Dana 60 Grizzly Locker Issue

[rcmbronc]

I have a 609 front axle. First test drive. 35 spline Grizzly locker. Solid axle inner and outer knuckles and front end kit. When I installed the axles the drivers side went in hard. I actually had to put in the longer passenger axle and wiggle it a bit to get all the splines to mesh.

Test drive and a good vibration. I have drive flanges so I did not take the slugs out to test them yet. That axle also is leaking from the inner seal. Just wondering if maybe all the inners of the grizzly are either not seated correctly or maybe broke. I am going to put it back on jack stands and test ther locker to see if it is ratcheting and locking. May have to take back apart. Anyone else have this? I also my go to lock outs but the cost for good ones is nuts.

 

[stout22]

I have a similar problem with a 9" but I believe it is a bent axle tube.

 

[Yeller]

If the od of the axle is too large that goes into the deep end of the differential (side with the ring gear) it will be difficult to impossible to install. Also some splines typically rolled like RCV and Yukon use, the OD of them is slightly too large. They also tend to be rough. I always lightly hit them with a flapper wheel to deburr and clean the surface up, that usually cures the installation issues. I’m assuming that you used the aluminum pucks with Seal-it seals in them? Those are very effective seals but are very susceptible to nick’s from sharp edges, always apply grease to the axle when installing. Also did you use RTV on the pick that holds the seal? If there are 2 seals did you put grease between them? To me the vibration would point to pinion angle but not feeling or driving it so hard to say.

Yeah good lockouts are spendy…. I can say the offering from Yukon is hard to beat. I have only ever seen 1 broken and it was deserved. Wide open throttle, launch and slam into a wedge really expected to see the axle grenaded.

 

[DirtDonk]

Vibration could be lots of things.
What is the angle on your driveshaft and your U-joints?
You’re sure that the vibration is coming from the front only? And not being transmitted around the vehicle from the rear?
What speed were you driving, and was the t-case in four-wheel-drive?
Tire style and age?
Yours is very highly set up for offloading, and normally with our gear ratios we don’t drive them on hard pack while locked in. Although with a 9 inch front and rear, your ratios now match exactly?

 

[rcmbronc]

Inner axles are Dutchman with the 1.5" OD well baclk to match the seal. Only have inner seals that are standard D60 seals.

I dont think pinion angle. This is a new front install and pinion angle from diff to driveshaft is on maybe 1 degree max difference. I really think from axle which also comes with inner seal leaking.

Yes front only. Only present with new front axle. In 2wd and 4 wd but have drive flanges so front always locked in. I can feel it and hear it in the front.

Brand new BF Goodrich 37" MT. Possible to be a tire but seems very extreme for a tire. I will probably take apart and check some things. What si strange is the leak and the issue with having trouble installing the axles kind of tells me something in the inner axle or locker.

 

[Yeller]

I've had some really bad new BFG's as of late, why I don't currently have any in my fleet.

I'd still buff the axle splines, its not grinding on them, just polishing and cleaning up the splines, it makes a huge difference in how they fit. Interesting that you have normal D60 seals. You rarely see that due to the difficulty of getting them aligned. All of the housings I've worked on all used the Seal-it seals, This is the only type of seal I've ever installed in a 609, used different versions but the inner replaceable seal has been the same.

I've also had the housing leak down the tube from inside the housing, not the seal. That one about broke me, finally just had to tell the customer he had to deal with it, he provided the housings. I had both 609's apart and back together at least 10 times trying to fix the leak, still leaking 12 years later....

 

[rcmbronc]

I will for sure take the drive slugs out to verify if it may be tires. Mine is a 3" OD tube housing so not sure the Spidertrax seals will work. Currie built mine and had it machined inside to fit the standard seal but no guarantee it is correct. Do the spodertrax ones mount out toward the axle or inside near the carrier?

 

[Yeller]

They mount inside near the diff.

Guess it’s been a long time since I’ve used a Currie housing. They always told me I was on my own for seals so when spidertrax came out, they had all the parts and I didn’t have to truss it, I never looked back.

 

[rcmbronc]

It looks like the locker is working as it should. Problem I am pretty sure is found. The driveshaft has about 1/2” runout. Crazy. The yolk welded to the shaft at the CV joint u joint is bent bad. I have no idea how. No hit marks or anything. Tom woods shaft. I don’t get it. All I did was replace the front axle. Might have been a tad long but it went in with spare compression at full stuff. No idea. Will order a new one a bit shorter and see what happens. Not sure why the axle is leaking. I still need to test drive without the driveshaft to verify but can see the run out for sure.

 

[rcmbronc]

Not even sure it is a Toms Woods shaft. The cap on that joint is all beat up but painted. Maybe an old shaft I had that never was good. With lock outs on the old axle never had the shaft turning high speed. Not sure. Hope maybe this fixes it

 

[nvrstuk]

Good luck and EZ fix.

 

[Yeller]

At least the vibration is an easy fix. Hopefully the leak is as well.

 

[rcmbronc]

The leak appears to be the seal in crooked. Took it all apart and replaced the seal and will see from there. All hopefully will be good.

 

[Yeller]

Not saying this is what happened…. I had a helper knock the seals most of the way out installing the axles, made it about a week before the customer came back…..