Dodge Ram Diesel Dana 70U with 437k Miles

[The motor guy]

Differentials are funny. Either they last 5K miles or 500K miles.

We don't know if the rear end was replaced or not. He hasn't owned it since new.

 

[supton]

The tone ring is on the carrier. The power split between the wheels is controlled by the spider gears

Right, but how can one sensor read two wheels at once?

 

[Tim_S]

Had one of those in a 95 Ram 2500 with the Cummins diesel; same ratio of 3.54:1. After only a few thousand miles, the rear axle began to noticeably whine. After several trips to the dealer, they replaced the assembly. In relatively short order, same gear whine from the new rear axle. Too peeved to do that dance with the dealer again, had an independent 4x4 shop replace the ring and pinion with an aftermarket set of gears in the same ratio. Gear whine gone; smooth as glass for the remaining 140K I owned that truck. Clearly the Dana axles were both improperly set up when built.
Issues like mine might have contributed to Ram dropping Dana as a supplier for their trucks and going to American Axle. I've no idea what, if any issues might be affecting the Dana axles under all the jeeps on the road. Perhaps Dana figured it out.

 

[The motor guy]

We don't know if the rear end was replaced or not. He hasn't owned it since new.

I don't think the Dana 70s were that great either.

 

[Tim_S]

The Dana 70 HD's were good axles and were used under GM's 1 ton dualies as a rear axle at least into the late 70's. Unfortunately the Dana 70 Dodge used under the 2nd generation diesel trucks were not the HD version.

 

[mattd]

Right, but how can one sensor read two wheels at once?

It doesn’t. It doesn’t have that ability. It only reads the speed of the carrier

 

[supton]

It doesn’t. It doesn’t have that ability. It only reads the speed of the carrier

Exactly, which was to address JHRZ's question. I pointed out that it might be able to discern a wheel lock up by the sudden change in speed.