ShimShim
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2005
- Location
- Charlotte, NC
So I'm driving down Brookshire Blvd today in my "other" DD, a Chevy 3500HD ambulance. While doing about 60 mph I hear a "whine" that sounds like it's coming from inside the patient compartment. Being that this ambulance is about 2 years old with 170xxx miles, I dismiss it as just another noise that an old truck makes.
Well, the noise seems to be getting worse, and I notice that it gets louder/higher pitched when the engine RPMs get higher. I think to myself, "well this doesn't sound good." Right about then I hear a lout "CLANK."
I think to myself
Then pressing the gas gets me nothing, I'm still riding along at about 55 or so, but it won't accelerate.
When I get to the next hill, it starts slowing down and I hear this awful metal grinding sound. At this point it's time to get it off the road and wait for a hook. So as I'm crossing two lanes of traffic, slowing down up a hill, very thankful that there are no cars around, the rear end locks up for a few feet (only left about 3 feet of rubber). Again, I'm thinking
We both get out and see what the damage is. We look underneath and see smoke coming from the rear diff around the pinion and there seems to be gear oil all over the axle and underside of the body.
We finally get a hook and get back to the garage where the shop guys take a look. Here's what they found: Sometime the day before the truck ran over what appears to be a plastic bag. This bag got wrapped around the driveshaft at the pinion (They tell me this is a Dana 80 rear axle). This created excess heat, which basically disintigrated the pinion seal. We drove about 30 miles today before this happened, all with little or no gear oil in the diff.
I'm still waiting on the final autopsy results, but my uneducated guess is that the spider gears and the ring and pinion are toast.
The moral to this long thread: a Dana 80 may be one tough axle, but it only takes a plastic grocery bag to trash it.
Sorry for the long thread, but I can't help but feel kinda proud about this. The fleet guys at work say that they have never seen a Chevy do that. We've been running 3500HD's for seven years. We have about 30 of them and they collectively go well over a million miles a year. I think that's impressive.
The fleet guys owe me a
for job security.
Well, the noise seems to be getting worse, and I notice that it gets louder/higher pitched when the engine RPMs get higher. I think to myself, "well this doesn't sound good." Right about then I hear a lout "CLANK."
I think to myself
Then pressing the gas gets me nothing, I'm still riding along at about 55 or so, but it won't accelerate.When I get to the next hill, it starts slowing down and I hear this awful metal grinding sound. At this point it's time to get it off the road and wait for a hook. So as I'm crossing two lanes of traffic, slowing down up a hill, very thankful that there are no cars around, the rear end locks up for a few feet (only left about 3 feet of rubber). Again, I'm thinking
We both get out and see what the damage is. We look underneath and see smoke coming from the rear diff around the pinion and there seems to be gear oil all over the axle and underside of the body.
We finally get a hook and get back to the garage where the shop guys take a look. Here's what they found: Sometime the day before the truck ran over what appears to be a plastic bag. This bag got wrapped around the driveshaft at the pinion (They tell me this is a Dana 80 rear axle). This created excess heat, which basically disintigrated the pinion seal. We drove about 30 miles today before this happened, all with little or no gear oil in the diff.
I'm still waiting on the final autopsy results, but my uneducated guess is that the spider gears and the ring and pinion are toast.
The moral to this long thread: a Dana 80 may be one tough axle, but it only takes a plastic grocery bag to trash it.
Sorry for the long thread, but I can't help but feel kinda proud about this. The fleet guys at work say that they have never seen a Chevy do that. We've been running 3500HD's for seven years. We have about 30 of them and they collectively go well over a million miles a year. I think that's impressive.
The fleet guys owe me a
for job security.