Another Rear Differential

[bjc]

Mine was at 11k miles in an adventure 5-spd.

I left disposable camera with the tech to take pictures of the ring and pinion carnage (although I expect he will forget).

[bjc]

Got my truck back today - much better! The tech didn't take the best pictures of the damage, but he made the following notes:

Found ring and pinion gear improperly meeting. Ring side bearings. Pinion bearing and axle bearings pitted. Also found ABS sensors not reading due to deformed mounting bracket causing sensors not to be able to read. Replaced side bearing, pinion bearings, axle bearings, ring gear, pinion gear and rear wheel speed sensors.

[bjc]

I was surprised by the "ABS sensors not reading due to deformed mounting bracket". I never noticed and my OnStar report always said my brakes were fine.

Anybody else seen this before?

[Hmmm2]

What 'symptoms' did you feel in the H3 while driving to make you take it to the dealer? Wow .. a lot was replaced! Was it covered by warranty? Glad they took care of it!

[Hunner]

Man you must have one heck of a big Hummer. That looks live the ring out of at least an 18 wheeler!

[bjc]

Originally Posted by Hmmm3

What 'symptoms' did you feel in the H3 while driving to make you take it to the dealer? Wow .. a lot was replaced! Was it covered by warranty? Glad they took care of it!

Yes, all warranty work. Loud noise coming from the rear end and vibrations felt in the gas pedal were the main symptoms. At first I thought I might have had the "rubbing compound" issue, but as the tech observed, the gears were just way out of alignment. I'm not sure whether the misalignment was from the factory or whether an off-road trip caused flex in the housing, or whether something completely different was the cause.

[f5fstop]

ABS sensors not reading will set a code and turn on the idiot light as well as display a message in the DIC.

[HummBebe]

Originally Posted by Hunner

Man you must have one heck of a big Hummer. That looks live the ring out of at least an 18 wheeler!

It's a 8.5 inch ring gear...pretty standard really.

[bjc]

Originally Posted by f5fstop

ABS sensors not reading will set a code and turn on the idiot light as well as display a message in the DIC.

Yeah, I would have expected to see something...but that was not the case.

[Sewie]

Originally Posted by HummBebe

It's a 8.5 inch ring gear...pretty standard really.

Unforunately, only for the rears.

[HUMMJAY]

Originally Posted by bjc

Yes, all warranty work. Loud noise coming from the rear end and vibrations felt in the gas pedal were the main symptoms. At first I thought I might have had the "rubbing compound" issue, but as the tech observed, the gears were just way out of alignment. I'm not sure whether the misalignment was from the factory or whether an off-road trip caused flex in the housing, or whether something completely different was the cause.

you obviously didnt show your sevice writer your avitar photo

[bjc]

These are rear diff pictures about 2 weeks after the replacement of my ring and pinon. Did they overfill the fluid, or what? I was pretty surprised to see this big of a mess underneath. Should I take it back to the dealer for a checkup?

[f5fstop]

Yes, take it back. If filled properly, it cannot be overfilled, since you fill to the bottom of the fill hole. Adding more fluid only pours out of the fill hole. If it was only on the diff, I would say they were just extremely messy, but since it appears to be all under the rear of the vehicle, it appears fluid is being forced out and spraying on the bottom of the vehicle.
However, not impossible to put a seal into the housing incorrectly. They did something wrong.

Is this the same dealer who rebuilt it the last time? And the same dealer who said the EBTCM did not pick up the rear wheels speed sensors being out of adjustment? Mmmmmm

[deserth3]

Originally Posted by bjc

These are rear diff pictures about 2 weeks after the replacement of my ring and pinon. Did they overfill the fluid, or what? I was pretty surprised to see this big of a mess underneath. Should I take it back to the dealer for a checkup?

Attachment 33149

Looks like you're getting a new rear axle this time. Take another look at your third picture.

[f5fstop]

I see that now, but what about photo 4. WTF is that in the fuel tank? Sure looks strange to me.

[bjc]

Picture 4 looks worse than it is -- I think some leaves got stuck in the drain hold to the fuel skid and then got coated with diff fluid / muck.

I'm not sure what I'm looking at in Picture 3:




Is that a plug that came "un-plugged", or is that a hole that shouldn't be there? How might this have happened?

[bjc]

So I dropped it back off to the dealer and showed them what was going on. Service manager calls me 30 minutes later and asked "what happened?" I tell him I smelled "buring oil" smell and got underneath to take a look - I found diff fluid cooking on the exhaust.

He says he noticed that there's a good bit of play in the yoke when he turns the drive-shaft with his hand. He then says that he noticed the driver's side shock mount appears to be pressed upwards and that there's an "impact mark" on my shock skid plate (the Amstar's they just installed). He wraps up by explaining that he's going to open up the diff and take a look to get more information, but that if he finds a bent axle, I had better contact my insurance.

I admitted to him that I had the truck on the trails since the ring and pinion replacement, but that I didn't see the correlation he was trying to draw between the marks on my shock skids and my rear axle blowing up. (To be clear, there are no impact marks on the rear diff or axle.) I told him that my expectation was that this would be warranty work, and that he had better have a solid explanation as to why it wouldn't be.

Anyway, I don't like where this seems to be headed....stay tuned.

[Desert Dan]

A scratch on your skids wouldn't bend an axle.

They probably didn't set up the diff correctly?