I just got my hands on a NA rear that had a failure of the ring gear.

There was limited time available for me to explore the issue, but In the few minutes that I looked at it the probable cause of clicky noise became apparent to me.

To do this I can use and Iam asking for your assistance to obtain photos of failed rears and any bad parts that I can examine.

Help a waldig, and lets fix this problem.

The anatomy of a rear end, goes like this:

Propellor shaft turns input yoke and pinion shaft

Pinion turns ring gear and differential housing

Housing turns pinion pin which pushes the spider gears round and round

The spiders connect to the axle gear splider gears.

The spiders on the axle pin are allowed to spin

Youll need to see the photos of an axle picture to follow all of this.



Back to the rear at hand, The pinion pin in this rear has NOT TORN UP THE HOUSING and looks to the average individual as if all is well.

Well This is what I found. I wanted to examine the rear and thought to first spin the spiders, but they had surface rust and were stogy and binding?? I found a old transmission shaft that sorta fit into the axle hole and tried to spin the gears, they were stiff and lumpy.

While wiggling the spiders the Pinion pin was moving a bit. I don’t care who you are, that’s just plain wrong.

The pin was loose and rotating in the housing!!!!!!!!!! This is huge.

The load on the spider gears was torquing the pin BREAKING THE ANCHORING PIN THAT LOCATES AND HOLDS THE PINION PIN. This causes the pin to twirl and rotate in the housing and augers out the cast iron housing. This is the damage that we have seen and I need more of the photos to review the failure.

Please note, I have not gotten fully into this issue YET. I will be doing more evaluation but the pin looseness is the noise that you all hear rattling around.

Now the stresses slicks and dry hops generate far exceed those designed for, from mother Mercedes Benz. The pin loading causes the lubrication to wain on the spiders causing them to bind spinning the pinion pin, snapping the retension pin and twisting the pin. The pin is not round but infact “D” shaped which like a drill bit can cut sideways in softer metal.

More to follow on the rear.

IF your rear is noisy it most likely the pinion pin shifting from one position to the other. YOU need to abstain from any high load driving, especially drag racing. The rear may be repairable and thus saving you the factory $3000 or so price for a replacement
Rear housing assembly.

I would love to get someones differential ( note how I carefully avoided saying rear ). I know you guys at this point. The rear (oops) that I need to see is one that has a clicky noise so I can detail a repair process for it and possible restoration.

If the pin is allowed to tear up the housing, the alignment will be off and the rear will self destruct as a result.

Having fun and playing well with others…Enjoy, Woody

 

At this time I can't help you, Knock on wood.
I would like to thank you for your relentless pursuit of Crossfire repair and maintenance.
If Chrysler would have had people with this dedication to the Crossfire it would still be available and gainibg the popularity it deserved.
Thanks,
Mike

 

If you've been reading the threads on here and the BenzWorld forum, so far only 1 other person (AMX1397) reported the pinion pin had spun and ovaled out the hole. I believe all the others were broken gears.

Now 32Krazy! has a clicking rear that sounds like what you are talking about. He's getting ready to pull it shortly. Maybe he can tell you how his looks inside.

 

I've been pretty busy as of late. So I forgot all about the Pm you sent me. I have a differential. But it didn't break as I suspected. I broke the halfshalt in two right at the gear. The stub is still in there. I would be willing to loan it to you. I would just give it to you, but considering my luck, I will need it someday.

 

Can you not get the shaft out? Are there any photos of the rear showing it? Thanks Woody

 

BTW Woody, that center carrier section I sent you is from my SRT, not an N/A. Just clearing that up as I'm sure someone is wondering how the hell you tear up an N/A diff unless it's in an SRT.

 

New to forum, but just like to say GREAT job Woody. Have read many of your threads and inputs. Keep up the great work.

 

I didn't really try too hard. I'll try to get some pics this weeekend.