2004 Rear Diff ???

[grof]

Do I have Open or Limited slip Diff?

Label on drivers door is missing

when i raised rear end off the ground and spin one wheel with the car in neutral , wheel on the other side o spins in the opposite directions
just like Open Diff.

i got Big hitch receiver
and label on diff itself say 3L73

here some pic from rear diff

 

[Ronin8002]

you have a 3.73 open diff, since when you spin one wheel the other one goes the opposite direction

 

[grof]

you have a 3.73 open diff, since when you spin one wheel the other one goes the opposite direction

that is what i thought to.

why is Label and that little tag on differential saying 3L73 ??

 

[lounge lizard]

I thought the "L" stood fpr limited slip with 3:73 gears.

are you sure that is open diff??

 

[Ronin8002]

That's weird. Seems unlikely that they'd put the wrong tag on there, but maybe thats what happened?

 

[lounge lizard]

I can't read the metal tag so it is hard to compare the two labels

 

[grof]

I can't read the metal tag so it is hard to compare the two labels

Metal tag 3L73 88 4A28 and few more numbers.

 

[Ronin8002]

I guess you could try and put it in neutral and jack up one side only off the ground and try to spin the wheel that's off the ground.

If you have an open you should not be able to turn it.

 

[grof]

I guess you could try and put it in neutral and jack up one side only off the ground and try to spin the wheel that's off the ground.

If you have an open you should not be able to turn it.

i go do it right now

 

[grof]

I guess you could try and put it in neutral and jack up one side only off the ground and try to spin the wheel that's off the ground.

If you have an open you should not be able to turn it.

just did it.
first i did passenger side . wheel spins without any problems

i did driver side it spins but there was some resistance.
it spins a little and resisted a little and so on

i raised rear end and again other wheel spins in opposite direction

 

[waskly]

open diff.

 

[Ronin8002]

just did it.
first i did passenger side . wheel spins without any problems

i did driver side it spins but there was some resistance.
it spins a little and resisted a little and so on

i raised rear end and again other wheel spins in opposite direction

hmm. how many miles do you have on the truck....I have also heard a bad LSD can act like an open (wheels turning opposite) when you do the spin test.

 

[waskly]

pm me your vin i'll see if i can pull the diff up.

 

[grof]

hmm. how many miles do you have on the truck....I have also heard a bad LSD can act like an open (wheels turning opposite) when you do the spin test.

right now it has about 111000

 

[grof]

i have it about 8 months it runs great. i drove about 15K miles no issues

we had few snow days down here in Nashville .and it goes past any icy hill.

its like Tank

 

[grof]

@Waskly

thank you for all info

Last may we had a flood In Nashville and sadly my house flooded to.

My cars flooded to .caddy was gone and Saturn to

so i went to auction with a friend and we arrived late. i saw Explorer it was third last car on the auction.
so i bought it.

one more question

If My Limited slip is broken, do i need to fix it since i don't notice any noises or problems?

is it Bad to leave it as is?

 

[swetrid]

Ford didnt make a 3.73 rear gear with open differential in 2004.

 

[waskly]

on a solid axle its bad if ls is boken on a irs, since it dont actually hold anything, only thing i can think of is, it will destroy the ring/pinion of its damaged enough that it fell apart.

the ls clutches can break down far enough that the spiders will collide. so spider damage/ring and pinion and bearing.

nothing like a solid axle dropping c clips and axles walking out.

 

[lounge lizard]

but what if someone changed the gear lube and didn't add the right lube, or the frication additives would it act like an open diff since the clutches would be sliding by each other instead of gripping?

 

[grof]

Added a Video

raised rear end with the car in neutral
"slow spin" one wheel , wheel on the other side didnt move at all
"faster Spin" and wheel on the other side spins in the opposite directions
"Driveshaft Spin" Both wheels spin in same direction

and Same thing is happening on the front Diff .

--------------------------

raised passenger side with both wheels off a ground in 4x4 auto

"spun rear" wheel and front wheel followed in same direction
"spun front" wheel and rear didnt move at all

switched to 4x4 high
"spun rear" wheel and front wheel followed in same direction
"spun front" wheel and front wheel followed in same direction