Sierra Fest Carnage

[OnTheRocks]

When Amanda decides to grenade an axle, she sure does a good job!
After thinking about what happened on the trail and now pulling it apart, my best guess is the passenger side carrier bearing failed which let the carrier move around to much which snapped the axle, the carrier bearing spud and trashed the housing. Surprisingly the ring and pinion still look pretty good. Lots of parts and labor in my future...
She did drive out of the last 9 or so miles of the Duzy in 2 wheel high, so we got that going for us!

 

[Bent]

Getting out is always a win! The rest of that, on the other hand, though...

 

[EricsXJ]

... or was it the shaft breaking and metal fragments destroyed the bearing?

 

[OnTheRocks]

Eric, on the trail the day before we noticed an oil leak on the passenger side indicating the seal was giving out. We checked the oil level and it was down just a little bit and we topped it off. A little bit before the breakage we noticed more oil which looked like the seal was getting worse. Then it broke. I’m thinking bearing first for three reasons. Something had to cause the seal to fail rather rapidly, if the bearing was failing one of the first things to go is usually the roller cage which could have easily damaged the seal. Second, the broken axle doesn’t have the characteristic 45-degree shear fracture which would be seen with a pure twisting break. And, right after the break, we disconnected the hubs to stop everything from turning so there couldn’t have been much if any damage after the big break. But of course, this is only my best guess, I suppose that we could have been low on blinker fluid...

 

[EricsXJ]

sounds reasonable

 

[Jes]

Nice carnage!
I suffered some carnage as well although it wasn't necessarily from this trip, just 40,000 hard miles.
Noticed a howling coming from the rear end on deceleration as I was making my way back down towards Shaver Lake. Pulled into the gas station and the pinion was a little floppy. Made it all the way home and decided to pull the rear axle, as I was doing that I found this...

Then after pulling the diff apart the carrier literally fall right out, not good...


Everything is wasted.
Welded a bunch of steel to fix the housing and waiting on parts to regear and rebuild...

 

[blondejoncherokee]

so it needed new pinion bearings huh Jes ?

 

[Jes]

No, it needs new everything.

 

[OnTheRocks]

Is it just the lighting or am I seeing wear on the full face of the ring gear teeth?

 

[Jes]

You are seeing correct.
The dishes are done, man.

 

[OnTheRocks]

Not quite as bad as ours, but plenty bad enough

 

[Phil]

You are seeing correct.
The dishes are done, man.

Do you still do your gears at the same place up the hill?

 

[Jes]

Mostly.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

damn Jes !