🔥 EXPLODED My Front Diff - SOLVED!!

[FULLTHROTTLERICK]

Hey guys, we were at Stony Lonesome this past weekend and I decided to dip my toe on 1 final trail on the last day before heading back to camp. Needless to say, we heard a loud pop and i proceeded to lose all power to my front wheels. See video below for the moment it happened.

Afterwards, I noticed my driver's inner CV boot clamp had broken so I assumed that was the pop i heard. I replaced the driver CV axle but we still have no power to either front wheel. When we pulled the old CV off and installed the new CV, the output shaft splines coming out of the diff looked normal. HOWEVER, if you spin the little output shaft, you can hear clicking coming from inside the diff housing...

I drained the front diff fluid but there is no visible metal fragments or filings inside (see photo below). I also verified front driveshaft is spinning properly when driving forward. I also just found that the intermediate shaft is plunging in/out of the diff tube (see video)

Does anyone have an idea of what else is broken and causing no power to the front wheels? Perhaps the intermediate shaft on the passenger side or some spider gears inside front diff? I figure that would leave metal in the fluid but who knows.

TIA!! PFA!!

 

[BusaDave]

Something to think about. Could be latent damage that just decided to manifest itself. Have seen stress fractures finally give way.

 

[RamTrxUSA]

Hey guys, we were at Stony Lonesome this past weekend and I decided to dip my toe on 1 final trail on the last day before heading back to camp. Needless to say, we heard a loud pop and i proceeded to lose all power to my front wheels. See video below for the moment it happened.

Afterwards, I noticed my driver's inner CV boot clamp had broken so I assumed that was the pop i heard. I replaced the driver CV axle but we still have no power to either front wheel. When we pulled the old CV off and installed the new CV, the output shaft splines coming out of the diff looked normal. HOWEVER, if you spin the little output shaft, you can hear clicking coming from inside the diff housing...

I drained the front diff fluid but there is no visible metal fragments or filings inside (see photo below). I also verified front driveshaft is spinning properly when driving forward.

Does anyone have an idea of what else is broken and causing no power to the front wheels? Perhaps the intermediate shaft on the passenger side or some spider gears inside front diff? I figure that would leave metal in the fluid but who knows.

Sidenote: we were climbing a steep obstacle but there was almost no weight on the front tires. They were just spinning in loose gravel and not bound up in any way. Which makes it so strange that this was when the (__________) in the front decided to implode

TIA!! PFA!!

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Shaft or maybe the transfer case?

 

[FULLTHROTTLERICK]

Shaft or maybe the transfer case?

which shaft, intermediate?

 

[RamTrxUSA]

which shaft, intermediate?

Correct; have you inspected it yet? Checked transfer case fluid?

 

[RamTrxUSA]

You can also disconnect the intermediate shaft and lift the whole front end and try spinning it manually to narrow it down.

 

[FULLTHROTTLERICK]

Correct; have you inspected it yet? Checked transfer case fluid?

Check this out! I'm thinking maybe the snap ring on the intermediate shaft shit the bed?

 

[RamTrxUSA]

Check this out! I'm thinking maybe the snap ring on the intermediate shaft shit the bed?

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Yup that’ll do it. Wow!

 

[FULLTHROTTLERICK]

Soooo...turns out i sheared the shaft inside the diff tube. Based on the exploded diagram below, the shaft I broke is NOT the intermediate shaft as we suspected, and does NOT appear to be purchasable separately and must come with the entire front diff assembly... You can see the intermediate (stub) shaft on the bottom of the 3rd pic (it's less than half the length of the diff tube shaft i broke...)

 

[04Ram2500Hemi]

Soooo...turns out i sheared the shaft inside the diff tube. Based on the exploded diagram below, the shaft I broke is NOT the intermediate shaft as we suspected, and does NOT appear to be purchasable separately and must come with the entire front diff assembly... You can see the intermediate (stub) shaft on the bottom of the 3rd pic (it's less than half the length of the diff tube shaft i broke...)

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That doesn’t sound cheap to fix/replace!

 

[TRXNUT]

Soooo...turns out i sheared the shaft inside the diff tube. Based on the exploded diagram below, the shaft I broke is NOT the intermediate shaft as we suspected, and does NOT appear to be purchasable separately and must come with the entire front diff assembly... You can see the intermediate (stub) shaft on the bottom of the 3rd pic (it's less than half the length of the diff tube shaft i broke...)

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Do you know someone that has a machine shop and is a great welder? If you do you can have them turn down both ends where the shaft snapped, fabricate a sleeve/collar with 2 holes in the side wall on both ends that can slide over both ends that were turned down and plug weld the sleeve to the shafts along with welding the perimeter seams of the sleeve to the shaft then put it back into the lathe and turn it all back down to factory width/spec. It would be stronger than before and probably way cheaper.

 

[Wyoming_TRX]

Just get a low mile used spare diff? car-part or ebay? Even new they're only $1500 or so. Mopar parts
When you install the new one Don't tighten the diff drop bolts all the way. Let the diff float, then put a jack under it and center it with a laser level through the centerline of both hubs. I suspect this one is crooked which is why you're breaking so much stuff.

 

[04Ram2500Hemi]

 

[Dubstep Shep]

Soooo...turns out i sheared the shaft inside the diff tube. Based on the exploded diagram below, the shaft I broke is NOT the intermediate shaft as we suspected, and does NOT appear to be purchasable separately and must come with the entire front diff assembly... You can see the intermediate (stub) shaft on the bottom of the 3rd pic (it's less than half the length of the diff tube shaft i broke...)

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See if you can get a slightly better close in pic of the end of that shaft. I'm curious what the failure mode looks like.

But as others said, I'd just get a used diff on facebook marketplace. I see them come up all the time.

 

[FULLTHROTTLERICK]

See if you can get a slightly better close in pic of the end of that shaft. I'm curious what the failure mode looks like.

But as others said, I'd just get a used diff on facebook marketplace. I see them come up all the time.

Dang really?? I've never seen one on FBM. Pics below!

 

[MEATSWORD]

Lol only you man! Time to check ebay for a diff assembly.

 

[Dubstep Shep]

Dang really?? I've never seen one on FBM. Pics below!

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Looks like a pretty ductile failure to me. Probably just the repeated beating from the 40s and off-roading that got to it over time.

 

[Wyoming_TRX]

I also got to thinking about this, if, while you were all twisted up as it broke, the droop caused a CV to bind and stop the shaft...bang. It would be hard to replicate in a shop but next time you have the front end jacked up max the droop out somehow (bottle jack?) and see if the CV is binding at full droop.

 

[Kicker]

If I were your front diff I too would explode. Surprised it lasted as long as it did. Love your videos !

 

[FULLTHROTTLERICK]

Lol only you man! Time to check ebay for a diff assembly.

Bit the bullet & ordered a new one. $1420 shipped wasn't terrible but also had to add 2 spare CV axles to the order so $2k hurts a bit more