IMMEDIATE help needed Please

[LS431o28]

this is a rear differential problem. Ok I pulled the fill plug today and noticed some serious metal on the plug it almost looked like a gummy graphite powder and was pretty thick so i proceeded to drain and pull the rear cover off. just on the inside of the housing on the bottom is a recess in the metal when i stuck my fingers in it to flush out the oil that was there found three metal tabs. that appear to have been loose for some time. the tabs are about 3/4 by 7/8 of an inch long and wide. it appears as though they dont do much since my truck seems and feels to drive fine. but of course now im worried as to their functon. for those of you with the the haynes explorer/navajo manual there is a picture of the the dfferential with what i believe are the tabs page 8-14 pctures 19.6b and 19.6c has the tabs at the top and to the right. and 19.7a shows the tabs to the right of the C lock. ths is the only thing can fnd that looks similar to these. and the closest picture to that in the Chilton's manual is on page 7-114 and they are to the of the pliars in the two pictures at the top of the page they are the in the recess on the differential gear housng. any help will be greatly appreciated since ve got no clue on this. this was supposedto be a simple drain and fill.

 

[LS431o28]

Ok I figured out what they are part of. know im wondering since they have been broken off what do they do. The tabs ore part of the clutch pack. the breakdown in the chiltons manual shows them. so since they have been broken off what s their purpose since the rear end seems to be functioning fine i checked the other side and the same three are missing so those plates are just basically rotating freely in there. so does anyone know what those plates do and how the functon.

 

[Brian1]

It sounds like you are describing the limited slip that comes from the factory as an option. Now you have an open diff since the clutch is broken. You should have no problem as long as all the metal pieces are out and nothing is in danger of falling out of the limited slip.

 

[LS431o28]

Ya I've got the D4 limited slip 3.73 rear end. So do you know what the discs do? what will I be losing out on know that I have three of those discs spinning freely know? It's just the discs on the right side the left is still fully intact.

 

[2001ExpSport]

Get that fixed as soon as you can. We had a guy with the same rear lose his entire diff because he let it go to long. The clutch pack grenaded and everything was shot. It's not good to have those loose pieces floating around and/or breaking off.

The clutch engages when one wheel slips forcing both axles to spin. Now that it has broken, you no longer have a working clutch that will engage when an axle slips. In other words you have an OPEN diff. You can drive on it, but if you have the money get it repaired.

Good Luck.

 

[LS431o28]

Well I threw everything back together. its not fixed yet pull the loose pieces out but could only findthe three tabs when i checked on the other side those tabs were gone as well. so i broke out the flashlight and dug around inside tryng to find the other three tabs and nothing is in there i did find a lot of the fine gummy powder about a 1/4 inch thick on the fill plug and then on the inside of the cover there is a magnetic strip that was filled with the same gummy powder so im assuming that those other three tabs turned into the powder. I'm unable to check for gear lash snce i dont have the rght tools. so I bolted it all back up and added the oil only problem though is Ford did a crappy design on where to put the plug. it sits on the front right side hding behind the fuel tank making it almost impossible to see let alone fill. so i flled it with about 2 1/2 quarts of oil and have looked in the chiltons for the proper amount since i cant actually see if it is to the hole or not I tried to check by stcking my finger in the hole but im not sure if im getting oil on my finger from the fill threads or if im actually were i need to be. so if anyone has filled these before and knows the right amount to fill it wth please let me know. Oh also another question Im not sure when this happened but back in january this year i had the tranny rebuilt so im wondering if this could be related since the other three tabs appear to hve gone through the gears a few times im wondering if it could have caused the bands in the tranny to wear out more quckly.

 

[Jason_25]

Sounds like you need a rebuild kit for your limited slip (i.e. trak-lok). They're about 60 bucks new I believe but if you check www.ebaymotors.com you can sometimes buy one that has already had the clutches replaced.

 

[yob_yeknom]

Don't get all worried just yet. Like mentioned before driving isn't a problem, you just don't have a working limited slip. As for the 'gummy graphite powder', it's just from where the clutches have been wearing and is normal. They press against each other and when they slip the metal is slowly worn off. It's basically like brakes and brake dust. The other tabs probably got ground up into dust, which is why you cannot find them.
If money allows, go ahead and get it fixed when you can. That way the extra traction will be there if you need it.