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the difficult diff.... again?

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tweety

tweety

Jedi Trainee
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A little over two years ago the pumpkin on my 79 1500 self destructed. It started making terrible noises then it pretty much locked up. I managed to get a used 2.9:1 dif from a wrecker recommended by my mechanic, mechanic changed it out for me. All has been well until last night. I was driving out of a parking lot at about 10 mph when I realized that the car seemed to have lost momentum. The engine seemed to be running fine, as was the tranny. But rev the engine and the car didn't go. No advance strange noises or anything, no loud pop, no clunk... It just quietly lost the driveline.

I checked to the best of my ability last night in the dark, it seemed that the prop shaft was spinning just fine.

I did notice that there is a bit of an occasional grind coming from the left rear wheel when in gear after it happened.

This sure seems like the pumpkin again..... any other ideas?

How hard is it to swap out a differential? kind of thinking trying it myself.
 
Check for a broken left axle. On fire trucks we made a snare out of mechanics to grab the broken end in the center section.
 
The service manual makes an axle seem easy to do.... True?

If it is snapped, how do I get the broken part out?
 
Mechanic's wire (as stated), baling wire, rebar tie-wire, or coat hanger.
Make an oval loop in the end (tied), and bend it about 45 degree angle from the main piece of wire.
It may take a bend or two to get it to wedge over the broken axle and grab.

Now:

EXPERIENCE here:

Take all parts, lay them together, and make ABSOLUTELY FREAKING CERTAIN you have all the parts!

I have had axles break and leave a chunk floating around......you need to get it out.

IF the parts have been grinding together, you need to drain and clean out the housing completely!

Magnet, solvent, rags, magnet again, get all the corners.

I have gone into the corners with Brakleen and the spray wand, then wiped it out again.

Did I say to wipe it out again?

Dave
 
If it is a broken axle I would remove the other axle and the center section in order to do a proper cleaning. Be careful of your fingers as there might be some sharp baffles in the housing. The job is easy. I took a center section out a parts car in about 15 minutes.
 
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