Random Diff Questions

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LateOnTheBrakes

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Ever seen a pinion so poorly adjusted and/or the wrong carrier installed such that the pinion machines the carrier?

Does anyone know if ring gears have the date of manufacturer stamped in them? I'm trying to ascertain what year my axles are and both front and rear ring gears have a 73 stamped.

Anyone have a list of the BOM for a Dana 44? The Dana expert tool on their website seems to be down. I pulled what I think is the BOM for my axle but can't find anywhere to look it up.

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LateOnTheBrakes

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Craig 85

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Dana gears DOM 8/22/73. Ratio 48-14= 3.42
GM gears Part # 381779 Ratio 14-48= 3.42 DOM 12/73
 
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ali_c20

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Ignoring the noise from that rear end when driving the first time...priceless. Well I think it's time for some new parts.
 

MikeB

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Was the pinion/carrier pattern correct? :D

I don't know anything about Dana diffs, but I wonder if the carrier was made for a gear set with a smaller pinion, like a 3.7x or 4.1x. ???
 

LateOnTheBrakes

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Are you reading the gear ratio from the bill of material? The numbers stamped on the ring actually say 43:14 so 3.07. I was also interested to see if it says anything about locker or LSD. It's an open diff as far as I can tell for the front Dana 44.
 

LateOnTheBrakes

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Ignoring the noise from that rear end when driving the first time...priceless. Well I think it's time for some new parts.


I know right? not only did they hear it but they changed the fluid after the fact and still slammed it back together. There was absolutely no metal in the diff fluid and it looked great.
 

LateOnTheBrakes

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Was the pinion/carrier pattern correct? :D

I don't know anything about Dana diffs, but I wonder if the carrier was made for a gear set with a smaller pinion, like a 3.7x or 4.1x. ???

Yeah, I'm not going through the effort to check the backlash or paint these gears to see the wear pattern. I'm sure it would just make my head hurt worse than it already does.
 

Vbb199

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Yeah, I'm not going through the effort to check the backlash or paint these gears to see the wear pattern. I'm sure it would just make my head hurt worse than it already does.


Possibly someone didn't press the pinion bearing down all the way???

That's not just .01 or .030 off on the depth, it's like a whole 1/4 off Wtf
 

LateOnTheBrakes

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Yeah, I'm not sure if that needs more shims to pull the pinion further towards the drive shaft or less shims on the inside. Not very familiar with the 12 bolt truck axle.
 

Craig 85

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Are you reading the gear ratio from the bill of material? The numbers stamped on the ring actually say 43:14 so 3.07.

It looked like an 48, but if it's a 43 it makes more sense. The Dana part number kept coming up as a 3.07 gear set.
 

C10MixMaster

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Ever seen a pinion so poorly adjusted and/or the wrong carrier installed such that the pinion machines the carrier?

Does anyone know if ring gears have the date of manufacturer stamped in them? I'm trying to ascertain what year my axles are and both front and rear ring gears have a 73 stamped.

Anyone have a list of the BOM for a Dana 44? The Dana expert tool on their website seems to be down. I pulled what I think is the BOM for my axle but can't find anywhere to look it up.

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I cant see someone setting up a diff that bad, is it possible the pinion bearing is loose enough to let the pinion climb and hit the carrier.
 

LateOnTheBrakes

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I cant see someone setting up a diff that bad, is it possible the pinion bearing is loose enough to let the pinion climb and hit the carrier.

I wish that was the case but it's not. Everything is tight. Nothing is loose. And there is no metal shavings in the diff fluid. Whatever problem it had was corrected in the past but they didn't take the time to replace the carrier.
 

AuroraGirl

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I wish that was the case but it's not. Everything is tight. Nothing is loose. And there is no metal shavings in the diff fluid. Whatever problem it had was corrected in the past but they didn't take the time to replace the carrier.
i mean, im not familiar with what exactly it is in starter or gear meshes like t case or diff, but i know someoone who put a SBC starter in a truck and they didnt know the term backlash or do anything other than unbolt or bolt in the new one.

is that out of realm of possibility for rear gears?
edit:
he definitely didnt do it right, to be sure. but i guess never discount the ability for someone to do something very stupid and be very confident in how perfect or fine it was, even despite physical evidence to the contrary.
such as the person i know, his truck really shrieks in pain when starting
 
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LateOnTheBrakes

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i mean, im not familiar with what exactly it is in starter or gear meshes like t case or diff, but i know someoone who put a SBC starter in a truck and they didnt know the term backlash or do anything other than unbolt or bolt in the new one.

is that out of realm of possibility for rear gears?
edit:
he definitely didnt do it right, to be sure. but i guess never discount the ability for someone to do something very stupid and be very confident in how perfect or fine it was, even despite physical evidence to the contrary.
such as the person i know, his truck really shrieks in pain when starting

Yeah. That would have sounded really bad.

Here is a full video if you want a detailed description.
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A much shorter version that just shows side shim backlash is here.
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