www.iFourWinns.com

last trip of the year, only a mile from home and i burnt up the rear diff on my 2000 silverado. with over 130K i have serviced the the diff regurlarly. my mistake? i have never pulled the cover to inspect the inner workings. had i done that i may have avoided the unexpected breakdown. my issue was only a badly worn side gear on the driver side. a super easy fix, even for a less experienced person like myself. if you have an older tow vehicle and it's getting up there in miles i would recommend pulling the cover next time you service the diff. a $7.00 gasket may save you a $100.00 tow bill.

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2007 190H 4.3 volvo Gxi
2014 Chevy Silverado 2500hd

Yup, best method is to pull the cover. No need to use a gasket, RTV can be bought from any auto parts store or walmart. Only thing that sucks is cleaning all of the old RTV off.

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2007 Four Winns H180
4.3GL-G Volvo Penta SX

Personally I'd rather have a gasket. The last time I had mine done they used RTV. The truck had to go back twice because it kept leaking.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

I can't stand RTV, its a pain in the butt and in the old days we always had gaskets for the rear axle cover...there is a company that makes gaskets for the Dana 30/35 in my old Jeep and the next time I change it I'm going to use them. Actually I'd love to see them put a drain plug in the bottom of the axle housing, once you do the first change if you had a magnetic plug the need to pull the cover is not as great unless you want to inspect the gears. My 07 Grand has a drain plug on the front diff housing....

I am a big believer in synthetic 75/140 gear oils for diffs, I have had very good luck with them in my 98 Jeep....

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

... or else ......





OR ......



OR ....

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Gordon Arnold
New Hampshire

2003 268 Vista ..................................................................Prior: 97 245 Sundowner

That hurts just to look. What's that out of Gordon?

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

The top two are from the 2000 WS6 T/A. Daily driver and road racer with about 450hp. The road racing heavily side-loads the carrier bearings (since it is a c-clip style axle) and that caused the carrier bearing to blow-up which caused the carrier to break which then caused the ring & pinion to munch each other.

Middle is from a BMW (84 323i, Euro). The bearing roller cage broke, allowing the roller to depart and find it's way between the ring & pinion.

Lower is spider gear parts from an 88 Suburban that was lifted 6" and running 40" tires ..... on the stock 10-bolt axles. Those are from the rear axle. Chewed up the ring & pinion, so I initially just installed some used spiders and removed the ring gear (so the driveshaft & pinion could freewheel, as well as the axles) ... and drove it as a front wheel drive (with t-case in 4wd).

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Gordon Arnold
New Hampshire

2003 268 Vista ..................................................................Prior: 97 245 Sundowner

feeling kind of fourtunite after seeing those pics. a mechanic friend said the failure of the one gear appeared to be a "soft metal" issue, as there was no real damage on the other gears in the cage and the ring and pinion looked almost new. new parts were $150.00 and i also changed the rear brakes at the same time, $25.00.

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2007 190H 4.3 volvo Gxi
2014 Chevy Silverado 2500hd