old_man
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Loveland, Colorado
I have run full Detroits for several decades but have run up against an intersting situation. For several weeks I have been noticing a very slight bump when I first start to accellerate away from a stop or when I am just coming to a stop. Not like a u-joint but more like a lose rear spring U bolt. I grabbed some and replaced the old ones since they had stretched before, but that didn't fix the symptom. I pulled the shaft and checked the bearing on that side and it was fine.
What was wierd was that had both tires off the ground and was rotating the axle to align the hole in the hub with the backing plate bolts. As anybody who has a detroit knows, they can lock up and act like a solid axle, so you have to rotate the axle back and forth to the the locking mechanism to release. I did that but when it released, I could get it to where one wheel would freewheel. It didn't act like a differential. The opposite tire would stay stationary as well as the drive shaft. As long as didn't rotate it too fast or make abrupt starts and stops, the tire would simply keep freewheeling. I could get it to act like a standard differential with spider gears, but there was a definate point where it would free wheel.
Has anybody experienced this? This is an older model D44 Detroit (probably 10 or more years old)?
I pulled the cover last week to fix a leak and the gears looked fine and there was zero crap in the bottom of the diff, and the oil was clear, no sparklies.
Is there a rebuild kit for the older models or does anybody know a vendor with good prices on a full Detroit?
What was wierd was that had both tires off the ground and was rotating the axle to align the hole in the hub with the backing plate bolts. As anybody who has a detroit knows, they can lock up and act like a solid axle, so you have to rotate the axle back and forth to the the locking mechanism to release. I did that but when it released, I could get it to where one wheel would freewheel. It didn't act like a differential. The opposite tire would stay stationary as well as the drive shaft. As long as didn't rotate it too fast or make abrupt starts and stops, the tire would simply keep freewheeling. I could get it to act like a standard differential with spider gears, but there was a definate point where it would free wheel.
Has anybody experienced this? This is an older model D44 Detroit (probably 10 or more years old)?
I pulled the cover last week to fix a leak and the gears looked fine and there was zero crap in the bottom of the diff, and the oil was clear, no sparklies.
Is there a rebuild kit for the older models or does anybody know a vendor with good prices on a full Detroit?
