Anyone ever blow out a dana 60 like I just did on the highway last week?
I feel kinda special. And I feel lucky the axle didn't lock up while I was rollin' 70.

 

Looks like it was a little low on oil if the pinion is all rusty.
Chipped teeth on R&P of a GM 10 bolt in a K5 Blazer because carrier bearings went bad.
I also ran it low on oil and heated the housing to turn it white but the gears did not look rusty like your pinion does.


Had a buddy put spider gears thru housing on a Dana 44 front in this jeep but he was racing it off road at the time.


Funny you say about rear lock up. My sons YJ did that going down the road slid it sideways across both lanes and could not move it. He was lucky it did not flip or someone hit him as it was night time and no lights on that road.
Dave ----

 

Call me crazy, but I don't think it's recommended to drive at 70mph with the hubs locked.

Especially on a solid surface.

You might check the sticker on top of your sunvisor (under "Extended Highway Operation")

 

That's a rear not a front. The danger to the driveline in 4wd on pavement is the transfer case. The front end can handle being the sole drive axle just fine. I drove on the D50 in my truck for 3 months once...

 

Doh!

Yeah, I've driven my truck fwd, with a blown carrier before.
And again when I fragged the yoke.

Etiher/any way, driving with no gear oil is going to cook the wheel bearings as well as the R&P.

 

I am scratching my head how Everything is covered in oil EXCEPT the pinion gear

 

I'll call you crazy if you insist. No problem driving any speed on any surface with the hubs locked. A lot of newer 4WDs don't even have locking hubs, and some don't have center axle disconnects either. A little more drag and wear is it.

Even driving with the hubs locked and in 4WD at high speeds isn't a problem in and of itself. Although you've got to question the wisdom of driving 70 mph in conditions that require 4WD. And that's what the sticker is most concerned about, people getting in a wreck and claiming Ford designed a faulty vehicle that wouldn't stay upright and on the road when driven 70 mph in a blinding snow storm.

But none of this is applicable to this thread anyway because as 82F100SWB said, this is a rear axle.

 

This is exactly what I'm trying to figure out. How can the pinion teeth be dry and rusty while the ring gear is black with oil?

 

Something's not what it seems

 

There is no wear through the rust on the pinion even. Puzzled.

 

I think someone is trying to F@#* with us. There is NO WAY that pinion could be dry/rusty and everything else be covered in oil

 

I'm looking at this on my phone, but that first pic appears like the front of the case got *really* hot.

Hard to tell what blew through the case since there are no guts in it, but it must have been a BIG bang.

My carrier split on the highway and I thought I'd hit a cinder block.
The case was still in one piece, and I drove home on the front wheels.

 

This not a joke.
Joke = "horse walks into a bar and the bartender says, why the long face"
Broken Bullnoses are never a joke.
The pinion head got so hot it burned the oil off. I'll take a better picture of it, but the pinion twisted right at the inner bearing. I had been on the highway for more than twenty minutes. From exit 81 to exit 95 of I94. (Michigan). At 95 it acted like I lost 5th, put it in fourth and somhow drove to exit 100. Letting off the throttle it clunken and made tge grinding noise. At the bottom of the ramp I looked under to find a smoking dana 60 with the flid pouring out the bottom. 4wd got me to my shop. It did not like driving or moving with that broken pinion sitting where it was. But I made it.
Futher inspection today found the driverside brake drum coated in lube. I knew the pinion seal was leaking but I kept oil in it. So low fluid in the culprit, but I've seen an axke detonate under normal usage.

 

The third picture, all i did was pull the cover, and that is where the gear was sitting.

 

The pinion could have gotten so hot that it burned off the oil and oxidized the surface of the steel. Front of the case does look like it got nice and toasty.