I did some maintenance to the truck, including my front and rear differential fluids. First I did the rear, and the fluid came out looking brand new. The drain plug was clean without a sign of grey or silver on it. Then I went to the front, and got a little concerned. The fluid came out all grey and silver, and the magnetic drain plug was coated in metal shavings. I havent heard much abnormal, except when I'm in 4wd, and I hear a little groan from the l/f...sounds to be the wheel bearing. I've heard it once before when not in 4wd, but that was it. This started happening since I lowered the truck, so I figrured that the front hub was just getting a little stressed from the different angle of the half shaft.

Whaddaya think? Am I going to be rebuilding my front diff in the near future? If so, I'd like to go up to 4.10's front and rear and throw a tru-trac back there. If it does go, I hope it gives me some time, as I'm flat broke right now

 

sounds good to me man 4.10s front and rear and a true trac or eaton. by the way my friends rear diff let go the day he was getting it rebuild ouuch me and him had to go to sears to get a bigger socket and on the way back the thing let go gear oil all over the place truck would all most not even move not trying to scare you at all got to love the granade 80s

 

Nah, no worries, I'm not scared...I've broken many a part and had to walk home lol. If and when it does break, I'm gonna have to borrow some dough and convince the wife as to why I need to do BOTH the front and rear lol...maybe I'll tell her it's a common problem and it's better to spend a little cash now to upgrade or I'll be spending twice as much in the future when the other diff goes...yea, that's it!! (I won't tell her that I'm going from 3.73's to 4.10's though )

Now we'll just wait and see how much time I've got...

 

if your straped for cash and it does blow just take the front diff out and leave dummy shafts in and change the rear first then the front when you get more dough flow

 

Now we're talkin!

 

Not sure exactly what he means by dummy shafts but definitely have something clamped down in place of the cv inside the hub otherwise your hubs will fall apart.

 

Sounds like the carrier bearings are gone. I just took my diff apart to rebuild it with 4.10's and an eaton E-locker and discovered that one of the carrier bearings was smoked. Fluid came out all silver, funny because I change the fluid quite regularly with royal purple. My buddy at work who used work for a chevy dealership said they are a very common problem.

Alex

 

Dam, I just changed my rear end fluid.. had that kinda burnt trans smell a little but my dad said hes seen alot worse.. hah, hes also been in the bus 4 almost 30 yrs. haha anyway. it was pretty nasty like a dark brown. But now it seems like I may need an axle seal and possibly a new one for the input of the diff. Its a little damp haha so Ill slap those in when I get my 4.10s in about a month from now gotta love them b-day things!

 

Yea, the more I thought about it, and thought about the noise in 4wd, I started thinking that the carrier bearings are probably smoked. There was an exploded view of the front diff, axle, and 4wd engagement assemby in another thread that turned on a light bulb in my head. At least carrier bearings are relatively inexpensive, just time consuming and tedious. I'm gonna hate to have to go into the front end w/o upgrading anything

Maybe I should do a few holeshots and grenade my G80 so I have no choice but to go into both diffs....think the wife will buy it lol?

 

Grenaded front diff + grenaded rear diff = grenaded bank account and grenaded marriage .