BigIron70

Thanks 2500superram, I just wish the American Axle would interchange with the Dana since AA are better axle's. Very easy to overhaul the AA compared to the dana. It would be great if someone on DTR would do a conversion and put AA into a second generation CTD with a Dana axle.

torquefan

The first important thing with a Dana 70, as was mentioned, is to grab the crown gear and see if you can move the carrier side-to-side. If it has play, the carrier bearings are badly worn and have spun in the housing. This will have damaged the housing and also put a lot of stress on the gear teeth. (As the gears move away from each other, the load is transmitted through the tips of the teeth, instead of the stronger flanks, causing the teeth to crack.) Additionally, if the gears have chewed up a bolt, or other shrapnel, they may be scarred up and broken from that too.

gadget.35-06

From the looks of the tone ring it tried to knead a bolt against the case; some of the tone ring teeth have definite thread patterns mashed into them. A cast-iron integral housing may also then crack from the stress and your whole axle assembly would be toast.

Find a complete assembly.

dozer12216

Redpoint5 where have you gone???

quote: " and I am good about following directions and figuring things out on my own."

this does not appear correct if you have not determined this is not a novice job. Even experienced techs have trouble with this job. (getting it right) Special tools are needed.
Your differential is JUNK. Let a expert do the job. give up beer, women or whatever to pay for. JMHO and years of experience.

Ace

Good to see somebody decided to just come right out and say it:

redpoint5

I just switched to working the suckers shift (regular 8-5) so I haven't had time to look at this yet.

The thing is, my truck was driving just fine, only the speedo didn't work. My rig is worth maybe $6k, and it needs other things fixed too such as the tranny, track bar, and AC.

If the diff can be fixed by a pro on the cheap, then I'm all for it. Otherwise, the only thing that makes sense is to either fix it myself, or slap the diff cover back on and keep cruising till the rearend comes apart. The whole darn truck just seems made to disintegrate while the motor keeps churning without complaint. I'm just upset because there is no reason for bolts to just come out and fly around in a diff. Some monkey just didn't care enough to do their job right.

redpoint5

I hate to keep reviving this tired old thread, but where can I find a tone ring for my rear diff? Are there any online parts fiches? Is the tone ring referred to as anything else?

D2 Cat

Here's someone you can contact for parts.

Kabele Truck and Auto Parts, Spirit Lake, Iowa. 800-225-6908

I needed parts for a '93 Dodge Dakota differential. My local dealer couldn't get the parts quickly. Only had 2 in his computer, and several states away. I call Kabele's, they had the parts in stock and 1/3 dealer price including shipping.

redpoint5, just remember your statement: "Some monkey just didn't care enough to do their job right." If you don't do the job right, you're in the same boat! Proceed with caution.

Check out cost of parts since you've decided to reduce cost as much as possible, but do check out recycle yards. Even one that is not in excellent condition may very well out last a bad/incomplete repair even if you thought you were doing it right.

redpoint5

Update:

After closer inspection, it turns out 5 of the bolts holding the tone ring on had backed out and were sheared off as they turned in the differential housing. That explains the lack of a bolt head in the pictures.

I can find no damage to the actual differential gears, everything turns smoothly, and there is no excessive play. As far as I can tell, the only damage is to the tone ring. I might just secure the tone ring with new bolts and button the thing back up with a new speed sensor (will check to see if the tone ring rubs).

My question is, why are there so many bolts holding the tone ring on? Not only are there a lot, but they are big grade 8 bolts. Why would such strong bolts need to be used on something that isn't even a stressed component? Do the bolts go through and hold something else together?

Tate

Holds the ring gear too.

redpoint5

Update:

I have installed new bolts on the mangled tone ring and put in a new speed sensor, checking to make sure the ring doesn't contact the sensor. For some reason, the connector on the new speed sensor is on the opposite side as the original. That forced me to splice in a short length of wire so that the harness can reach the opposite side of the sensor.

Everything is back together, but I'm still not getting a speed reading. My best guess is that there is a break in the harness somewhere further up that I haven't found. Perhaps the tone ring was damaged too much, but I would still expect some reading from the speedo.

Even though I haven't resolved my problem yet, it's a good thing I popped that diff cover off and took care of the mess inside.

Busboy

Glad to see you got things together. The clearance between the tone ring and the sensor is not adjustable and should be .005 to .050 inch. It is also important that the correct sensor is used and on axles used in some later trucks a "twisted pair" (datalink bus) is used for the wire. I'm guessing you have too much clearance from damage and possibly the wrong sensor.