blackrat

Driving very slowly and I heard a pop out back. I had a hole punched in the diff cover so I towed it home. I expected a mess back there but after yanking the axle and popping the cover all I found was a sheared bolt head.





I can see where it was supposed to go, it goes into the side of the ring gear. How did it happen though? Never heard of these breaking before.

Would it be a hard repair or should I go with my other option of picking up a 50k mile 3 channel 10 bolt and swap what I need to make it work with my 4 channel?

Gears appear to be ok, at least at a quick glance. That's the sheared head sitting on top of the bearing cap bolt, light is shined where it came from.

dschmittie1

iTrader: (64)

you will need to put your axles and backing plates on the 3 channel rear to make it work in your car.

Not sure what would have caused that to break though

shortdog

iTrader: (1)

Have you ever done a gear swap to the rear? It looks like the ring gear bolt(s) backed out which is usually caused from no locktite and/or not tight enough (needs 90-100 lbs tq). I had a similar problem, so I got new ring gear bolts installed and was good to go.

FirstYrLS1Z

iTrader: (4)

That's not a ring gear bolt,that's one of the 4 torsen bolts for the torsens' internals.

01 ss vert

iTrader: (1)

damn. Just did a stud and cover swap, which I checked all the other bolts as well.

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

Thats exactly correct. Actually more common then most people think.

shortdog

iTrader: (1)

I just noticed it after looking at the pic again, so thanks.

I would think the bolt could be replaced. Check the dealer.

silverz28camaro

iTrader: (20)

My buddy had one of those break as well, it seems as if its from the bolt backing out, maybe not enough loctite during assembly.

00pooterSS

iTrader: (40)

As stated thats not a ring gear bolt, it holds the posi together, your lucky mine broke 3 off somehow, dont know whats going on to cause this but the guy at the rear end shop said he has seen it quite a few times...

silverz28camaro

iTrader: (20)

Maybe its a poor quality bolt? One of the first things I did for my car was save up for the 12 bolt, there not cheap but its sure a peice of mind, by the time you broke 2 10 bolts your near the price of a good moser or strange.

I'd say being a 6 speed car thats what you need to focus on if you plan on running the car at all. fix the 10 bolt since it seems to be a simple one, drive it easy for the time being, save some cash, sell the 10 and get a 12 or 9 inch.

FirstYrLS1Z

iTrader: (4)

blackrat

ah, now I see what it is. I've never really invested much time into learning how it works, I've heard everything is really precise so i figured if I ever wanted to swap gears I'd bring it somewhere.

I've already got the whole rear out of the car. I'm worried that the bolt might have damaged the gears somehow since when I went to reverse off the flat bed it got jammed and I had to roll forward and crunch over it to get it on the ground. It ended up piercing a small hole in the diff cover and kicked somewhere inside the case because I was able to pull it up my driveway into the garage with no problems.

The gears "look" ok but how strong are they? If they really did crunch up the bolt head like it looks then maybe theres some minute damage that'll just end up getting worse.

If I'm pulling out the assembly to extract the bolt am I going to have to go through all the precision measuring to get it back in correctly? I'd hate to put the rear end back in just to have it break because I'm off by a bit.

I don't have my car set up for drag racing, more for autox and track events so it doesn't get quite the abuse you guys regularly give them.

02sleeperz28

iTrader: (26)

I have a 4 channel rear for sale with 50,000 miles on it. No leaks or whines, aftermarket diff cover on it and comes out of an 02 TA auto. I recently purchased a 9inch absolutely nothing is wrong with the 10 bolt. I am located in Chicago. Let me know.

blackrat

Thanks for the heads up but even disregarding price to ship across country your gear ratio is higher than mine since yours is out of an auto.

There's a couple of 3 channels around here I can pick up and do the axle/sensor swap on to make work, but if I can get this back up only out the cost of a replacement bolt I'd be ecstatic. Is there anything to look for other than a gnarled edge on the gear teeth as far as damage?

FirstYrLS1Z

iTrader: (4)

Not knowing the specifics of the "3 channels around here",leaking pinion and/or axle seals(either of those would be visual),torsen and auburn carriers,& axle bearings.

getcha 01

iTrader: (4)

What did you end up doing about the bolts backing out? I got my 01 WS6 with 104k miles and I had same thing happen after full exhaust install, built tranny @ 119k miles and the GM dealer here and numerous other sources had never seen that b4 or never heard of a torsen?!?! I extracted the rest of the bolt from the torsen and put a grade 8 bolt in, then it happened again @ 125k miles to another stock bolt, the grade 8 was fine still. Now it did it again to another stock bolt last weekend im @132k miles now and im just installing new grade 8 bolts since they never come loose. Still I want to know why it happens or how!

Supers

The bolt backs out holding the case together, then as it backs out further it gets out far enough to make contact and become ripped off...

Either doing no further damage or getting caught in the ring and pin and wrecking everything else while it's just along for the ride... Some people get luck and it winds up in the oil passage for the front bearing, but then eventually the rest of the bolt comes out.


As for the use.... A drag car exerts a big load at initial launch and then it is loaded and for the rest of the 1200' it's good to go with it's worst over after a hundred some odd feet
Road racing you are on and off the pedal, loading and unloading the diff more then a drag car see's.. might not be as violent as the initial launch, but there is stress and abuse there none the less and way more heat...Auto x just doesn't see the higher speeds which makes heat, and is a killer amongst some diffs, some from to much heat and breaking the oil down to water.....and for a drag car, getting to the line with a dead cold gear and oil is not the best for the gears survival or the best time...
You may notice at the track you see some of us with stands and the car running on the stands warming up the driveline, and oils.....

FireHawk178

iTrader: (9)

Anyone know the specs on those four bolts? I had two snap off in the diff and another when I was removing the cap which turned out to be cracked to hell. I'll be picking up some grade 8s to put it back together.. Already have the red thread locker.

Thanks