The differential is ruined. Crap! Before I left to get new ring gear bolts, I got my otoscope out and looked hard at the holes. They are a little wallowed and off centered. They're concentric, but about .060" larger than the bolts. So there's no way that ring gear can be lined up perfectly. But I'm hard headed, and reassembled everything, then test drove it. It makes more noise now than it did before. I'll pull the center section back out, and take it to a shop I trust a few towns away. Another Eaton TruTrac, ring gear, pinion, and all the goodies that go with it. Crap!

 

I've only worked on a few axles, but the ones I've worked on the bolts didn't locate the ring gear, the face and shoulder on the diff did. The bigger holes really shouldn't matter as long as you seat the ring gear against the bolts in the load direction so it cant slip. If that diff was setup with loose bolts and you went and torqued them down then put it back together, that's gonna throw your gear mesh out of whack, which is probably why it's louder now. Did you run a pattern on it when you put it back in? I'd be willing to bet a shop could get it set up again without buying any new parts.

 

Sorry for your loss.....I'd just drink a cold beer and worry/figure it out tomorrow or even the day after tomorrow.

 

The holes do matter. They are what keeps the ring gear from moving when force direction changes. But there's probably more going on that that. No telling how long it's been that way, and it's probably done damage I can't see. Without the bolts in place, I can rotate on the ring gear on the diff case. That's not supposed to happen, so it's probably worn the diff case too. Either way, I can't trust it anymore.

But I am going to take it to a diff & trans shop I trust. Just gotta decide if I'm going with an Eaton TruTrac again, or a cheaper clutch type LSD.

 

Thanks! I'm already ahead of you. I'm not too distressed over it. Only thing that bothers me at all is that I need to wait until next week to take the center section to the shop. My new leaf springs and hardware are supposed to be here Friday, and I want to be able to set the truck down on it's tires after I install the springs. It's silly that as long as I have something else on the truck to work on, I'm still happy. WTH is wrong with us?!

 

Dang I hate to hear that. Installed and set up my Truetrac, and know I torqued them correctly and installed thread locker. But now it’s got me questioning myself. Still haven’t installed the center section yet as I’m still working on the frame. Those Truetracs are something you only want to buy once. Did you like it when you had it running?

 

Oh yeah, I like it a lot. And I'll probably go with another one. It feels just like an open diff when you're driving around. But put the torque to it, and it locks up. And in the mud, if you don't want it to slip at all, all you have to do is barely touch the brake pedal and it locks up like a spool. I never had to do that, but I did test it.

 

That’s good to hear. Before I opted to go with it, I did a good bit of reading on the different options. I selected it for its mild on road manners, good off road ability, and longevity. Barring a mechanical failure, I doubt I’ll wear it out. Truck only sees on road, dirt roads, and the occasional farm road mud hole. No heavy duty wheeling. Despite it being made overseas, it seems like a really quality differential unit. I ordered the ring/pinion/Truetrac and install kit from Quick Performance to replace the LSD unit when I sheared the pinion. Was about $680 18 months ago, haven’t priced it lately but sure that’s gone up. Edit: Quick Performance price is exactly the same as it was in October 2020. Shocking.

 

Could one not place the diff in a big lathe, check concentricity and then correct it, by filling holes and re-drilling a few. All of them hold, but 5 or 6 would center the ring gear. Could check concentricity of ring gear on same lathe. One could even simply drill and sleeve all the holes to eliminate the wobbled out state, then recheck concentricity on the lathe.

At three years in, you likely are gonna buy new parts otherwise.

 

Theoretically, yes. I could actually do that in my shop. But it would not be cost effective, nor would the finished product be as strong as the original. Several beads would have to be welded all the way around the diff case at the ring gear bearing surface, then machined down. The ring gear bolt holes in the case would have to be plugged and welded or just welded. Then the case would have to go on a turn table on the milling machine, and all the holes bored. The welding would add a crap load of stress to the case, ruin the heat treatment, and probably cause it to crack under load. All that welding would also cause the case to distort, which would require a lot of lathe work to get the external surfaces true, but then the outside would no longer be concentric with the inside. And those points are just off the top of my head. There would be many other issues pop up during planning and execution.

As fun as all that might be, and I'm not joking about that, I'm ok with having a new diff, ring gear, and pinion installed. It's not the end of the world. Not even worth cussing and throwing tools at the wall. Besides, my cat rides in this truck, and she's a discerning little bitchcat.

 

I totally forgot to mention the main fault with this....Speedway used off the shelf grade 8 bolts on the ring gear. That's wrong as two boys.... Anyway, the bolts are threaded all the way to the head, which makes them undersized through the carrier.

This is what ring gear bolts look like.....

 

those darn Tortieshell's, they always have the Tortie-tude when they're not being loving!

 

Oh she’s a bossy little thing. Loves her daddy though.