So I have had some howling occurring at around 55 mph so I have taken off my diff cover to check it all out. My ring and pinion seem to be fine. I have about a 1/16-1/8 turn of play in the shaft so I am assuming I need to do my clutches soon, but what I noticed the most was my exciter ring is all chewed up. is this bad? I did not notice any teeth in the bottom of the case, must have been done by the PO. Thoughts....

 

I am realizing that about two years ago I had broken off a large chunk of my pinion and it had passed around in there until I came to a stop. I could not drive it so I had a shop replace it, they must have overlooked the exciter. Does that mean it is not important?

 

That ring with the teeth on it is used for the worthless ABS system that Dodge saddled us with on these trucks. If nothing is missing any parts/teeth don't worry about that ABS sensor ring.

 

This is what it looks like.

The teeth are gone/rounded over from passing that chunk of gear.

 

I wouldn't worry about that ABS sensor ring missing the teeth. Just make sure all that debris is cleaned out of the housing.

If the rest of the internal parts look good throw a gasket on the cover and refill it.

 

Done. How about the drive shaft 1/16 - 1/8 of a turn of play? How much is normal? I know wanna's was 1/4 turn when it failed. Should I get on this ASAP, and if I do should I just remove the exciter at the same time? I know lots of questions, sorry....

 

If the teeth on the tone wheel are as bad as they look, your ABS lamp should be lit all the time, as it can't be getting a rational speed signal. Perhaps someone has disabled the ABS system by unplugging the module. I would replace the tone wheel if I was already doing differential work, but I wouldn't tear it all apart just for that.

If the play in your pinion is rotational, it may be a combination of excessive backlash, and/or play in the axleshaft splines. It may or may not be a problem. If there is up-and-down play in the pinion, or side-to-side play in the carrier, that is serious, and needs attention soon.

 

Yes the ABS light has been unplugged. If I am going in and doing the clutches would this not be accessible and pretty easy to replace at that time?

The play comes from when I grab a hold of the ring and rotate it, as if moving the wheels forward and back while watching the drive shaft. I am seeing play in rotation. I have none side-to-side or up-and-down.

 

There is gonna be a a little slack in the R&P. Do you have a dial indicator so you could check the backlash?

To check the clutches, see if there is any slack between the wheels and the diff itself. Any play there means that the clutches are toast.

 

I do not have a dial indicator but I am going to say my R&P is good, it is only 2 years old with very little towing. I am going to go back and check my U-joints to see if that could be the cause of the howl..

There is a little play between the wheel and the diff. When I move it by hand I could see the spyders shift, not a ton, but movement was present. I guess I should do the clutches sooner rather than later...

 

Are you saying that you can turn the ring gear 1/16 of a turn before it starts to turn the pinion?

You should barely be able to detect the backlash by turning the ring -- it should be on the order of .007 to .015 inch (1/128 to 1/64).

As you opened it because it was howling, I would say that you have either spun out a carrier shim, causing excessive backlash, or the shop did not set up the carrier properly when they fixed it after the pinion broke. Considering that they didn't bother to tell you that they didn't bother to replace the $10 exciter ring, I might be suspicious of the rest of their work.

But you need to get a handle on the backlash & gear contact pattern. The exciter ring doesn't do anything physically important in there.

 

I had to put it all back together (my daily driver). I will be headed back in there to do the clutches and will check the backlash properly at that time.

I have to say I am a little bummed that no one mentioned the exciter ring when they did the work. I hate not being able to trust anyone....

When ordering clutches should I get anything else while in there, bearings, etc., you know "while you're at it"? I will be checking the backlash but I am assuming I will not have to touch the R&P. I do not want to have to go back in there again for a while.

 

Anytime I have gone into a rear end when there has been a complaint of "Howling", in most cases, I have found that there is starting to be failure of the pinion bearings. Sometime I have seen the carrier bearings starting to fail. If you are taking out the carrier, I would replace the pinion and carrier bearings at that time also. Take the time to set the preload and backlash properly and you should be good for some time.

If they previously overlooked the exciter ring, then what else has been overlooked.

Just food for thought.

Glenn

 

Ring and pinion gear set-up takes some knowledge and special tools. changing the bearings both pinion and carrier could result in having to add or subtract shims to get it right. I'm no expert, but do know there is some "art" in setting up gears. I did the rear on my Scout by feel, I had to swap the gears out of a bent housing into a straight one and so far no noise and the gears haven't turned to powder!

 

need a close up of the ring gear teeth. looks like the wear pattern is going all the way across the teeth. if so it may be worn.