that reads off a wheel sandwiched between the ring gear and the carrier. Some Explorers are setup the same way but will need the spring perches cut off and welded onto the top of the axle tube since Rangers have the leaf springs mounted on top of the axle and Explorers have the leaf springs mounted under the axle. So, don't just grab an axle and call it good.

It sounds like the differentials had holes drilled in the cover to drain the gear oil. If that is the case, you will need to use your old one on the new axle. As long as your old axle is an 8.8 and the new one is an 8.8, the cover will fit. If your current axle is a 7.5, the cover and gasket won't work. And yes, you can reuse the gasket.

As far as the new to you axle, I would look for anything obvious but it's kind of hard to explain to someone what to look for outside of something being damaged or there being metal shavings in the differential. If everything looks ok, hose the crap out of the differential with brake cleaner and wipe everything you can down. You could lube the bearings along side the carrier and in the front of the differential with gear oil (don't be bashful), set the axle up on some jack stands, and rotate the pinion and then the hubs and listen for horrible noises. The outer bearings that support the axle shafts might be dry. So you may get some mild sounds from them. The focus would be the expensive stuff in the differential itself.

 

[youngbuckwithapickuptruck]

Wow, lots of replies in the last half hour. Check attached pic, lol.
It looks like a tooth sheered off of the driver side 'differential side gear' and got wedged between 'carrier' and 'ring gear'

"set the axle up on some jack stands, and rotate the pinion and then the hubs and listen for horrible noises. "

I find it odd that as i spin the left wheel, i feel a lot of grinding resistance through 2/3 of the rotation and it feels smooth for about 1/3 the rotation but it doesnt seem to be coming from the gear.... Maybe the sheered tooth cuase some tolerances to be thrown off and cause resistance?
It is cold, dark and raining outside so i didnt mess with it too much.

 

[pjtoledo]

that chunk is wedged in with enough force to bend the carrier housing.
probably not a big deal except when it rotates inside and hits the pinion gear.
pull that chunk out.
pull the pin retaining bolt & pin. that will give you a small view of the pinion gear, rotate it and observe.
once the pin is out push the axles in and remove C clips, then pull the axles out a couple inches.
at the very least you need 2 side gears & 2 spider gears. or a cheap locker that replaces all 4 of those gears.

 

[bobbywalter]

Blown many of those to hell.

They are softer. I regularly robbed and had spares for d35. Usually happens under high wheel speed low traction conditions or climbing in sand.

 

[scotts90ranger]

True, if you can find a lunchbox locker (lockrite, etc) it would fix things right up... or just grab some spiders from a junkyard, been there, done that...