Loud clacking from rear end

[Alk-3]

Hey everyone. I have a 67 short wheelbase. I'm up in the norhern wilderness at the moment, and all of the sudden I got this really loud violent clacking coming from the rear end. I pulled Both rear axles and they are not broken. The clacking seems to be coming from the rear diff.
Also, I get stuck real easily now. None of the wheels seem to turn when I try to get out of a heavy snow area, but the clacking gets so bad that I don't want to push it too hard. I have a winch, but it's getting to be problematic to winch out of even the slightest snow drift.
I'm supposed to head back to the city tomorrow, but I don't want to do any further damage.
It happens in both hight and low and in 2 wheel or 4 wheel. It's much worse in 2 wheel though.
I'm hopeing I can get some advice on this from you folks.
Btw. I have a socket set and some other basic tools with me, but no real specialized tools, or any way to get them.
Thanks a million!

[Nium]

Drain the differential and see what bits of metal fall out. Could be a tooth got sheared off. :( If you get the bits out you could try driving it back to civilization after refilling the differential with oil.

[KevinNY]

Sounds like a wrecked ring and pinion, I'm surprised you have drive at all in 2wd.

[sailtech]

Unbolt and remove the rear propshaft and drive home in 4WD. Then you won't risk any further damage to the rear end.

[navydevildoc]

Unbolt and remove the rear propshaft and drive home in 4WD. Then you won't risk any further damage to the rear end.

What he said. If you want to be double careful remove the two rear drive axles as well... are your two rear bearings grease packed or oil filled?

[Alk-3]

Thanks guys. I will remove the prop shaft and get home in 4 wheel drive.
I'll have to assess the damage and get the parts when I get home.

[Alk-3]

What he said. If you want to be double careful remove the two rear drive axles as well... are your two rear bearings grease packed or oil filled?

Not sure. When I remove the axles oil pours out of the opening, which leads me to belive they should be left in place.

[navydevildoc]

Not sure. When I remove the axles oil pours out of the opening, which leads me to belive they should be left in place.

That could be oil from the hub or from the diff. If you don't hear the clanging when you are in 4WD with the rear prop shaft removed, then you should be OK.

[Tim Smith]

Sure sounds like the diff, like has been said. If it were me, I'd pull the prop shaft and both axles. To stop the oil coming out of the axle flange holes, get a piece of generic gasket material (or maybe even cardboard) and use that to plug the holes in the axle ends by placing it between the hub flange and the wheel hub without cutting a hole in the center of the material. You might want to jam some paper towel into the hub caps too in case oil gets past the gasket. You probably want to jack each side up as you pull out it's corresponding axle just to keep the oil from flowing out.

It is an easy bodge to get you home. Good luck!

[BackInA88]

Yeah pull the axle shafts.
If it is the diff you don't want it spinning, if it locks up while driving that could be BAD!

Steve

[Alk-3]

Okay, thanks very much everyone. We made it home in one piece. I pulled the prop shaft but left the axles in place. I was a bit worried that the stray tooth might get jammed up, but we made it home incident free.
I'll be pulling the diff. tomorrow to get a better idea of what's going on.
On a side note I had to push and winch the truck out of the woods (several kilometers) because without the 4wheel drive it was dead weight on the ice on even the slighest incline.
Thanks again everyone!

[Alk-3]

Okay, so I just got finished pulling the differential. Here is what I found:

http://gallery.me.com/tbartlett/100169/IMG_2421/web.jpg?ver=12623680010001

http://gallery.me.com/tbartlett/100169/IMG_2424/web.jpg?ver=12623680040001

http://gallery.me.com/tbartlett/100169/IMG_2425/web.jpg?ver=12623680070001

As you can see it was more than just one tooth!
All but 4 teeth were broken from that gear you can see in the photos.
So here is the million dollar question: How do I fix it?
More specifically is there anything else I should check or replace while I've got it apart? would this be a good time to switch to heavier axles?
Thanks!

[SafeAirOne]

That stinks!

At least it's an easy fix...Remove old differential assembly. Replace with good used diff assembly. Replace axles/prop shaft. Fill with oil. Drive.

Ask around the boards. There are a gazillion good used diffs available cheap out there.

[Jeff Aronson]

Spider gears and assemblies are still available new for Series differentials from RN. I know because I had the same thing happen to me this summer. I had a spare differential hanging around so I just swapped out the broken one with the replacement.

My problem is that the carrier is damaged, too, from the spider gears exploding. I'll need to get a machine shop to weld up the carrier for me and then put in new gears. Then I have a new spare.

BTW, my understanding is that the front and rear diffs are identical. You could swap out the front, which gets less wear in general, and use it in the rear until you find a replacement differential.

Good luck - the replacement was not a difficult job at all, even for me :).

Jeff

[Alk-3]

Rovers north doesn't seem to have the spider gears anymore, unless I'm looking in the wrong place.
I seem to have located a spare differential anyway, but I'd still like to fix this one as a spare.

[scott]

alk-3

when mine exploded it was the spider gear shaft. i'm pretty sure the gears are in good shape and somewhere in my garage. let me know if your interested in 'em and i'll take a look for 'em

[Jeff Aronson]

Give them a call just in case. They had them in stock this summer when mine exploded :).

Jeff