ARB hard line shredded inside diff?

Hi Guys,
Quick question. A friend recently had a local shop install an ARB locker. She noticed a few days ago the locker was no longer working. I pulled the cover finding the copper hard line totally gone. I'm guessing they routed the line to close to ring gear ripping the entire line out. Most of the copper line must have been shredded into tiny pieces suspended in the gear oil as it was a couple of months before the problem was found.

I'll call the shop telling them they need to disassemble the entire axle to clean it up. What I'm not sure of, is whether I should insist on new bearings, R&P and carrier? I couldn't find any indication of visable damage. However I I can't see the bearing, and am concerned about the amount of excessive wear that may have occurred due to the contaminated oil, etc.

What would you do?

Guys, I'd also be interested in your evaluation of the backlash. I have my beliefs, but I'd prefer to hear your thoughts before saying another.

Thanks

Seeing as the line is copper, I wouldn't say it's likely that it fryed the bearings, but If you can milk it out of the deal, I'd say go for it. The R&P should be fine, but since it is coming out why not take a damn good look at them as well. I'd be more interested to see what sorta crap got inside the locker.

if there is no visible damage with the ring and pinion, you'll have a hard time getting that paid for. but as far as them having to replace the carrier, that should be a given since they did the install wrong and the ARB is now damaged. and to install a new carrier, they would have to install new carrier bearings. during that time i would make sure that the axle shafts are pulled and the tubes properly cleaned.

as far as the pinion bearings.....that's a tough one. for safety and insurance, i would replace them. but you may have to pay for that part out of pocket.

scorpio_vette said:

as far as the pinion bearings.....that's a tough one. for safety and insurance, i would replace them. but you may have to pay for that part out of pocket.

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I don't see why, they get just as much gear oil as the carrier bearings, contaminated and all.

Not sure what axle thats is,but both my D30's and my D44 have copper "plated" steel lines!

53guy said:

I don't see why, they get just as much gear oil as the carrier bearings, contaminated and all.

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Yup, it is very likely that the oil/copper filings have gotten behind or damaged the oil slinger on the pinion. So I would think it would be a no brainer for them to tottally dissassemble the entire axle, removing everything including the bearing races and clean it inside and out then replacing the bearings. They messed up, do they should pay for it all thou I would go straight to the manager of the shop or the owner cause mechanics tend to pass the buck sometimes

Copper is so soft it probably didn't hurt the gears or bearings one bit. Now if a piece gets into a seal you could have a leak. I would have them just fix the line and have the shop put in writing that they will take care of a leak if one come up in the future. Change the lube a few times to flush it. Maybe you can get them to change the lube a couple of times or at least give you a couple of gallons of gear lube. It is not recomended to set up and reuse broken in gears and if they pull it apart the will have to reset the gears and I would think this is close to the same thing. It wouln't stop me from doing it but it's not ideal.

Thanks guys for your insight. I'd prefer to avoid raising h#ll with the shop that did the install as I understand mistakes happen. However, it seems to me a sizable portion of the internal components have been compromised.

As I mentioned, I don't see any scoring or other damage on the R&P so that's probably fine. My concern is everything I can't see. I thought about taking things apart, but that could give the shop a way to void their work and responsibility.

I recommended both the locker and the shop that did the work. As such, I feel partially responsibly simply by making these recommendations. So I want to do everything I can to make sure this is properly corrected.

Thanks again for your help with this