bullet hole in D35 carrier?

Ok, I know it's not from a bullet, but that's what it kinda looks like.


A buddy of mine was goofing around climbing on a Crown Vic with his TJ and messed up the rearend. We thought at first it was a blown shaft (33s on a D35), but the axles were good. Opened the diff cover and saw destroyed spider gears with shrapnel all over. And this weird hole in the side of the carrier. We cleaned the case, replaced the spiders and it looks good, been a few weeks now with no apparent problems or noises so I guess the carrier is still good.

But that hole in the carrier is weird, anybody seen that before?

Looking at the d30 carrier I have here, that spot is where the metal is the thinnest. That spot is where they would mill out the hole for the cross shaft retention bolt/roll pin (probably on the other side.) The side gears probably jammed some fragged bits of spider gears into the carrier there and broke through. It may work right now but all those splits and jagged edges are stress risers and the case has clearly been stressed in a bad way, it's likely to split at an inopportune moment at some point in the future.

Also, is that a shredded shim or a trickle of gear lube right next to the bearing cap bolt?

Wow! A piece of spider/side gear must have wanted out BAD! I'm with Kastein on this one. Your friend better start looking for a new carrier.

No... he better start looking for a better axle. 8.8 anyone???

wow thats neat lookin, def a piece of spider gear got jammed through there. im also amazed at how amazing gear oil free his housing is

1990heepxj said:

wow thats neat lookin, def a piece of spider gear got jammed through there. im also amazed at how amazing gear oil free his housing is

Click to expand...

the wonders of brakleen!

X2 on the 8.8, don't waste money on that turd of an axle. Hell with 33s there's a decent chance he has 4.10s or below and can even skip regearing it to match.

The pic was taken after we used a can of brake cleaner and rags to clean it out. A ton of shaving in the oil, guess the gears were going for a while and finally gave out.

He knows the drill about the turdy5, looking for a 44 or 8.8 now.