And another D44 bites the dust

[lonicus]

This is my first catastrophic failure that I have had since owning the truck, and lets just say I am happy it was the front axle!

We were out near Mammoth Lakes, California during the holidays, and decided since the snow has been pitiful this year to to some offloading instead of skiing. about 15 miles into the back country, the truck starts making a weird sound from the front diff, then suddenly a terrible clunking sound. Get out to check it out and see that when I try to move the truck while in 4WD the whole front axle assembly sorta hops when moving forward. No way to keep it in 4, I had to drive out in 2WD (luckily the terrain was not too difficult) then drive it the 350 miles back to Southern California before I had to opportunity to open it up.

I was hoping that I had just lost a bearing, or possibly a U joint, or something easy to fix. Not that lucky.

Looks like a bolt, possibly from the Ring Gear, worked it's way out, and well, take a look at the pictures. The round thing in the bottom of the housing looks like a bearing, but is actually the threaded part of the bolt (you can see the head, sheared in half in the oil pan). Along with that, there are some random shards of cast metal loose. Don't know yet where it's from. After cleaning it out, I still feel clunking in the pinion/ring gear when I twist the drive shaft, so I am thinking the set is toast. Which sucks.

So where do I go from here? The spider gears/axles seem to be unscathed, so is it possible to salvage the assembly? Can I repair the gears (I doubt that is wise/possible).

http://classicbroncos.com/photos/data/6970/medium/Ring_Gear_Damage.JPG
http://classicbroncos.com/photos/data/6970/medium/Front_Differential.JPG
http://classicbroncos.com/photos/data/6970/medium/Oil_pan.JPG
http://classicbroncos.com/photos/data/6970/medium/Ring_Gear_Close_up.JPG

 

[Bronco717274]

Unit should be fine but gears are toast. What gears 3:50?????

 

[br0nc0xrapt0r]

I have some fresh 3.50 gears from my old gear set if you need some. Just PM me.

 

[Kyle.malone]

At least you made i home with no more damage than that..

 

[lonicus]

The gears are 4.10 thanks though!

 

[fordtrucksrule]

it looks as if it was built recently! looks to me like a poor setup job.

 

[lonicus]

it looks as if it was built recently! looks to me like a poor setup job.

It's possible, I believe the PO put the 4.10 gearset in the truck, it would be the first thing I have found from him that was done poorly at all, but obviously, if a bolt backed out of the ring gear, I would think it has to do with improper assembly.

 

[markperry]

It looks to me like the PO put the 4.10 gears in and used the 3.50 carrier......the sheared off portion of the gears is about as much as the stock series 3 carrier is offset opposed to the the series 4 carrier?

Someone that knows more about it will chime in.

 

[sprdv1]

At least you made i home with no more damage than that..

Yeah could definitely be a lot worst...

 

[lonicus]

It looks to me like the PO put the 4.10 gears in and used the 3.50 carrier......the sheared off portion of the gears is about as much as the stock series 3 carrier is offset opposed to the the series 4 carrier?

I am still trying to disassemble the whole thing... sheesh... But it looks like the culprit is the loose bolt in the diff getting caught in the gears. I will know more when it's all out.

On that subject: Can you remove the front axle without disassembling the wheel bearing? just enough so that it disengages the carrier?

 

[bluesbish]

On that subject: Can you remove the front axle without disassembling the wheel bearing? just enough so that it disengages the carrier?

No. you can't.

 

[Bronco717274]

I'd check the torque on the rear ring gear bolts too. Same person did them too!! They might be next and you might not make it home on just the frontend pulling 350 miles.

 

[lonicus]

Finally got the carrier out tonight using the rag trick. Interesting thing to find here is it appears that the 4.09 gear ratio was actually stock, as the ring gear has the following number stamped into it:

3 15 72 DANA 18520 B3D96 45-11

I would hazard to guess that 3 15 72 would be the MFG date, making it the original set. Which means that more than likely, the bolt (It was one of the ring bolts) has been backing out over the past 40 years! From what I have read the 45-11 indicates it's a 4.09 ratio. Can anyone confirm that is correct?

I was hoping to get away with not replacing the bearings, but after finding metal flakes in the races I'm thinking new bearings and a full tear down and clean out of the carrier is due.

I will post some pics when I get the pinion out, but wow - it fared a lot worse than the ring, literally half the gear is missing.

 

[ken75ranger]

Yes the 45-11 means 45 ring gear teeth and 11 pinion gear teeth. So it looks like you have a stock 4.09 gear.

 

[Bronchole]

If you are on an ultra tight budget you could tear it all apart and flush the bearings and carrier out. Then examine them to see if they still look to be in ok condition. take a file and clean up the gears and re-assemble. If you go this rout you should probably put some serious thought in to saving up the budget to replace that gear in the future though.

Make sure to wash out the housing also. Lots of debris can get stored in the passage between the pinion bearings.

 

[Zillacon]

Gears are cheap if you have to tear it down so do it right the first time. I wouldnt run those gears anymore. They are only about $150 for D44 gears which is cheap when you look at the time you will have invested tearing everything down for inspection and cleaning.
With that being said I would stay away from the 4 Wheel Parts G2 gears sets as I have seen some complaints and pics that the ring gear bolts are 1/4" too short and shear off. You may want to take a look and see how long your bolts are to see if maybe that was part of the issue. I also use thread locker on the ring gear bolts as cheap insurance.

 

[Oatmeal]

Okay, looking at your pics, that's not a stock carrier.....open or L/S?:?
The end cap opposite the ring gear looks like it's bolted on, perhaps an old Gleason Torsen....dosen't look like a Tru Trac or Power Lock.

Hans