Case1906

I checked in with Keith on this earlier---I'm in the middle of a Quaife LSD install and my shop found some metal shavings in the dif fluid and unusual wear on the gears. My first reaction (cost) was to put the car back together and run it. They did and I apparently have gear noise as well. We are discussing an OEM full differential (ring and pinion) assembly replacement with the concern being trying to avoid a big or bigger problem down the road. I haven't heard of guys having to make this big ticket replacement in the rear end. Has anyone experienced anything like this or any thoughts on the subject?

ZephyrAMG

I think either Dads or Jrcart would be the best resource because they run very very high RPMs and torque on their trannys and diff....they seem to say that they are able to take A LOT of abuse...

Case1906

Thanks, I checked with Dads and he has had no issues. Looks like a one off problem for me at this point? Going to take a look at the gears later today.

Merc63

Never heard of any diff issues.

I have access to an OEM diff, no LSD. 60,000km on it.

Merc63

I believe the diff is a Dana 44. Same as the jeep srt 8.

I think dodger destroyed his stock diff.

Case1906

Merc63-- please check PM.

ChrisD63

I had my car at the dealer to get something fixed and they ended up finding something wrong with the oem open-diff and they replaced it under warranty. I didn't even know there was something wrong with it until they told me.

Case1906

Chris-thanks, did they give you any indication of what the problem was? Curious as to how they would see issues without tearing apart the rear end.

ChrisD63

The exhaust was rattling and when they had the car on the lift I guess they noticed the diff was also making some noise, although I never heard it myself.

motoman

A competent shop would take a bluing reading of mesh and/ or shim/bearing eval and tell you specifically the problem. Why did they reassemble it if something was wrong?

Case1906

I told them to, but thought better of it. My original thought for cost reasons was to drive it until it broke or I felt slippage. I finally saw the problem myself. Each gear had maybe a 1/4 inch long groove in the hardened steel and there was unusual wear on the corner of many of the gears. The car ran fine before, but the concern was that shavings would eventually damage the new Quaife and there would be failure (along the lines of what I learned happened to Dodger).

Rest of the story--My shop located a C63 in Massachusetts with 4000 miles that was totaled as a result of a fire. (Anybody here?) They purchased the OEM dif assembly, swapped out my old one and installed the Quaife. I'm back on the road with some peace of mind about the dif. Maybe I would have never had a problem, but after seeing the gears I feel good about the fix.

motoman

Case, glad you're good to go now.

Case1906

Thanks, do you still have the Fiero? I always thought that was a neat car back in the day.

motoman

Case, yep ,still got it. You know we could get flamed talking about such a
car, but bought it new, and reclaimed after 3 Chicago winters with daughter. Very primitive car by today's standards , but a weekly driver for me. Wife drives the C63. Its so perfect it's sometimes boring to me. Motoman

Case1906

Motoman-- Let them flame. Pontiac's Ferrari, hold on to it.

motoman

Case, holding...it's got steering equal to the C63. That's it. Seems you like variety also.