what are these? got me baffled...

[jlw927]

Today i had to replace a rear differential cover on my 95 e.b. While checking in the pool of oil at the bottom of housing i found these 2 peices of metal. They are both stamped with "025" and thinking they might be .025 shims they actually measure .045". About a yr and half ago i had the cover off to replace the axles seals and i don't remember seeing these swimming around the oil. I can drive the explorer but caution when traveling at high speeds. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jlsparky7]

Weird, they dont look like shims but maybe they were at one time.

 

[ThePhoenix]

those are valuable minted copper coins from the 1800's... must have been 25¢

 

[410Fortune]

dang man looks like your 8.8 is on its way out?
How many miles?
Any problems other then a leak?

Are you the only owner of this thing? any gears or anything ever installed in there?

 

[jlw927]

im a 2nd owner with 200,000+ miles... the only thing that was done was the axle seals about 1 and 1/2 yrs ago and just recently the cover rotted thru in which lead me to this.....

 

[410Fortune]

well metal pieces do not just show up in a rear diff, my guess is they are part of your stock carrier and the stock carrier is TOAST or almost TOAST


Any slop in the pinion yoke?
How about at the wheels? can you pull the axle shafts in and out?

 

[jlw927]

everything seems fine. yokes ok and the axles move in ond out approx 1/8 in. according to dealer several yrs ago that was normal.

 

[410Fortune]

They had to come from somwhere = worried

 

[IZwack]

I saw your pictures last night and I still can't figure out what its from. Shims arent usually stamped with numbers (stamping would alter their thickness).

 

[Maniak]

Are they magnetic? I've heard of people "tossing in" a couple mangnets in the bottom of the diff to catch/hold metal filings..

~Mark

 

[jlw927]

they are plain steal, not magnets. i am going to the local ford dealer and see what they say. i also have co. by me that specializes in repairing axles

 

[410Fortune]

I hope you have a good parts guy or service tech at the dealership, they are going to look at you like you are nuts

 

[robertoa1a]

Could they be used for ballancing? How much do they weigh?

 

[IZwack]

Could they be used for ballancing? How much do they weigh?

I've opened up a few axles and haven't really seen any balancing weights in them

 

[robertoa1a]

I don't know! It's kind of a mystry. Someone from the factory lost thier dogtags?

 

[jlw927]

i spoke to my local mechanic and he seems to think they are the ears from the friction plates that broke off.....

 

[IZwack]

Mmm the plot thickens:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2200823#post2200823

 

[Nick26]

hahaha, that's funny, the threads are so close together too... forgive me for not posting in this thread, "random metal coin like things in diff" is not exactly an easy thing to search for. I just looked more closely at mine and noticed a couple numbers too. It looks like 03 something on one of them and 01 something on the other. I have put nearly 80K this axle on it since find them the first time and it always worked fine, so i don't know if they really affect anything. Although I would think they are there for some reason. There is a little channel in the bottom of the diff housing that holds a little bit of fluid flush with the bottom of the housing, i bet if more people stuck there fingers in there and felt around they'd find them too.

 

[410Fortune]

so friggin weird, none of my 8.8's have these things.. I dont think metal parts floating around in your differential are factory pieces that are supossed to be there LOL

 

[Nick26]

so friggin weird, none of my 8.8's have these things.. I dont think metal parts floating around in your differential are factory pieces that are supossed to be there LOL

I don't think they have been in there since it was manufactured because I cleaned it out like 50K miles ago and found 1 then too, and now 2 more showed up.