New Member! Front Diff problems...

[Dalton Kitahara]

Hi to everyone on explorer forum! I have been a proud explorer owner for 8 years. I just purchased my latest one. A 00 mounty 5.0.. I managed to stuff 315-75-16 or betterly known as 35s with only a tt and shackles.. I have searched for front differential problems on explorer forum and hsvent been able to find much. I have used this site for years and have always found solutions to common problems so Thank you all in advance!

Here goes, when I purchased this mounty the front diff bearings were bad. So i purchased a used one from a 99 with same 3.73 gears. I replaced both axle seals prior to install. Drove great for the first 20 miles i then started smelling a burnt gear oil smell, i pulled off the road looked underneath there behold was completely black diff fluid dripping from pinion seal and breather tube.. I did replace the fluid with new prior to install as well. The front diff was super super hot steaming diff oil off of it. I pulled the Front drive shaft and haven't done anything with since.

I was curious if anyone has had this problem?

 

[imp]

@Dalton Kitahara
Overheating might be caused by insufficient oil level, or more likely binding parts. What was the source of the replacement? Did you turn the pinion yoke by hand, to check for pinion bearing looseness/tightness? An incorrectly installed yoke, often as a result of replacing the seal, often results in too much pinion bearing preload, which causes overheating. imp

 

[Dalton Kitahara]

@Dalton Kitahara
Overheating might be caused by insufficient oil level, or more likely binding parts. What was the source of the replacement? Did you turn the pinion yoke by hand, to check for pinion bearing looseness/tightness? An incorrectly installed yoke, often as a result of replacing the seal, often results in too much pinion bearing preload, which causes overheating. imp

I did spin the pinion by hand no abnormal resistance. Im going to get it in the garage tomorrow and drop it out to inspect.. Thank you for the reply. Sorry it took so long for me to reply i have been out of town for awhile with no time to work on this thing..
I also got the used front diff from a vandalized explorer a guy was parting out on craigslist.

 

[RangerX]

Somehow you have two threads going with the same topic, so I'll close this one.