Spun carrier bearings? what to do?

[metroplex]

I bought a used Traction-Lok (Ford 8.8", 28 spline) from someone and the ring gear side differential carrier bearing was spun.

There's a high probability his axle housing is also fubar'd but he may not know about it. He didn't include the bearing races so I can't use that as a second opinion.

Here's the worn out S-Spring:

Here's the spun bearing surface:

And another:

I should definitely get a new S-Spring,

HOWEVER:

Should I use this carrier at all? I can feel a "step" in the streaks/marks.
This person also apparently did not believe in synthetics because the dino oil gummed up everywhere and was probably why the bearings seized in the first place. Everything was looked "burned" and carboned up. The side gears still look intact though and I can re-use the spider gears from my open diff along with the pinion shaft (which wasn't included with the T-lok).

What are your thoughts on this?

I'm trying to fix the broken TrueTrac but in case I cannot drill through hardened grade 8 steel bolts, I need another LSD ready to go. A full rebuild for this particular T-Lok will cost me about $150 total.

My last resort would be to slap in the open differential.

 

[Chris142]

If the area where the bearings sit has a groove the carrier is junk. I mean it could be welded up and regound back to size but that would cost more than replacing it with a new carrier.

 

[punisher]

The main problem you face in that situation is that the carrier may not be concentric. Let's say it gets put together with new carrier bearings and installed in the housing. It is possible the carrier will wobble (due to uneven wear on the diff bearing surfaces) thus changing your pinion/ring clearance every revolution, this would be bad.

If the time is available it would be possible to press on a set of new side nearings and install the carrier in the housing and measure case runout (on the machined surface where the ring gear was). If the ring gear is still on measure runout on the "ledge" where the ring gear hangs over the diff case. If case runout was within spec it would probably be reuseable.

The problem I found was a lot of the time when one component goes bad, it trashes others. Bad rear pinion bearings usually tear up the ring and pinion and put out enough metal shavings to kill the diff bearings. Torn up side/diff bearings cause runout to go out of spec and ruin a ring gear as well.

If it is within spec, it is within spec (pinion/ring backlash .008-.013", case runout .003" max) and except for the fit of the side bearings I, would have no hesitation to run it, as long as all was within spec.

When a side bearing spins it usually tears up this surface (the shakily yellow circle) the worst due to the preload on the carrier bearings. The more I look at your pictures, the more I think you might not have a serious problem.



[ April 17, 2005, 06:16 PM: Message edited by: punisher ]

 

[metroplex]

The grooves can be felt like a "step", but it's not a complete circle/groove.