Final Drive Failure....

[jamming]

On my truck...............dang it!!!! There was a bit of noise and I thought it was the carrier bearing, no big deal, a couple of hundred and its fixed. Not only no, but hell no, the noise is coming from the pumpkin.

I'm thinking a pinion bearing is gone. That's a whole new differential. When the pinions fail they make metal and take out all the seals, the spiders, the orbitals, tear up the axle splines, its ALL freaking bad. That's a grand plus....so I found a complete diff at a U-pull-it yard for 299.00.

Guess what I'm doing Saturday? Anybody AZ way want to help? I need some muscle, I'm taking my 18V recip saw and a bunch of metal blades to pull the junkyard diff. It won't be pretty....I've ordered new U-bolts for my truck so I'll saw those off as well. I'm thinking a couple of hours to pull mine off after I score the used one and put in new fluid. Pretty easy, 8 bolts and a couple of parking brake cables and 2 vent lines, a serious 1/2 impact and a good jack. I'll fill up the beer fridge. One of my Triumph riding buddies has volunteered, he just doesn't know it yet.......there is a silver lining...I can get a hundred or so for the old one for scrap metal.

[Donson]

Wish I was close enough to help, Rog....i will have a beer and encourage You from this end....:)

[Ed K]

Bummer Roger, what do you think caused it?

[1MPH]

Can't be there Roger, but i can send lots of moral support from the bay area.
Hope it helps. Good Luck. Don't get any grease on your scalp. :)

[vintagemxr]

Bummer about the diff, Roger. How many miles on your truck? They didn't use BMW final drive parts in it, did they? :patch:

I should be delivering my bike to it's new owner on Saturday so I won't be of any help. Safer for you anyway, Roger, as I'm a crappy mechanic. Takes me longer to find the nuts and bolts I drop, lose, or round off, than it does to actually do a job.

the other Doug

[Sir Limpsalot]

I'm all out of muscle. Tea and sympathy though - I can manage that!

[Arby]

That kind of work used to be right up my alley, Roger. I'd help if I could. (Don't forget to verify that the replacement is the correct ratio)

RB

[Deans BMW]

Have fun Rog.

Don't bump your head on anything...........:)

[jamming]

That kind of work used to be right up my alley, Roger. I'd help if I could. (Don't forget to verify that the replacement is the correct ratio)

RB

Thanks RB....2.92...I plan on popping the cover and counting teeth to confirm...made that mistake before

[jamming]

Update.....best laid plans of mice and men and all that rubbish...after some research I discovered Dodge and BMW have something in common. There's a known rear drive problem that they issued service bulletins on but refuse to acknowledge.

On the 02-04 Dodge pickups the pinion bearings go out, no shit Sherlock, mine did. So instead of replacing with one that WILL go out, I did the right thing and changed ALL the bearings and seals in the rear diff. It was kind of a PITA but my ring and pinion gears were fine. The bearing was gone with a capitial G, but now she's right as rain.

[Arby]

Update.....best laid plans of mice and men and all that rubbish...after some research I discovered Dodge and BMW have something in common. There's a known rear drive problem that they issued service bulletins on but refuse to acknowledge.

On the 02-04 Dodge pickups the pinion bearings go out, no shit Sherlock, mine did. So instead of replacing with one that WILL go out, I did the right thing and changed ALL the bearings and seals in the rear diff. It was kind of a PITA but my ring and pinion gears were fine. The bearing was gone with a capitial G, but now she's right as rain.

You did the right thing. I would have at least opened it up for inspection before swapping it out.

However, since my Ram is an '02, now I'm paranoid!! :linzi:

How many miles did you get from the original bearings?

RB

[jamming]

However, since my Ram is an '02, now I'm paranoid!! :linzi:

How many miles did you get from the original bearings?

RB

70,000 and mine is an 03.

RB, I'd change it ASAP. In 2002 Dodge changed suppliers for the read ends and the pinion bearing going out is a very common problem. I could see that mine was going long before it started making noise. If I had let it go much longer I would have been changing the ring and pinion gears as well as all of the bearings and seals. The seal/bearing kit and the gasket and fluid set me back a shade over 300 bucks. I'll bet you get em cheaper as you were in the business.

[Arby]

Good info, Roger. Thanks.

RB