What did my car just shove through the dif cover? (REAREND)
10-13-2011, 01:42 PM
#1
What did my car just shove through the dif cover? (REAREND) OK, crap... I walk outside this morning, and they're a trail of dark fluid coming down the road and going under my car. I look under the dif.... and there's a friggin puddle... A SIZABLE one. I guess I fragged something when I was out last night. Would any good Samaritans be willing to help a man out? I need to figure out what I broke.
UPDATE: took some pics. I KNOW I broke SOMETHING... Now I just have to figure out what. Going out now to take the rear cover off the dif and see what the hell decided to jump through the cover. PICS:
coming down the road:
backing into my spot:
The puddle that was under the dif (moved the car forward about 2 feet so I could get under it.
AAAND... Something sticking through the rear cover... looks like it might be a bolt or something. all I know right now is that it's round and threaded.
Any thoughts on what the hell that is?
UPDATE: took some pics. I KNOW I broke SOMETHING... Now I just have to figure out what. Going out now to take the rear cover off the dif and see what the hell decided to jump through the cover. PICS:
coming down the road:
backing into my spot:
The puddle that was under the dif (moved the car forward about 2 feet so I could get under it.
AAAND... Something sticking through the rear cover... looks like it might be a bolt or something. all I know right now is that it's round and threaded.
Any thoughts on what the hell that is?
10-13-2011, 02:39 PM
#2
On The Tree
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I think the only bolt it could be is a ring gear bolt, if it was one of the main cap bolts I don't think the car would be moving. As far as fixing it goes, as long as nothing else is screwed up, I would just pop the cover off and put the bolt back in with some loctite and tighten it down to spec. Then either get a new cover or fix that one. I would also make sure all the other ring gear bolts are tightened to spec.
10-13-2011, 03:13 PM
#4
also, it happened somewhere on the way home... I never heard any wierd noises, and the car drove fine. Hell, I started it this morning to move it forward away from the curb, no noises or anything. Hopefully this is what it is. I'll know soon enough, as soon as I can get those ******* bolts broken loose.
10-13-2011, 03:38 PM
#5
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You'll find several bolts loose when you open it up... You'l notice the bolt is reverse threaded (i.e. like someone said - ring gear bolt). Clean it up, torque them WITH loctite and jb weld the cover. less than 10 bucks and you're back on the road with no leak.
10-13-2011, 05:01 PM
#6
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Id pull the cover off and see what it looks like in there.. mine kinda looked like that but much worse...
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...1&l=30704af471
Sure you can put new bolts in the ring gear and torque it but id pull it out and check out your bearings, mine were shot and there wasn't any sound out of it until it went..
I'm placing a order in at Midwest Chassis and Performance next week for a fab 9" setup..
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...1&l=30704af471
Sure you can put new bolts in the ring gear and torque it but id pull it out and check out your bearings, mine were shot and there wasn't any sound out of it until it went..
I'm placing a order in at Midwest Chassis and Performance next week for a fab 9" setup..
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10-13-2011, 06:59 PM
#9
if thats a stock 10 bolt.... my car with 50,000 miles had a bolt next to the ring gear back out by itself and fall between the ring and pinion and locked up everything. i pulled the cover to find a mangled up bolt that fell out. trashed my gears and ripped a hole im my cover like that one. I think its getting pretty common. prolly a defect from GM.
Last edited by StangEaterSS; 10-13-2011 at 07:10 PM.
10-14-2011, 10:23 AM
#12
Well, I got that cover off yesterday.
Yeah, it was raining. Yeah, I was laying in a puddle under my car. Yeah, it sucked.
The little bastard that caused all my problems.
AAAAND, where it came from.
I rotated the wheel slowly and looked, and I didn't see any real damage inside the rear end. A few TINY scratches, and it looks like a bolt head kicked this one through the cover. There are FOUR other bolts that are finger-tight, so I'm going to loktite the **** out of all of them tomorrow when I parts get in. I ordered a new bolt and a new cover.
Just a quick question... Duffster, how'd you know that I'd find several other loose ones? That was kind of creepy
Yeah, it was raining. Yeah, I was laying in a puddle under my car. Yeah, it sucked.
The little bastard that caused all my problems.
AAAAND, where it came from.
I rotated the wheel slowly and looked, and I didn't see any real damage inside the rear end. A few TINY scratches, and it looks like a bolt head kicked this one through the cover. There are FOUR other bolts that are finger-tight, so I'm going to loktite the **** out of all of them tomorrow when I parts get in. I ordered a new bolt and a new cover.
Just a quick question... Duffster, how'd you know that I'd find several other loose ones? That was kind of creepy
10-14-2011, 11:15 PM
#14
had something like that happen to me before while i was driving, lucky i wasnt going more then 30mph, drove it home like that with no oil 
broke 2 bolts off, those 2 got into the ring gear and went around it and pushed against the cover and cracked it from top to down
and found 2 other bolts lose
broke 2 bolts off, those 2 got into the ring gear and went around it and pushed against the cover and cracked it from top to down
and found 2 other bolts lose
10-15-2011, 03:58 AM
#15
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Just a quick question... Duffster, how'd you know that I'd find several other loose ones? That was kind of creepy
Seriously, it actually stood to reason, if one was loose, several would be. Seen it, experienced it, regretted it
10-15-2011, 05:35 PM
#16
So, got the rear end back together with the new cover, went out, and put some miles on it. So far, no noises or leaks, so I think she's in the clear. Thanks to everyone for their input, and especially thanks Joe for all the advice on the phone this morning and for bullshitting with me while the RTV dried.
Nothing looked really bad in there... I sprayed it all out with brake cleaner. Some minor wear on the ring gear, but I imagine it'll be OK... I'm thinking about getting rid of the 4.10 and buying a 3.83 soonish anyway. I'm sure it'll hold until then. I'm really glad I bought an extra ring gear bolt at the dealership... I stripped the teeth right off of one when I was going around blue loktite'ing and torquing all of them, so it came in handy. Didn't use a torque wrench, as I couldn't find mine. I just turned until I was sure they weren't backing out again. The only wierd thing was that the head sizes of the dealership ring gear bolts were big (11/16, IIRC), and the ones that were in there were 5/8.
I used some red RTV on the new cover, let it dry some, and filled the rear up with Mobil1 75w90 LS synthetic gear oil.
AAAND... PICS:
My baby up on jackstands with all my crap scattered around.
And a closer look at the ugly-*** new OEM cover.
Nothing looked really bad in there... I sprayed it all out with brake cleaner. Some minor wear on the ring gear, but I imagine it'll be OK... I'm thinking about getting rid of the 4.10 and buying a 3.83 soonish anyway. I'm sure it'll hold until then. I'm really glad I bought an extra ring gear bolt at the dealership... I stripped the teeth right off of one when I was going around blue loktite'ing and torquing all of them, so it came in handy. Didn't use a torque wrench, as I couldn't find mine. I just turned until I was sure they weren't backing out again. The only wierd thing was that the head sizes of the dealership ring gear bolts were big (11/16, IIRC), and the ones that were in there were 5/8.
I used some red RTV on the new cover, let it dry some, and filled the rear up with Mobil1 75w90 LS synthetic gear oil.
AAAND... PICS:
My baby up on jackstands with all my crap scattered around.
And a closer look at the ugly-*** new OEM cover.
10-15-2011, 07:31 PM
#17
all the bolts in my stock rearend were broke off inside the carrier and it looked like a machine gun destroyed the rear cover,the ring and pinion looked ok but i didnt tear it apart,i just went and got another 10 bolt at a junkyard.lucky yours didnt do what mine did,i did get the car home slowly.it sounded like every wearing part inside was coming out the backend of the car as i drove it slowly home.
