2002 F-250 4R100 Auto 4x4

Driving down the road last night and *BANG* truck came to a sliding, skipping halt.

Tried all gears and truck would not move AT ALL. Engine would rev up and torque the truck over to the side, but no forward movement.

Being that I was on a busy street, with a ton of traffic, I wanted to at least get the pig off he road.

I locked the hubs and slipped it into 4WD, and it still wouldn't move. Put trans in neutral, xfer in neutral and tried to push the SOB, but it still wouldn't budge!

Patrol car came up behind me to block traffic, and he wanted to try out his push-bar to get me off the road.

Ever seen a Crown Vic running all his lights, smoking his tires trying to push a broke F-250? It was awesome. Even more awesome when his push-bar got caught under my rear bumper.

Wrecker finally showed up, and while he dragged it on the flatbed, the front tires rolled, but the rear was LOCKED.

It's sitting in the parking lot of a repair shop I've used a couple of times (damn $90 tow for less than 1/2 a mile trip btw). I got under it last night after it was dropped off, and everything looked in working order: driveshaft good, u-joints good, no leaks, nothing standing out of ordinary.

Before I jump into this elbow deep, anyone got any clues, or advice on WTF would cause the rear end to completely lock??

 

Any guess at this point would be just that- guesses. But it does seem to be something in the differential, from the description. Pulling the driveshaft would narrow it down some. Both rear wheels are locked up, not just one?

 

Both locked. I'd go pull the shaft, but I'm just too damn busy.

At this point I'm thinking R&P toasted from previous abuse (doesn't my avatar say it all?) I did do a fluid change March of last year...and everything looked hunky-dory then. The wife has been driving it since August on a daily basis, makes you wonder what a woman does...lol.

 

If both rear wheels are locked up.... this points to the diff gears seizing. Unfortunately, this is probably gonna be expensive to repair as you'll likely need a whole new rear end... BUT! Maybe not... first thing you need to do is open the small (looking at it from the back) diff fill valve on the inside top left side of the pumpkin and stick your finger in there... the proper amount of fluid is gonna come up to the hole, but my guess is you will either hit something else with your finger or there won't be ANY fluid in there. So, next thing to do... take an impact and take off the diff cover, it sounds like you're bone dry in there... so if you take off the cover and (make sure you have an oil pan underneath the diff to catch fluid) nothing comes out (Diff fluid is brown), you have a problem. Take cover off, examine, tell me what you see. From what it sounds like this is gonna be your problem, no oil in the differential will cause the gears to seize resulting in something feeling like you slammed on your parking brake. Let me know!

 

Damn Bro,
That sucks...who do you use for repairs

 

My F-450 locked up on me about a year and a half ago pulling a trailer. I wasn't driving the truck at the time to say exactly how it went down. When i got there i was able to move the truck a little to take the trailer off. When mine wnet it blew a hole in the aluminum diff cover and let all the gear oil out on the exhaust. So we may have stopped before it completely locked up but it was tight and didn't want to move that easy. My mech. sent it out to be rebuilt by a trans and axle company. All said and done the tow, rebuild, new rotors, caliber, and pads while it was apart, and a rental truck for a month = $7500+. I got hosed by my mech. Took forever to get it done and blamed the rebuild company for the delay only to call the rebuild company and find out he didn't pay them the $3500 i gave him as a deposit to start the rebuild. All said and done it was real pain in the a$$.

 

Diff has fluid, I checked it last oil change (early Dec.). No leaks from cover either. Tranny fluid was a pinch low, and I didn't get to check the xfer case.

Earlier last year, after the fluid change, I was getting some chattering around turns, and chalked it up to not adding enough friction modifier in the diff with the fluid change. LS worked beautifully after the change though. Now I wonder if I should have gone back in there and double and triple checked everything before calling it good.

Autobahn,
It's sitting over at Pro Muffler & Automotive on Wooldridge, behind Spohn South Hospital. I've used them a few times and they've done quality work, been up front about all repairs and even let me source out some parts via junkyard than having them buy them. Most important of all, most of the guys in the shop are either hardcore hot-rodders, or off-roaders, just the type of people who can get the job done!

I think after this repair I'm going to sell my truck. I made the decision last night that the truck was costing us way to much in payments and upkeep to justify keeping it any longer.

We're newlyweds (Oct. 21), and getting ourselves out of debt has become a main priority in our lives.

So, I'll post back up with what the shop finds out tomorrow.

 

Just got word from the shop, not as bad as I thought, but still bad enough.

Broken spider, and cross pin, no other damage, housing and gears are fine. A little less than $800 incl. labor. Parts will arrive either tomorrow or early Wed.

*sigh* Ahhh...I can't wait to see the broken parts!

 

Either can we!

 

I stopped by the shop on the way home from work, I'm lucky things aren't a lot worse than they were.

Here's the pin and the broken bolt; I'm loving the bend in the middle of the pin. I'll get the carrier back too once the new parts come in.

Enjoy!

 

Wow... man you are lucky! $800 is not bad at ALL!

 

No kidding you are lucky but that does suck hey at least you got a kick out of seeing the police car trying to push you lol

 

The police car pushing and grunting alone is worth close to $800.00

 

V-10 torque did it.