Dana 60 noise

[440beep]

So I took the cover off the Dana 60 hoping to find something but nothing looks unusual to my unknowing eye. Ring teeth look excellent. I did the FSM test with car in air, car in park, and tried spinning each wheel which I couldn’t. That tells me the LSD should be good.

Would very dirty fluid cause diff chattering when turning. Noise to me seems only to happen when turning left, but my wife says also when turning right but I don’t hear it.

Any other ideas? Really not keen to pull entire axle off.

 

[440beep]

Fluid comparison, new and old. The old really is black.

 

[Fran Blacker]

Time for new juice, guys here seem to recommend Ford limited slip additive . Any metal chips? Had an Olds with posi felt like you went up on a curb, went over a 100k like that.

 

[66383]

Change fluid, put in sure-grip additive. Go to a parking lot that empty and make a series of left and right turns. That's the way we did it back in the day.

 

[beanhead]

Run your fingers all around the housing and be sure there's no metal in the bottom of it. Ring teeth looking okay is obviously a good thing, but they're usually pretty tough the problems happen with the spider teeth inside the diff itself or the clutch plates. It won't hurt to change the fluid, button it back up and see if it cures the problem, but seriously go to the Ford dealership and buy two bottles of their limited slip additive put that in first and then fill the rest of the way with your recommended gear oil. Get it out on the road then and find a place with no traffic, do some tight slow figure eight turns in forward and reverse, sometimes that helps the fluid get between the clutches so they can slip again. If you still get the noises after all that, probably time for a rebuild...

 

[440beep]

Yes. Have the Ford stuff. I did see some tiny tiny metal pieces as fluid was draining or light reflections. Need to get magnet in there.

 

[440beep]

Well this is concerning, I just noticed the left wheel center cap has been sheared off! WTF would cause that? There’s no in and out movement of the axle. Nothing feels loose. Would doing tight circles cause it to shear off?

 

[Cranky]

Nothing the car did that would cause that. Are the caps made of plastic?

 

[440beep]

Yes, I think plastic. Billet Specialities center caps.

Nothing the car did that would cause that. Are the caps made of plastic?

 

[BeatersRus]

odd,2 rearend posts in same day.
ill ask the same question,i know you said it doesnt feel loose,
but did you check the axle bearings/play >>>> with the wheel off and the Brake Drum off?
if not,id Deffo check into that,esp as dirty as your fluid was,
i can imagine whats left of the bearings grease.

 

[Cranky]

odd,2 rearend posts in same day.
ill ask the same question,i know you said it doesnt feel loose,
but did you check the axle bearings/play >>>> with the wheel off and the Brake Drum off?
if not,id Deffo check into that,esp as dirty as your fluid was,
i can imagine whats left of the bearings grease.

Hopefully, there's no rear end oil in the wheel bearings.....

 

[BeatersRus]

i was hoping he still had some grease left in there,and the seal wasnt shot and all that jazz.
after all,when they get Really bad,
you know how much that lovely stench of gear oil running down inside your brake drums smells...lol !

i have noticed too,that lots of people get a rearend,
and then upgrade the center chunk the brakes and suspension but totally skip the axle bearings.
almost like a blind spot.

 

[440beep]

Yes, I pulled the drum cover and tried jerking the axle around, and nothing. Also didn’t see any dampness inside around the axle.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Chattering is lack of additive. Now here comes the bad news, if it doesn’t go away with new fluid/additive I’d pull the sure grip and inspect the clutches. Go from there.

 

[440beep]

After putting in the new fluid and additive, does the chattering usually go away immediately, or per the FSM , I need to drive the car for 100 miles and see what happens? The whole stranded thing makes me nervous.

Besides doing the FSM test of trying to turn the wheels, any other way of checking for diff issues?

 

[Cranky]

I doubt it'll strand you. This just chattering when you turn, correct? If so it's just the clutches chattering when the differential starts doing its thing but if it's chattering going in a straight line you have other issues....

 

[440beep]

No no. Just noise when turning. Embarrassing noise.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Do lots of figure 8’s, in both directions.

 

[khryslerkid]

Cass told me that the additive (friction modifier) will break down over a period of time. The Ford additive will last the longest.

Your symptoms sounds like this is what's happened. Good luck.

 

[Cranky]

Cass told me that the additive (friction modifier) will break down over a period of time. The Ford additive will last the longest.

Your symptoms sounds like this is what's happened. Good luck.

All lubricants break down over time but some do so slower than others. I ended up trying a half bottle of STP in a Track Lok years ago and it's still in it. The friction modifiers including the Ford stuff didn't help much so as a last resort, the STP went in. After all, it is just another type of friction modifier....

 

[440beep]

I’m using the Lucas 80w90 gear lube and that states no modifiers necessary; but still added the Ford stuff this time. I’ve had the car for 7 years now and never changed the diff lube until now; but topped it up every now and then.