Slop

Clutchsmoke

New Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2005
Location
In them Hills
Little help please, anyone know exactly what is worn when the yoke has roughly 30 degrees play in it? I hear the gears clanking inside the pumpkin.
Thanks.
 
You'd better pull the cover and take a peek..... 30 degrees of play...... If your backlash was off that much I don't think you could drive it very far..... A friend of mines spider gears went bad in her TJ. This allowed some play until one of the side gears completely stripped out............ Then it was all play......
 
Yeah, you're either going to need to pull the cover and have a peek, or give us a bit more information. Did it just start doing this? Does it howl or whine at speed or under load?

A Detroit-equipped diff will have better than 30* of backlash at the pinion, FWIW.
 
^Yeah, what he said. 30 degrees does seem a little high, but I would pull the cover and inspect parts, and check the backlash, and if its pretty good, then not sweat it. Ive never liked how much I could turn the pinion after setting up my gears, but I know everything is to spec.
 
Yes gentlemen, I pulled the cover and played with it. Those gears in the carrier are carrying the slop. The R&P are tight. What next? It always had play, saf-t, no estranged noises either, other than the take off 'clunk'.
 
Inspect ring and pinion gears to make sure no metal chunks have damaged their teeth..

If not order a new spider gear kit. Around $75. The axle shafts have to come out to get this crap out.

Wait.... what vehicle are we talking about and this is an open diff right?
 
Gee Wally, how's 'bout a little more info go run with here ?

Maybe, what vehicle this axle is in, or even better yet, what type of axle it is ?

different axles have different setups, causing different reasons for excessive backlash.

So far all ya got here are a few WAG's none of which help your cause.

Info, it's all in the details.

Kevin
Your friendly moderator

( Wild Ass Guess)
 
I would take the $ you were going to spend on replacement spidergears, and put a lockright in.

Or....If you are tight for money...i am sure you could find someone that has the stock gears laying around from where they installed a lockright. Depending on the vehicle...i may have a set here in the shop. Just a idea.

Seth
 
Sorry not to explain it better, yeah, it's an open model 20. I didn't see any damage to the R&P. I pulled the cover, from what I see, I guess it's the carrier. There's these four little gears that are enclosed and perpendicular to one another, they have the slop. The R&P are tight. Just today, I started to hear a stiffling humm that I never heard with my other axle assembly ( higher gears, same style m20, perfect condition).
Thanks.
 
Chock front wheels.
Lift up rear.
Put T-Case in neutral.
Have a buddy turn Rear D-Shaft while you investigate play.
Leaving a parking brake on may help. You may not have to jack up vehicle, if you can get under there without, don't go through the trouble.
 
It's done. Brakes locked down, drive in neutral, and the four lil gears in what I believe to be the carrier are moving considerably.I would say they are worn out, each gear is moving nearly an eighths rev without turning the axle.
 
Dude if you could post a good pic of those 4 little gears it might help. If the gears aren't rounded off anywhere...

Possibly a worn spacer/thrust washer. This would give the 4 gears more play before they actually turned the axle shafts.. But I don't know if it would give that much. I would think if the 4 gears (spider gear assy) were bad at least one of the side gears would be rounded off.

One last thing to check. I'm saying this because you said the 4 little gears are turning an 1/8th of a turn and then the axle shafts move. This tells me they could be OK and maybe the axle shaft spline or side gear spline are damaged. I think this is unlikely but it could be worth taking a look.

Either way the axle shafts are going to have to come out.

While the E brake is on... if your e brake goes to both wheels... Have someone really turn the pinion yoke. A pipe wrench would be good to have here. This is to try to replicate the "popping" sound. Look carefully to try to see what actually slips.
 
Thanks everyone!
I pulled the thing apart and found a few rollers from some old bearing someone 20 years ago never retrieved after a repair. All the 4 bearings present were intact. I guess a roller was grabbed in the gears. The R&P are chewed with a broke tooth ar two. Every gear inside the carrier is pitted, and I don't think it was from rust.:mad:
 
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