Was riding through the duck hole this weekend, hammered down on it and heard a popping and the rear wheels quit pulling.
I figured I’d stripped the splines on the rear axle, but was kinda miffed that it would have given up with only 2K miles on it. Drained fluid and it looked like gear oil. Not perfectly clear, but not bad either.
So yesterday I tore the rear end down. I’d already planned on putting new seals in the brake, and when I tore it down I found it full of water (wasn’t surprised). The left side bearing had a little play in it (not bad, but enough to need replacement) and both sides of the axle tube had a little water in them.
After looking at the axle splines, they don’t look bad at all. Still have the little machine marks on the splines. Driveshaft splines looked good too, but there were metal shavings on top of the pinion seal.
I took the diff apart, and the teeth all look good, but when I put it back together now the ring and pinion bind up. There was one shim on pinion side of the ring gear which I put back in place, so kinda stumped on why it’s binding up now.
Given that the ring gear, pinion, axle splines and driveshaft spines all look good, the only thing else I can think of is the ujoint coming off the rear of the motor. I ran out of daylight before I had time to take the boot off and check it.
Anyone got any idea on the ring and pinion binding? Anything I’m overlooking here?
