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Question about front differential

johnferg69

johnferg69

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Texas
I have a '91 with a 242 Tcase so there is no front axle disco. Both the front and rear are open diff's. But I noticed when I had the front end jack up last week that when I spin one wheel the other doesn't move. Shouldn't it spin in the reverse direction like the rear diff does.
 
I think so-- I've got a '91 (but with a 231- no disco) and if I spin one, the other spins the opposite direction.

are you sure your front brakes are releasing? you may need to spin both wheels a few times to allow the rotors to push the pads back (from lateral runout)
 
Both sides will spin but completely independent of each other.
 
Talyn said:
Was your drive shaft spinning instead of the other wheel?
Click to expand...

No, I had it in 2wd with both front tires jacked up off the ground. I spun one and noticed the other didn't move. So I leaned over, spun the other side with no effect to the first side I spun. There was no movement in the front DS when either side was spun.
 
When you spin a tire something else has to spin (unless you have the disco axle). Either the other tire or the drive shaft will spin. If you spin a tire and nothing else spins its time to take the diff cover off and see what is broken or missing.

With both tires on the ground try to spin the front drive shaft. If it spins you have problems.
 
OK my mistake the front DS does rotate when you spin the wheels.
But shouldn't the front wheels spin in different directions like the rear if there both open?
 
As shorty said, hold the drive shaft and spin one wheel and teh other will go in reverse. The reason it is spinning the drive shaft instead of the wheel because it is just spinning the item of least resistance.
 
It could be that you have a little more drag in the front wheels than the rears. Drum brakes retract away from contact with springs, but discs just move off the surface from small runout. If each wheel spins fairly freely (there have been threads on how freely, don't expect to be able to spin a whole turn), you are good.
 
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