Rear diff damage report

    So after dismantleing my broken diff I took all the parts in and had them hot tanked to rid them of grease and paint. This way I could do a better inspection of what was damaged and what was salvagable.

    What I found was that the differential wheels and pinions(star gears) though showing wear are all good. The spindle for the pinion shows some wear and I'd probably replace it if I was rebuilding this diff. As a precautionary move I would replace all the bearings and split pins too, cheap insurance.....

   The big finding was the 2 cracks in the differential casing(the part the ring gear bolts to). This has long cracks on the same side of the casing, likely would lead to catastophic failure. But Hey! They are 54 years old!!

Differential casing^^^
The next pics show the cracks.

also needing replacement will be the pinion oil seal and the drive flange for the bevel pinion

I did find one other disconcerting crack; this one is in one of the bevel pinion housing braces. Oddly it is not thru the brace but runs down one side..?

So all that gunk on your bevel pinion housing needs to be cleaned off and then inspect for cracks. Also if you are going to replace/check your halfshafts pull the diff out and check it for those cracks. I have heard of 2 diffs failing last year due to failure of the differential casing. And it ain't pretty when it goes!

   Lets face it we are not the only ones getting older!! ;^)