Stuck on highway at the moment with a smoking diff

[TJuser]

I need a little help here....was cruising home from work and I smelled diff oil....little odd....then hit traffic and heard a squelch when I came to a stop. Pulled over and diff oil has pretty much exploded out the breather tube and differential is now sitting here, literally smoking

What the heck caused it? There's no water in the fluid as it's still really black

 

[ColoJeep]

Could be a fried bearing , tow it home on a roll back , or if your close to home check gear oil level , add as needed , and drive home real slow .
Hope it works out for you !

 

[TJuser]

Could be a fried bearing , tow it home on a roll back , or if your close to home check gear oil level , add as needed , and drive home real slow .
Hope it works out for you !

Ah ok it'd be the bearing then....it's been howling for a while but I would've expected it to lock up instead of doing this.

 

[AndyG]

Could be a fried bearing , tow it home on a roll back , or if your close to home check gear oil level , add as needed , and drive home real slow .
Hope it works out for you !

If you can avoid driving it that’s the best route

 

[ColoJeep]

Ah ok it'd be the bearing then....it's been howling for a while but I would've expected it to lock up instead of doing this.

Tow it , tear it down for inspection , go from there.

 

[AndyG]

I was trying to think if you removed the driveshaft and went in four-wheel-drive work what would do for you

 

[ColoJeep]

I was trying to think if you removed the driveshaft and went in four-wheel-drive work what that would do for you

Not if the rear diff is toast.

 

[5632]

Call AAA.

 

[TJuser]

Call AAA.

Tow it , tear it down for inspection , go from there.

Normally I would...it's Dickered but not effed so just going to try to limp it

 

[ColoJeep]

Normally I would...it's Dickered but not effed so just going to try to limp it

Not knowing your mechanical skill level it's hard to make appropriate recommendations , But if your close to home , let it cool , check the gear oil level , add as needed , drive home real slow. Just know it could lock up on you. drive real slow ! keep it cool !

 

[Gilaguy23]

I just did my 35's bearings. Id bet the axle bearings, pinion bearings and the carrier bearings are shot from metallic bits floating around. Like the guys say, the more you drive it the more damage you'll get.

 

[Rickyd]

 

[John Cooper]

S O L!!

 

[DLJ54]

4wd to the floor and skip the red lights

 

[TJuser]

4wd to the floor and skip the red lights

She can't lock up if she's liquid

In all seriousness tho, I pulled the cover off and the bearing caps look okay. Fortunately I don't think either of the bearings spun and the gear teeth at glance look alright. There is a couple bits of screws though hanging around in there and I don't know what they're for

 

[TJuser]

The first pic you can see the head of a screw stuck in the ring

These also were in the diff cover

And here's one of the bearing caps...surface is completely smooth and looks fine

 

[tr21triton]

was there any fluid left in it ?

 

[TJuser]

was there any fluid left in it ?

Fortunately yeah there was. I definitely took a gamble on it

 

[CMBD]

So the moral of the story is...

When your rear differential is sending you clear messages that its unhappy with your level of care and could possibly unfriend you, just ignore it.

Because its only dickered and not fucked. And we know that because it didn't lock up on the way home, and the oil is still really black.

 

[hosejockey61]

This shows the importance of cleaning your ring gear and ring gear bolts really good before install as well as the need for red loctite.