On a slightly better note...We had a nice family BBQ last night, and then my brother and I tore into my rear diff.

Well it's not all good news for the Dana 70. The power-loc unit is worn out, and the pinion is running deep on the ring gear. Enough to run past the outside edge of the gear. And it appears I have at least one wheel bearing that is a bit iffy.

But my brother says there is nothing that can't wait a few weeks, or longer, to address. So now I have to source all new parts for a complete diff rebuild. Thankfully my brother has all the tools required to do it in his shop. So it will be a learning experience for me as well.

On a bit of a funny note...while talking with my brother last night I was telling him my issues with my driveshafts. He finally asked who was doing the work...so I told him...he laughed and told be he had worked for this guy a couple years ago. And that he is truly an A-hole to work for as well. he said he only lasted a few months and had to get out of there.

 

Always something. is the power lock in rebuildable shape?

 

Yes it is, but needs pretty much everything....new cross bars, spiders, clutches, cones etc. So now it becomes, is it cheaper to rebuild, or buy another unit?

I found a low mileage unit from an 02 cummins truck...66K miles...for about $250....considering that instead, but not sure if a 2002 power loc unit has the provision for the ABS ring? Parts for just a rebuild seem to be about $400-$500.

Going to keep searching and researching, and try to come to figure which route I want to go.

 

More and more, through experiences like this of my own, along with (as in your case, your brother) others showing me and helping me learn, I find it more satisfying to do my own work.

 

This is exactly why I like to do as much of my own work as possible. But unfortunately there are a few things I still have to farm out. And wouldn't you know that is where I get shafted. :

 

Unfortunately there are a lot of professionals out there that aren't

 

You mean shafted badly . . .

I'm pretty sure it's an '02 carrier I have in my truck. As far as I know they kept the tone ring until they discontinued the D70.

 

Last week I decided to tackle the oil cooler. I had been seeing a bit of coolant leaking from my oil cooler. So bought new gaskets from cummins, and went at it.

The bolts holding the oil cooler should be at 18ft/lbs...mine were maybe 5ft/lbs when I removed them! I would recommend that you check your oil cooler bolts.

Once I got the assembly out of the block, I ended up with a couple loose pieces.



That is the pressure relief valve for the oil bypass. It is supposed to be one piece!

And this is where I found the top piece of the relief valve.



So I spent the next couple hours trying to find one. No one seemed to have one, and the cummins dealers parts department was closed, due to the long weekend.

I eventually called a friend who said he had a complete unit I could try. So i buzzed over there and grabbed it. Turned out the pressure relief valve in this one was shot too!! I just couldn't get a break.

So I went back and cleaned up the gasket surfaces. What a PITA. Not sure what those gaskets were held on with, but it took wire wheel, and small sanding discs to get it all cleaned up.

 

So since I needed the truck to go to work the next day, I decided it was time for some back yard engineering.

I hunted around the garage trying to think of what I could use to assemble, and secure the relief valve so it would function as a single piece again. I dug through many of my containers of MISC. Stuff I see, find and have left over from projects and such that I toss in containers because " I might be able to use that one day...."

Well eventually I came across this...



Think it was leftover from some Ikea furniture? Anyway I carefully removed the rolled metal around the middle. The ground off one end so i could get to the spring star washers. Then I slowly, and carefully bent and ground down the fingers until I was able to sneak it into the bore to hold the relief valve back together.



Worked really well, super snug and biting hard into the aluminum. I was able to get things back together and have not had any issue so far.

 

I also spent a little time working on quieting up the 4wd shift lever. I was rattling quite a bit. Here is a the piece that came in my Advance adapters NV4500 to NP205 kit, Vs the OEM unit.



I needed the end that be tighter on the transfer case. So I used some rubber and worked it in between the clevis and shift bar. It was tight, and took some time to get everything in place and lined up.



The other end just required the addition of a small spring washer to take up the little bit of slop. Nice a quiet now!!

 

And I cut up my original "Power Ram 250" emblems so I could make my "Power Ram 350" emblems.

I used my table saw to carefully cut the "power" portion of the original emblem off. Then I had to sand down the piece to fit tight against the "RAM". The "A" sticks up just a little bit. Once fitted I put a couple coats of paint on the lower section that was cut and sanded. Then one dry some two sided tape and installed everything.

Think it turned out good.



After how much the last set I saw on e-bay go for...think it was around $300? This works just fine for me....

 

I wish ox locker made a dana 70 locker. Last I checked with him the dana 70 isn't too popular and he didn't have one to work on.

I'm thinking about running a locker for the dana 60 on my truck and still have no idea what I'll be running in the rear. I like to keep the same brands in the front and back.

 

Man,

I hope that I'm not going to be dealing with your guy anytime soon...


What was his warranty ? IOW, what did he do for you..?

 

Thrashing
That is just how I did my W-350 emblems on my Black crew, since I had a bunch of spare W-250 emblems.

Looking good!

 

Emblems look great, You are kwite the craftsman