14 bolt ff spider gears slop

[vkh]

So my spider gears have some slop, the shafts sit firm in the carrier and the gears are fine on the shafts, but I can hold one gear and the opposite has a fair bit of travel. I think this is also the source of my clunking when going forward to reverse (or vise versa). Now one of the large gears has a chip in one tooth, I know this isn't ideal but it appears to have been that way a long time. It's worth noting that my pinion seal broke about a year ago and it ran low on fluid, I don't know how long it was like this but it never showed symptoms orade noise. So is some slop to be expected in spider gears? Is it a grenade waiting to happen?

 

[HotRodPC]

Sounds like it's been neglected. Neglect can kill moreso than abuse sometimes. You can beat the hell out of these rear ends, but you can't neglect them, though they'll even tolerate quite a bit of neglect too.

So what is a fair bit of travel? 1/8 of a turn? 1/2 of a turn? Standard open diff, an 1/8 of a wheel turn in slop isn't unheard of, but it's not optimal. If it's a Locker, I've seen them have almost 1/2 of a tire turn but the rear end worked fine and just made it's normal clunk in reverse etc. Different type Limited Slip and/or Lockers have different characteritiscs.

Had you replaced the pinion seal yet? Chipped tooth and all, I'd replace the pinion seal, put the correct gear oil and run it. 14b FF can put up with some ********. Keep your eyes open for another good used axle. You can usually pick up a stock open diff for about $150-$200. I've actually scored them cheaper than that before.

 

[vkh]

Sounds like it's been neglected. Neglect can kill moreso than abuse sometimes. You can beat the hell out of these rear ends, but you can't neglect them, though they'll even tolerate quite a bit of neglect too.

So what is a fair bit of travel? 1/8 of a turn? 1/2 of a turn? Standard open diff, an 1/8 of a wheel turn in slop isn't unheard of, but it's not optimal. If it's a Locker, I've seen them have almost 1/2 of a tire turn but the rear end worked fine and just made it's normal clunk in reverse etc. Different type Limited Slip and/or Lockers have different characteritiscs.

Had you replaced the pinion seal yet? Chipped tooth and all, I'd replace the pinion seal, put the correct gear oil and run it. 14b FF can put up with some ********. Keep your eyes open for another good used axle. You can usually pick up a stock open diff for about $150-$200. I've actually scored them cheaper than that before.

Neglected would be fair. So it looks better today than last night, guess I was tired and got abit worried. Having the carrier out and locking one gear in place the opposite has less than 10 degrees of movement when manipulated by hand.

We replaced the seal as soon as we noticed. And in the time it was broken it would have only had light 30 min drives to town and back, also topped fluid when we did the seal. We are doing a gear swap so I have all new bearings for it.

Thanks for the speedy reply

 

[crazy4offroad]

There's a lot of factors at play to make differential slop impossible to determine by the tire. Spider to side gear slop, side gear to axleshaft slop, axleshaft to wheel hub slop, all that can add up. But 10 degrees on the spiders is not worth worrying about.

 

[vkh]

Thanks guys, I think last night I didn't have the carrier quite together enough to judge so I had alot of slop, close inspection today makes me feel better. I think a good cleaning and fresh bearing will be good for it. I've tried to add pictures but my phone is being difficult, maybe I'll get them tonight.