Ever seen this before??

[84 Convert]

My truck ceased to move under its own power... the cause has been identified as a bolt- free ring gear. I could see it if the gears had just been set up, but they have at least 50K miles on them since I purchased the truck!

I think the egg-shaped holes in the carrier indicate that it is time for the truetrac that is being stored in the Sub.

Any ideas as to what might cause this?

Gregg

[john8662]

which holes in the carrier are egg-shaped? The holes in the carrier that bolt to the ring gear itself? Or, if it's a c-clip rear end, the small bolt that holds in the pin?

Either way, I'd say lack of tightening things properly, I think that's why there are torque specifications in books. Most in that area just tighten them with an impact until it don't turn no more.

J

[HH]

Up for debate.

1. If torqued correctly the bolts should not come loose.

2. Loctite is recommended by some manufacturers for ring gear bolts.

[doncannon]

Hello All,

Could you install a truetrac in a dually? would this hurt mileage? I do know the benefits just wondered about the bad things that could happen.

thank you all again,
Don

[neo]

I am not going to claim to be any sort of r/p expert, but ALWAYS use loctite on the ring bolts and ALWAYS torque exactly to spec. It is one of the only torques I can do and not have to take it back down *usually!* during the set-up. I ahve never (knock knock on the wooden table) had a ring come loose. Again, no expert here, just a hack.
On the tru-track, should install without a hitch, but... prolly going to be more noticable on a dually around corners, but should not be an issue. Should not noticably hurt milage unless you turn corners all the time (like circle track!) at least no more than a non dually. Please someone correct my errors.

[Robyn]

If the bolt holes in the carrier are slopped ou then its gonna have to be replaced. Definately use anerobic sealer (loctite) on the ring bolts.

Blue will be fine and definately make sure the bolts you use are the correct ones as they are usually "body size" (The fit very close in the holes and are hard)

Sounds like the gears probably are shot too if all the bolts came out???

Usually anything loose in there goes through the gears, "CRUNCH":eek:

Bearings and such will need to be replaced too with all the stuff chewed up.

Be sure and wash the entire housing out all the way to the wheel bearings to be sure there is no left over crap to start another failure.

As fare as the locker goes it wont make that much difference, nay see a little more tire wear is all.

*** THE CAUSE OF THE FAILURE***
Could be a poor repair having seen the use of improper bolts, bolts not torqued, holes already wobbled out from a previous poor repair.

This is a very rare failure and is almost always precipitated by someone in there messing around that failed to follow procedures.

Good luck with cleaning up the wreckage.

Best

Robyn

[76m880]

i have used the detroit lockers and they are great i never noticed excessive wear or loss in fuel economy with it, and i run 37" tires

[DieselCrawler]

I had some ring gear bolts come lose on a D44 frontend a few years back... at the time, I couldn't figure out why it seemed to bind up once in a while when backing up with the hubs locked. A while later I noticed the diff cover had some dimples in it, STICKING OUT! Pulled the cover, 2 bolts out, and chewed to pieces, all the rest lose, some more than half backed out. The bolts that were out, floating around, would get cought between the ring gear and the diff cover and housing when backing up. Didn't hurt the ring gear, but every berring in it is junk. A few months after that, I changed the whole housing, went to a corp 10 bolt with the same gears...