rear differential- cause of failing question

[Mark Price 2]

Just dropped off my ST at the trans place that rebuilt the rear diff last December. I am 500miles over their warranty but under their 12 month warranty. Paper did not say 12k "OR" 12mo whichever comes first. Just scribbled 12mo 12k on the receipt. I know they can use that anyway against me if they choose.

Anyway, the question is...Since they did not install the drive shaft properly when they did the rebuild. Can I use that as a probable cause to the spider gears having chips in their teeth? Installation error. The Ford factory orange/yellow paint mark on the end of the drive shaft and the paint mark on the diff flange are on opposite sides now after they reattached it. I have always read that you must be sure to align those marks to be balanced correctly. I figure if they are not, that this can cause a slight(but not felt)vibration causing the rear end to fail after 9 months. Sound plausible?

As nice and calm a person I am. I'm expecting the worst from them. They were very defensive on the phone on Friday when I described the issue. Saying that most places wont honor the warranty if you remove the cover. I HAD to, to get the large chips out of it to be able to drive it to them. I experienced a intermittent loud rattle(loose gears). I also get a quick clunk when accelerating. I had to get all the chips out of there. He said I(as in me, Mark) could have contaminated it. Sure buddy, I should've just ignored the broken off large chips and run off the road when it completely failed.:angry:

If they do not fully warranty. I'm going to Ford for repair. They(trans place) will not get 1 cent from me. (I spent $3600 at their shop in 2012. Other repair was a Honda trans rebuild. They even botched that when the way overfilled it)

I know there are more factors that can cause this damage. But this one seems to be the most obvious and provable.

Thanks

 

[Todd Z]

Its a tough thing, Beceause the marks are for vibration only, and when you rebuild its never the same....



I changed my drive shaft as well with the gears and posi.



If they reused the OEM carrier, i bet its just from crap Ford parts.... my OEM spider gears failed at only 30K miles on my 03..



Todd Z

 

[Mark Price 2]

Two days later. They still haven't started looking at it. :angry: They have given me every excuse in the book. Some lifts are down, we have been very busy for 3 weeks, they couldn't replicate the problem(I never told them it was making noise. I just showed them the chips), they still need to take the cover off. They haven't called me once. I had to call them once today and last night for updates. He said he would call last night. Nope. He said he would call tonight. Nope etc... They are the ones that said to bring it in Monday am. I dropped it off Sunday pm.

I feel helpless and I'm really trying my best not to piss him off. All Ive expected/wanted to this point is some common courtesy. All they are doing is giving me ammo to go to the owner with if we have anymore issues. They(he) has been so rude. He hasn't even looked at it yet! Depending on his attitude tomorrow, I will ask to only speak with the owner. Who was working the front desk all the other times Ive been in in the past. Very nice guy.

I'm just venting. Thanks

 

[Todd Z]

Sorry man.

Todd Z

 

[Mark Price 2]

Thanks Todd:haveabeer: Well, I randomly saw the owner coming out of the bathroom. Told him the issues quickly. He warranted the rear end for another year as they couldn't find anything wrong. (Although I believe they never took the cover off. I will know for sure when I get under there and inspect. As I know exactly how my RTV looked- perfectly/evenly seeping out. When they did it it was very messy.) I'm happy(sort of) with that. Seeing as I was out of warranty.

They were very busy and had no lift available and had some sweet muscle cars in there. Im sure they were making money and not worried about my ST. Tech assured me a few chips in the spider gears is sort of ok.(?) We took a ride in the ST(no noise) and spoke some more. He suggested to replace the spiders if "I" wanted to. As nothing will change(backlash etc.). I was mentally exhausted dealing with them all week. So I gave up and took the extended warranty. I really should of had them remove the cover so I could prove there was chips. The manager insisted there weren't any. I fell I gave in. But happy with the warranty and deal with this another time.

Btw.. tech said the "loose" spiders were ok. As they "float" a little. Side gears are nice and tight with the axle. Also, said it didn't matter that he didn't line up the ford factory paint marks on the drive shaft to flange. who knows.

Thanks for reading

 

[swshawaii]

Great to hear Mark! Glad they extended your warranty another year, the right thing to do. :supercool: