Metal shavings and chunks in differential

[arazdolgin]

Changed axle seal gasket on drive axle today and found muddy oil. Opened differential plug to check oil and found metal shavings and small chunks on bottom plug. Rear gear are rebuilt in 2020 and changed oil in February this year. 4.10 rears heavy haul. No high temp, vibration or hard driving. Trying to get her slowly every time. However noticed some feeling on 1 speed etc. U joints greased every 5000 miles.

Some play on driveshaft near transmission, not sure if transmission yok bad or something. Can it be related to transmission? Tranny also was rebuilt couple years ago, but previous owner had perimeter trailer with very heavy loads like 200,000 lbs before me.

I did spin one time recently which damaged my tires a bit, protectors.

So I changed oil, cleaned out from previous shavings. Any thoughts? I cannot change rear every 2 years…
Some people say you can drive after cleaning and check if more chunks, if not, keep driving.

Maybe some good reliable shop you know, who can perform rebuild?

[ptlogan77]

Is this on the ear drive axle on tandems, or a single rear axle?

[tree98]

(12-15-2022 )arazdolgin Wrote:  Some people say you can drive after cleaning and check if more chunks, if not, keep driving.

That's terrible advice. Something is obviously broke in there unless it wasn't cleaned out the last time it was worked on. If you keep driving it you could completely destroy the entire axle !!

[arazdolgin]

(12-15-2022 )ptlogan77 Wrote:  Is this on the ear drive axle on tandems, or a single rear axle?

Front drive axle.

[Rawze]

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Wheel seal blowing out...

- Most of the time when you blow a wheel seal it is because someone neglected the required maintenance on the rear axles. ALL the axle hub bearings on the truck need to be re-torqued every 250k miles. If not then they will eventually get so bad that they blow out a rear axle seal, or sometimes it causes intermittent ABS alarms. It also eats up the inner drive tire up closest to the frame with accelerated inner edge wear, usually in a cupped or river wear pattern.

- It can also be from the breather tube being clogged (dirt-bee made a nest inside it) up at the differential.. but this is far less common.

- Inspect and re-torque ALL hub bearings and find out if the metal in your diff is not a hub bearing falling apart first.

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chunks inside the diff...

Metal filings are quite normal as the diff gets worked hard and wears in.. however... actual chunks are an issue. According to those pics, you need to be seriously concerned. Things need to come apart and be inspected. It is most likely the diff lock / spider gears getting chewed up if it is the front diff.

- Maybe someone switched on the diff lock and spun the tires with a heavy load.. AND/OR A HEAVY FOOT on the accelerator with the diff lock on.

Diff lock spider gears are small and only designed to take the load differences, not the full operating loads. They are Not intended for long term use, they can verheat easily, are supposed to be used with only low speeds (below 25 mph), etc. and are especially vulnerable to heavy handed fuel pedal commands while they are engaged.

-= It points to abuse of some sort beyond what the diff was designed for. That or a mistake on proper clearances was made during the rebuild.

It being a heavy-haul truck.. are they even the heavier 46k rated diffs or more? - or are they the standard 34k?

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In any event.. THE WHOLE THING needs to come apart, bar minimum and be cleaned out. Axles, axle bearings, front diff,... all of it, because any metal chunks still in there -ARE GOING TO FIND THEIR WAY into something at some point and cause further damage. Otherwise you will chase your tail on it and it will plague it.

-= Pull it apart. ALL apart, including hub bearings. Clean EVERYTHING out including the insides of the axle housing itself. Inspect what gears or other components are chewed up, and/or are scarred.

Find the cause, ensure the engine torque and speed governor is not rated/set higher than the diffs continuous use duty-cycle ratings (and not its peak ratings), and change driving habits if necessary, so that future failures can be prevented.

[marek4792]

Was the truck humming when coasting? If so the differential probably is very well on its way out and you just caught it in the nick of time.

[Konstantin]

I spin my axle too during winter and had some chunks as well. Mine was failed washer in inter axle differential. I took apart and fixed, but I think it would be probably ok to drive it like that. If I were you I would change diff oil, install temp sensor and watch it closely while driving. If there is a problem it will be overheating. Or maybe just monitoring temp with infrared gun. I would take the risk, but it is up to you.

[hhow55]

I've been there also,
Solution: Replace

[arazdolgin]

So fixed my front differential. D46-170 with 4.10 rears cost me 7k from Drivetrain in Chicago, pretty expensive, plus labor.

The repair guys from Drivetrain said: “ We found out the input and power divider components where worn out, and the ring and pinion started to pit.
Something also ran through the pinion drive gear.” Is that means I used diff lock and broke it? I did it once with heavy stuff with side curb.

This particular front differential was installed in 2020. I am heavy haul guy.

So my question is do i need to upgrade info in ECM if my original rears was 3.78, but I changed to 4.10 rears?

How to ensure the engine torque and speed governor is not rated/set higher than the diffs continuous use duty-cycle ratings (and not its peak ratings)??

Any opinion will be great as I don’t want to stuck in again, thank you