Now the bad news

[lifted_up]

While fixing my A/C, I had my friend look at the considerable play I had in my rear axle/driveshaft. The drive shaft turns a 1/4 turn before 'engaging' and when I park it has a good 1ft roll or more. He pulled the top plug off of the differential cover and it was full of metal shavings It's going into the shop Friday morning now, but I want to hear from anyone else who has had any diff. problems. He suggested I put in a detroit locker while I have it apart-any suggestions from anyone here? Just what will this locker do that I don't have now? This is a new area for me.

 

[XTrmXJ]

You have a 4wd vehical but its not a TRUE 4wd.. You are still technically a 2Wd (1 tire in the rear, 1 tire in the front) but you just transfer power to the front axle to assist.. What a locker in the rear axle will do is keep the rear 2 tires engaged under a load, like posi, so you will atleast be a 3 wheeled wonder unless you decide to do the rear, if you do off roading you will notice a big difference in grip on the tire and you will be able to plow through the mud... Keep in mind, A Detroit locker will feel really weird if you would just grab the DS and try and check for slop, it wont engage unless it FEELS torque and power being transmitted

 

[XTrmXJ]

After reading the post again, did you buy this truck new? it might already have a detriot in the rear axle, that locker will give you that feeling of major slop

 

[BIGBLUECREW]

While fixing my A/C, I had my friend look at the considerable play I had in my rear axle/driveshaft. The drive shaft turns a 1/4 turn before 'engaging' and when I park it has a good 1ft roll or more. He pulled the top plug off of the differential cover and it was full of metal shavings It's going into the shop Friday morning now, but I want to hear from anyone else who has had any diff. problems. He suggested I put in a detroit locker while I have it apart-any suggestions from anyone here? Just what will this locker do that I don't have now? This is a new area for me.

It sounds to me that you deffinately have a severe problem in the rear diff of your truck. It sounds to me that the rear pinion bearing went south, or something like that, whech then caused the ringa nd pinion to go bad. There is no reason to see metal shavings in the fluid unless something is terminally wrong.

I am possitive you will need a complete rebuild of the differential. Personally, if I were you, I would install a factory limited slip in there. I have a 99' F350
4x4 powerstroke. After a good rain shower, the truck would lose all traction. I could not be happier with the performance of the limited slip.

Frank

 

[97CREWCABPSD]

factory crap well is just that. the factory Limited slip will not hold behind our diesel pickups all we do is over power them. If you want something that is streetable yet extremely capable off road just put ARB Air lockers in it. you really dont want a detriot locker in a daily driver because they can be a real pain in the butt. they scrub tires, dont allow you to turn at slow speeds such as parking spaces. i know all this because i have a truck with detriots and i wont do them in a daily driver again. lucky for me i was able to make my truck into an offroad toy.

 

[lifted_up]

Thanks for the info so far. I'll take more comments. I bought the truck last year with 140k on it. No telling what is in the rear end considering half the mods were already done to the truck when I bought it. If I was to open it up myself, what would I look for to tell if it already has a locker? What kind of pricing am I looking at for a rebuild? What kind of price differences between the detroit and the ARB? I'll take all the info I can get. I need this done before the Cado Mills trip!-popcorn -popcorn -popcorn

 

[Hoss 350]

Thanks for the info so far. I'll take more comments. I bought the truck last year with 140k on it. No telling what is in the rear end considering half the mods were already done to the truck when I bought it. If I was to open it up myself, what would I look for to tell if it already has a locker? What kind of pricing am I looking at for a rebuild? What kind of price differences between the detroit and the ARB? I'll take all the info I can get. I need this done before the Cado Mills trip!-popcorn -popcorn -popcorn

Do you hear noise? Like whirring, grinding, crunching from teh rear end? Reason I ask is my Dad's motorhome had a punkin full of shavings the last time we changed the fluids in it, too. It has gone for 12,000 miles since without a noise, grind, crunch or whirr one. I don't know if it was a factory milling shavings, or what, but it was not a bad diff. of course, 1/4 turn of slop would indicate something wrong, but not necessarily a bad diff, and it is possible the shavings are totally unrelated???

I still don't know what happened to Dad's MH, it doesn't make any sense...

 

[jopes]

my guess is you have a dana 80 in the rear of that truck. detroit will run 700+ and I dunno if ARB makes a Dana 80 air locker. ARB will probably be a few hundred more than the detroit, plus you need some sort of air compressor to power the pump.

 

[HTRDDSL]

I've had a Detroit Locker in mine since new and haven't ever encountered any slop. I love it and if I bought a new truck tomorrow my wife would insist I install a DL in that one as well.

But I hope your repairs are not too expensive.

 

[lifted_up]

Got out of the shop for less than $300, although he spent a good 6 hours on it he only billed me for 2.5. He said it was a good learning experience for him. Says I have a Dana 80 with a (I forget the name)-True lock?) Turns out the ring and pinion are almost new and the cover has been welded to repair it, that must have been from an exploded rear end. I'd sure like that HY-Tek diif. cover. Good excuse to buy one "mines been repaired and............"?. The clutch shims were worn out and something was backwards. Most of the metal dust was from the shims I'm thinking. It still has a bit of 'slop' with the roll after putting it in park, but I know the guts are in good shape. My chip went out and he lent me an old school Diablo chip also, so it was money saved and money well spent. See ya at the rally!