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truckerdesiree

I have a 2016 KW T680 currently 337,000 miles and in January I had rear auxiliary transmission replaced under warranty. The KW Dealership led me to believe they flushed system and filled with new oil and inspected everything including differential.

I took it in for a few minor issues a few days ago and had a note to myself to ask them to see if there was a loose bolt by transmission because last time I was in there, their mechanic said he saw a little spray by the in frame and transmission.

I have had no leaks or puddles of oil.

Anyways, along with the minor things in unrelated areas of the truck I told them to look under there for any loose bolts or leaks and they called me to say my differential was gone and barely any oil in it. That I needed a new one and not sure warranty would cover it.

The oil they drained was shiny with no metal in it. There were some metal chunks when they pulled seal but they didn't even tell me they saw leaking before pulling seal.

I am trying to understand how this can happen when you have no symptoms of a problem and suddenly the thing has to be replaced. Does anyone know about this? It is a Dana differential.

I've had to be pushy with dealership to understand how they end up with a differential problem when I took my truck in for something else but say it has nothing to do with transmission work they did in January.

If my PM's have been on time since them it would seem I would have some sign that something was going wrong.

Just looking for some insight while I await news from Dana on whether warranty will cover this.

Thanks,

Desiree

hhow55

I'm discovering that a lot of these shops are not checking oil level in the diff's or transmission.
Prior experience with diff's that I have had that went bad, made loud whine while driving down the hwy, before failure. I think it would be a good precaution, to pull the axle's and pull the diff, and look for sign's of excessive heat marking's.

Rawze

What are you calling a "rear auxiliary transmission"? - Is it the differential lock?, do you have a set of 2-speed rears?, just curious there. Maybe a picture or 2 would help.

337k miles is still fairly new in its lifespan. It would be very unusual to replace one that early except under perhaps abuse, or perhaps an oil leak that no one bothered to spot. Even so, at every oil change, I have the level of my rears and tranny inspected on my own truck. Most oil change places do it as a courtesy.

Like HHow55 pointed out, they act up and make noise when starting to fail.

If someone suspects a rear diff to be going bad, then is has to be pulled out and inspected. Any damage or excessive wear can be seen easily, backlash of the gears can be measured for proper clearance, and pictures can be taken of it. Eaton-Dana has repair and service manuals all over their website to download for free on how to inspect it and measure it for excessive wear or replacement. -- I would demand the measurements of backlash so that you can compare them to the manual + pictures + a visual inspection of any damage before approving a replacement, warranty or not.

I am not playing around with "opinions" and such, especially when there is good correct information out there provided by the manufacturer.

You keep taking that truck to the "stealershit" and you are only going to continue to be brioke and ger ripped off. Even under warranty, they do not pay you for all the lose big $$$ in down-time while you wait for days to "get into the bay" only for some jerk-off to charge you for "environmental fees " and all sorts of other jack-legged crap that is only designed to drain your wallet through highway robbery. -- screw that, I will buy a set of tools and find out what is wrong for myself.

==========

Last but not least by any stretch,.. if you have to replace a rear --- It is the perfect opportunity to re-gear the truck for a better profit margin... Get rid of the tall gears and go with something more reasonable like 3.79's or something so that the expense becomes an investment with a return through higher profits and slower driving speed.

Signature620

Even when they leak badly from yoke seals, it takes a very long time for the level to drop significantly. Either a plug has come out or there has been some sort of miscommunication.

dhirocz

I've been considering that...switching to something like 3.90's would be alot more suitable than the 3.42 I have now. Other than my diff lock and wheel seals, my axles haven't given me so much as a peep of trouble since I bought the truck...though you can tell it's been worked on before (gray rtv).

Rawze

(07-11-2018 )dhirocz Wrote: ...
you can tell it's been worked on before (gray rtv).

Many differentials come from the factory with grey RTV as the main seal.

Oldad6150

I can’t believe warranty wouldn’t cover that I thought that stuff was covered up to 500k. Everyone at the dealership trying to get out of the warranty work buisness. It’s a shame.

imalumberjack

(07-11-2018 )Signature620 Wrote: Even when they leak badly from yoke seals, it takes a very long time for the level to drop significantly. Either a plug has come out or there has been some sort of miscommunication.

I agree with Sinature620, you would have oil everywhere! if it were coming out of either front or rear seal or axle seals you would know it! I'm not sure you could empty a pumpkin by a loss of seal .....it would take long time. I usually do a heat check when I pull over ... just walk around and feel hubs if there is a lot of heat I move further into truck to see where its coming from.