Side-to-Side play in Ring Gear/Carrier Assy

[kcjengr]

Hello all,

I purchased my first Ranger this week and am trying to work through some issues.
I noticed the rear end was clunking when cornering, so took the diff cover off to investigate and found it had a Powertrax Lock-Right Locker installed.
That explained the clunking sound when cornering!

Relieved that's all the issue was, I decided to check the rest of the rear end before sealing it back up,
and noticed .030 - .040" of side-to-side play in the ring gear/carrier assembly when pushing/pulling on the axle.
How much play is ok, and how would this be adjusted out if it is a problem?

Here is a video of the play:

Any advice would be appreciated!
-Kurt

 

[don4331]

I don't have the number for Ford differentials, but for Dana 44 its supposed to be -0.004" (I.e. 4 thousandths of preload).

Pretty sure you need new bearings and to set up the axle again

Does the pinion "float" in and out too?​

 

[Curious Hound]

Thats bad. The bearings should be putting a preload on the carrier to keep it in place.

 

[kcjengr]

Ok, I figured it wasn't good.

The pinion bearing seems to be tight and the seal is not leaking.
Can I leave the pinion bearing alone and just replace the carrier bearings and shim?
It sounds like getting the pinion preload right is the most difficult part, so if I can avoid that it would be great.

I did notice that there were some flakes in the oil, but not terrible,
but does this mean I really should replace all the bearings (wheel, pinon etc.)?

The ring gear has very little ware, so I guess at least it's worth rebuilding.

If I chose to dive it like this for a couple thousand miles until I'm in a better situation to do repairs,
would I be likely to cause significant damage to other components, or just wear the bearings more?

This is what the ring gears looks like:

Thanks guys!

 

[Curious Hound]

I wouldn't drive it 10 feet without replacing carrier bearings and doing a proper setup, at the very minimum. Do you detect any play in the pinion?

 

[kcjengr]

No noticeable play in the pinion.
Can I leave it and just replace the carrier bearings?

 

[Curious Hound]

No noticeable play in the pinion.
Can I leave it and just replace the carrier bearings?

Depends on how the mesh pattern looks when you do the setup.

 

[kcjengr]

I pulled the carrier and the bearing rollers and races were significantly pitted.
I'm surprised it was not making any significant noise!
Pinion feels good. I'm going to try flushing the pinion bearings with kerosene and then check the mesh with new carrier bearings.

Thanks for pushing me to go ahead and pull it apart.

There is very slight pitting on the axles where the bearings ride, is this likely to be an issue if I reuse the axles?
I like my F350 where I could just replace the axle bearing races and not the whole axle!

 

[Curious Hound]

There is very slight pitting on the axles where the bearings ride, is this likely to be an issue if I reuse the axles?

If you're talking about the axle bearings out at the ends near the wheels, that is a ticking time bomb. No way to predict how long it will be. Good find on the carrier bearings. Much better to get that fixed now, instead of having a failure away from home.

 

[kcjengr]

This is the left side axle, which is the worst.
I really don’t know what’s ok, and what isn’t.
I see they have “repair” bearings which put the bearings in a different position to distribute the wear. Are these a good idea, or do they cause other issues?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Personally, my only beef with the “repair” bearings is that they all have a seal on the inner side of the assembly, which prevents gear oil from getting to the bearing, so you have to remove that seal or the “repair” bearing will eat itself in a few thousand miles.

 

[Curious Hound]

This is the left side axle, which is the worst.
I really don’t know what’s ok, and what isn’t.
I see they have “repair” bearings which put the bearings in a different position to distribute the wear. Are these a good idea, or do they cause other issues?

It will buy you some time. But you need a new shaft. The repair bearing will most likely still overlap the damaged journal area.

Plus what @lil_Blue_Ford said. I used a repar bearing on my F150 and it was still running when I sold the truck a year later. But my shaft damage was lighter than what you are showing.

 

[Shran]

Those repair bearings are junk.

That axle shaft doesn't look too bad. See if you can clean all the oil off really well and use some emery cloth to remove the spalling and rust. If you don't have a huge groove where the seal should be... run it.

 

[kcjengr]

Hey all, just a quick update.

I went ahead and replaced both axles, wheel bearings, seals and replaced the Lock-Right with a TrueTrack since this is going to be my daily driver and I was not terribly fond of the wheel chirp.

By far the most difficult part was getting the old ring gear off the old carrier to reuse on the TrueTrack.


I got everything back together and sealed up, but I noticed that one of the axle blocks looks like it has shifted.
Are the axle blocks stock on these trucks, or has somebody lifted it?
Should I try to shift the block back into position?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Curious Hound]

That does not look like an OEM block. The original OEM blocks have a large ear that protruded toward the center of the truck. That ear is what hits the bump stops to limit upward axle movement. That black appears to be a bit taller than OEM also. But I can't be sure in the height and there are several OEM block heights.