Water in my Diff..

[MylesNT]

Today I pulled the diff covers off to check out what kind of shape everything was in, and to find out for sure what ratio I'm running. I popped the front cover off to find this:

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What came out was mostly water.

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The rear wasn't too bad. Had some water in it, but mostly just needed an oil change.

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The culprit is a broken vent hose that let water in when it got submerged. Tomorrow I'm going to clean everything out real good and get some fresh dope in them. Y'all think this thing will last long or is the damage already done? Should I pull the carrier out? It hasn't been driven really at all with the water in it, and the gunk seems to clean off really easily. I don't think the ring gear is as bad as it looks. Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[gpmorgan]

Clean it out good and put in new oil. If everything sounds good, run it a day or two and change it again.

 

[bigcountryguy19]

Oooooh that's nasty. Rear one will Probobly be fine, I'm willing to bet the bearings in the front are pitted up.


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[MylesNT]

So I guess it seems I'll just have to see how it goes. I'm going to get the brake cleaner a hold of it tomorrow. I should be able, to pull the axles, undo the bearing caps and pull the carrier and check out the bearings shouldn't I? As long as any shims go back the same it shouldn't be a problem, right? The truck doesn't have the motor or trans in it at the moment. I'm hoping to have them back in in the spring, it will probably get a good cleaning, and fresh oil until I can get it back on the road.

 

[towjoe]

I have trouble with mine getting water in them to. Never have figured out why, all vent hoses run up like there suppose to and I stay out of the water.

 

[chengny]

Gear oil is specifically designed to have the highest anti-emulsification properites of any lubricant - called demulsibility. This is precisely because of service conditions like your pictures show. With any luck, the gear oil performed as designed and rejected the bulk of the moisture until it was saturated. This may have saved the internals from rusting to the point of pitting.

Clean the internals out as best as you can using a strong degeasing solution and then rinse thoroughly with hot water using a garden hose. For easy access to hot water, connect the garden hose to your washing machine's hot water water supply valve.

Do this until you can no longer see any oil/rust come out while flushing.


Replace the cover fill the gear case wth gasoline and drive slowly around the neighborhood for a few minutes. Pull the cover and dump the gas into a clean container. Inspect the flushed gas and note whether it is clean. Repeat this step again if the first flush did not get all the old lube and rust out.

Refill with fresh gear oil and hope for the best.

Your rear bug looks like it survived with just cosmetic damage and that is the one that is in service full time.

The front gears may be pitted but the shape of the contact areas will be the same. Also, because this unit get relatively little service time, the loss of some surface contact on the gear teeth faces should not require a rebuild.

Refill both gear cases with a good quality gear oil, then drive around and hope for the best.

 

[MylesNT]

So I've been out freezing my ass off cleaning these things up.

Here's how the front looks now:

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Here's how the ring gear looks. It doesn't seem too bad. I don't know how well it comes across in the pic, but it doesn't seem to be pitted. I doesn't feel rough. It's mostly just discoloration. I hope.

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Here's what the rear looks like.

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Looks ok to me I guess. What do y'all think? Chengny, it looks like you nailed it with the oil rejecting the water. I really thought it would be worse than it is.

My question is, what now? Driving it isn't an option right now. No motor/trans. I was just doing this to make sure everything was good to go when I get everything back in. I can still fill it up with gas and just spin the wheels while its on jack stands. I used a pressure washer to blast out 95% of all the old oil. I've blown the diffs out with compressed air and got some more gunk out with brake cleaner. Should I just let it dry for a while and out the covers on and fill it up until I can drive it again? Should I soak it down with WD-40 (I mean it does stand for Water Displacement) to try and force some moisture out and then fill it? I know I can't get all the moisture out, but I want to get out all I can. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[bigcountryguy19]

If you used a pressure washer I would definitely use wd to clean out the water, be shure to spray it real good in the oil path that goes to the pinion bearings. The front diff still looks pretty crusty IMO, but seein is that it only gets used once in a while it should be ok if the bearings are ok. After you finish cleaning it with wd, put it together and fill with oil. Then jack it up and spin the pinions to rotate the ring gears to bathe all of it in the fresh gear oil and it should be ok to sit for a while, if you don't the top half of the carrier might start rusting again from sitting.


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[Beatdown Z]

I would pull the front carrier out, break it down, and clean as much as you can. Throw in new inner axle seals and you'll likely find that the outers need some attention. Go ahead and order spindle bearing and seal kits and some hub seals. I sure the wheel bearings need some attention too...

 

[MylesNT]

We'll. I had been planning on going thru the wheel bearings any way. So I guess I'll break the axles down and check everything out real well. I'll pop out the carrier and replace the inner axle seal while I'm at it. And anything else that needs it while it's apart. It will be Monday at the earliest before I can get back on it. But thanks for all the help, men. I'll get some pics up as soon as I get it apart.

 

[BowTieJockey]

Or you can always fill it full of old tranny fluid to the top to keep the moisture out. Then flush it out when you get ready to use it drain it and do what you need to do.

 

[MylesNT]

Or you can always fill it full of old tranny fluid to the top to keep the moisture out. Then flush it out when you get ready to use it drain it and do what you need to do.

I came here to post this. It's 14 degrees outside, with a wind chill of about 3. I don't do weather like this. It's too cold to be out messing with the truck. I don't think I'm going to pull the carrier out myself. I worry about the bearing preload and what not. I figure I can do more harm than good. If I find out the carrier bearings are bad, it don't really matter, I'm gonna run them til they blow anyway.

I figure with the cleaning properties of transmission fluid I can just throw some in there to keep the moisture out, and just maybe it'll do some cleaning while it's in there.

Once the weather warms up I will be going thru the wheel bearings and stuff. So for now this little project is on hold til it warms up. Thank for all the help and info. I'll update when I get back on it.

 

[Konas new ride]

If I find out the carrier bearings are bad, it don't really matter, I'm gonna run them til they blow anyway.

You could end up buying new gears. even possibly a new housing. Been there done that. for the price of new bearings.. i would change em..