Rear Differential Problem?

[oifvet]

After draining the rear differeintial, I noticed a few pieces of metal about the size of wooden match sticks in the drain pan. I poured about a cup of gasoline through to rinse the differential and then fished a magnet on a gooseneck handle inside the housing. I felt a large object that was loose inside and it ended up being a large spring of some sort. It was painted red and it is damaged in the photo. This was mosly from me pulling it out through the filler hole, (which now must have the threads cleaned up a little with a tap, if I can find a 1-20 thread repair tap.) It was damaged inside the differential, but was rather straight, considering what it had been through.

Can anyone tell me what the heck this spring went to inside the rear-most differential? What am I looking at as far as repairing whatever failed? I have not noticed anything unusual with the operation of the truck, which is a 1989 M35A2C wo/w and 9955 miles.

Thanks in advance!

 

[DieselBob]

I'm guessing it is a brake return spring looking at the extended attachment ends and the color you said. How it ended up in the differential housing is anybody's guess.

 

[hndrsonj]

If you're pulling metal the size of match sticks and the spring out, i'd buy a rear axle from a bobbed truck for $100 or so and change the guts.

 

[gringeltaube]

Yes, that is (was) a brake shoe return spring, and it got both ends broken off. So the "metal" pieces found could be just that...?

As long as there are no gear tooth fragments I wouldn't worry too much.

G.

 

[oifvet]

DieselBob,

Yes, it looked a lot like a brake return spring (initially), and the red color made me think just that. Agreed... How did it find its way into the differential? (p.s. - Your avatar with Peter Sellers always freaks me out. Great movie though!)

hndrsonj,

The pieces that were like the match sticks were two straight pieces of the spring. No other items found.

gringeltaube,

Is there anyway that you can think of that that spring would have or could have swam through the axle housing? It's not possible, is it? I'm thinking some mechanic (?) might have had the axle opened up and was working on brakes... maybe set the spring inside the axle...?

The whole thing is odd. If the filler-hole treads didn't get dinged up, I'd be on the road. I'll be on the hunt for that tap tomorrow.

The only other location with lots of metal was the the transfer case. The large magnet on the drain plug had trapped a mess of debris. That has me a little worried also. Those were more like pieces half the size of standard (paper) matches. I would say maybe a dozen or more pieces. Again, a good rinsing and fishing with a magnet got the case cleaned out. I'll try to post pics later if necessary.

 

[gringeltaube]

That was what I thought at first; that that spring had been left in the spindle during a brake job, then "got lost" and finally pushed all the way in when they put the axle shaft back in place.
But I'm not sure if that spring would easily come out through one of the windows in the differential carrier housing halves.
Have to take a look at it tomorrow...

G.

 

[steve6x6x6]

Bubba in the motor pool strikes again. I have handled hundreds upon hunderds of 2 1/2 ton axles over many years and see this all the time, bubba is pissed at his C.O. and through something in there and bolt it together. I see them with one spindle nut or two shovels of dirt in the bottom bolted back togther with no oil.

 

[Flyingvan911]

I don't see how a spring could possibly get through the small space between the axle and the housing. Especially with the seals there. Talk about a leaking seal!

 

[gringeltaube]

There are no seals in the rear axle tubes...

Question is if that spring could get from inside the axle tube to the bottom of the axle housing, with the differential carrier in place.

Probably not... so maybe Steve's theory applies in this case?


G.

 

[gimpyrobb]

There are no seals in the rear axle tubes...

Question is if that spring could get from inside the axle tube to the bottom of the axle housing, with the differential carrier in place.

G.

Thats why the spring is so mangled, the gears caught it and spit it out.

 

[Odyssey M]

If only the spring could talk! Oh the story it could tell. Another unsolved mystery....

 

[Stretch44875]

Think the only way it ended up there was if someone put it there.

 

[silverstate55]

I just replaced the forward rear axle in my Deuce; when I drained the lubricant from it, 3 large metal shards were sticking to the magnetic drain plug....so I tore the whole thing down to check for damage.

I found that the entire axle had been rebuilt recently but not tagged; it even had like-new brakes. There were no other fragments found, nor were there even any metal shavings on the magnetic drain plug. So I cleaned everything out, put in new seals & gaskets, and reassembled everything.

Hopefully you'll have the same luck.

 

[oifvet]

I am relieved that it wasn't something that belonged to some mechanism inside the axle. Though I am no expert on differentials, I was fairly confident that it was not there because anything associated with the internal workings of the axle had failed.

The 1-20 plug tap will be at the Dayton Tool Crib in the morning, and I will have to wait another day to fix the threads up. (8th (wedding) anniversary tomorrow, and dinner reservations are made. I don't think I could sneak outside and crawl under the truck to repair the threads and fill the differential without someone knowing. It might make for a bad day.)

I'm almost to the spin-on oil and fuel filter kits. All said, the spring in the differential slowed me down, but it could have been much worse.

Thank you to everyone here that provided feedback. It really helped.

 

[Flyingvan911]

Congradulations on the 8 years. It is best not to go to dinner smelling like GL-1.

 

[gringeltaube]

You are very lucky! - if all it takes is fixing those threads... (after dinner, of course....!!!! )
I may suggest using teflon tape to help keep that plug sealed.

Since I said I would look at it.... (and just for the sake of completeness): found out today that that spring may indeed have "traveled" all the way from inside the spindle towards the pumpkin and down to its sump, before being chewed up by the differential spider gears and causing sure disaster, immediately...
1st, there is enough space for the spring to move inside the axle tube, with the axle shaft in place.
2nd, there is also plenty of room between the banjo outer wall and the third member (bolted in place).

Conclusion: this all could have happened accidentally, like described in post #6.

G.