That's the route that I would go if it were me. There is a possibility that you may get a bad one though. I picked one up a couple of years ago on craigslist for the nephew for $250.00 and so far for over 50,000 miles its been a good one.

 

If I just take the two bolts off on the driver's side and remove that outer piece - can I see the bearing at all - to look for obvious damage? This isn't a pic of my truck but I'm talking about just these two bolts?

 

All you'll see is the race for the bearing. But if it's total Fubar, the race could be discolored or possably even cracked.

You will also see the shim or shims between the race and the housing.

 

I'm still wondering why the wheel temp on the driver side was so high(as in your first post) to me that would indicate bad wheel bearings.

 

Dave , reread post 18.

 

Could the differential have gotten so hot that it heated up the tube all the way out to that wheel? Since the heat is coming from the driver's side carrier (I think) makes some sense that the heat transferred all the way to the drivers rotor and hub.

Wondering now if that smoke was coming out of the vent tube - which is right behind the driver's wheel and not actually the wheel smoking. It was definitely hot though and the passenger side was not.

Where my logic falls down is that if the hub got to 300+ then I can only imagine how hot the inside of the differential got and I'm just not finding obvious sources or damage for that kind of heat.

 

Reread post 18.




I wouldn't think it was possible for the heat to transfer all the way over there from the diff and not transfer more heat to the other side. But I guess I've seen odd stuff happen before.

Are you going to pull that bearing cap?

 

I am, not that much work to drain it again and pull the cap. Nothing's gonna fall out on my head is it?

 

Removing just one cap won't let anything fall out on your head. Lol

Spin the bolts out, than keep them in the holes in the cap, and use them as leverage to pop the cap off. When you reinstall them, they require 80 ft-lbs.

 

Any good Automotive shop can rebuild your diff. I wouldn't take it to Ford unless you have too much money. Haha. I'm pretty sure master rebuilt kit for a sterling 10.5 is like $200 ish. Not that big of a job. Lots of time they can just replace the bearings and don't have to set up the gears again. Good luck.

 

10 or so years ago when I was still dumb 20 something year old kid and kind of a novice at the mechanic stuff I replaced all of the differential bearings in my Mustangs 8.8 after running low on oil and burning up the old ones. I just put new bearings in with the stock shims on the carrier and did the same with the Pinion with a new crush sleave and tightened to the correct inch pound drag but didn't measure anything on the gears and for some reason I got lucky and it worked, no gear noise yet and haven't seen a bit of metal on the magnet.

 

With everything you've done already pulling the carrier will not be above your skill level.
It's just four bolts and make sure you keep everything seperated left and right to install same as they came out.
The caps may already be marked for L&R and up & down...
Temps are leading you to a side but won't hurt to grab the pinion and check that for play.
Just to rule out the marks on carrier being fresh

 

^^^^^This^^^^^

It's not above your skill level at all, Christina.

 

Ok Dave and all for your listening and viewing pleasure.

Gear spinning with no stubs - drive shaft down - friend of mine spinning pinion flange.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IrjRo41d4xc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Another video near pinion - because it was clunking - but not sure if that's a normal amount of slack I'm hearing?
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GwGsxV8wbvQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

And several photos of the driver's side with the carrier bearing cap removed and of the inside of the cap itself.

 

give me a bit, I'll get some comparison vids for you, and some more info. I'm getting ready to take some family pics at the moment