Metal shavings and chunks in differential

[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.