I recently just rebuilt my 10.5 on my 00 F250, when I torqued my carrier bearing caps, the Carrier was too tight to turn by hand, it barely moved when I used a pry bar to turn it. As I took it out for its first trip (reused ring and pinion) I drove 20 miles and when I pull back in the driveway to check for leaks the fluid runoff from refilling the case was steaming and I heard a boiling noise coming from inside the rear end. I'm trying to figure out if my carrier bearings are being cooked or not. There was no noise from the rear end during the drive, it was completely silent. Is this normal or should I be tearing it apart again to see what's going on?

 

I don't think it's supposed to be that hard to turn.

maybe drive it a bit and put your hand on the diff cover. if it feels hot, I would take it apart and see what's up.

Actually, personally, I would take it apart anyway and see what's up.

 

Carrier bearings definitely have a problem and probley are shot if it got that hot. The carrier should rotate by hand and you should be able to spin the yolk by hand and spin the carrier with pinion. Maybe you mixed the bearing caps up from side to side or bearings are wrong . Did you set the bearing preload to tight? What about the pinion bearings and there preload ? Did it get messed with . What about the gear pattern how did it look after install? Definitely tear it back down .

 

Had a pinion bearing making noise, so I tore it all apart I put new bearings in the pinion and set preload on the pinion to 30 inch/lbs, I marked the Carrier caps and reinstalled them correctly, and I used the same carrier shims that I had. The pattern on the teeth indicated they were wearing well since I switched to limited slip differential 15k miles ago, I used 75w140 with 5oz of friction modifier.
I also used the aftermarket spacer kit for the pinion so I wouldn't have to worry about torquing the crush sleeve.

 

Also when I drove for the 20 miles the rear end was dead silent and I had every window down listening for noises, I wouldn't have even noticed anything if I didn't crawl under the truck. Should the Carrier bearings howl if they are being burned up?

 

The assembly should rotate easily by hand . Something is wrong . Heat to burn off the oil and a boiling sound ? Tear it down and start over .....

 

Welcome to FTE

Not trying to beat up on you, but if it wouldn't turn over with a pry bar, why did you drive it 20 miles? Are you ****ing kidding me?

 

Put the rear end in the air and put the truck in neutral and I can spin the tires by twisting the drive shaft. That is a valid point, looking back at it I should have diagnosed it better, but I decided it was based on the poor leverage I could get with the pry bar (prying from the ring gear bolts from the housing to spin the assembly)

 

Agreed. I think you may want to turn this over to a shop with some experience. You don't want to grenade you rearend and have to buy a new housing.

 

They do get really hot esp with new bearings. No way can you touch it. The carrier assembly should slide in or tap in with rubber or leather hammer. Could be hard to turn with new pinion bearings..tightening the caps shouldn't change anything as it just holds the race in the hole. Did you make sure you had .014 or so of play ring to pinion? Did you dial indicate it? Don't you need a new crush collar?

 

I used the spacer kit that takes the place of the crush collar. I set pinion preload to 30 inch/lbs with a dial torque wrench, and measured backlash at .012. I wasn't able to find an actual way to measure carrier bearing preload, but my carrier went in well, a few taps of a dead blow, seemed alright based on my limited experience from previous trucks. Thinking I'll drive to work in the morning (10 minutes) and if I should surrender it to a shop based on the drive

 

Not smart to drive at all if you are having major issues. Hard to spin is a tight issue somewhere, pinion, carrier, gear mesh. As said earlier you need to start over, check everything. Or turn it over to someone. If you are lucky you may just need reset and some new bearings. I doesn't take long to kill a gearset either. If you spin the bearings in the housing it will be junk too.

 

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but there's a really good chance that the entire center chunk may all ready be toast.

Any signs of discoloration on the gear set is bad.

 

Update: Drove the truck 10 minutes to work and then home, took the cover off, dropped the drive shaft and pulled the axles. I could spin the Carrier by hand and it didn't seem to get excessively hot. So no harm no foul I guess? Also replaced the fluid again and added new friction modifier.

 

Did you use assembly lube ?
You may luck out short term .
If it got hot enough to sizzle .... Damage done .
I have built Many rear ends over the years ..I think you will have issues .
Best of Luck !