Advice Needed.....sort of

[w30bob]

Hi Guys

Ok, this is one of those questions I probably know the answer to, but hopefully someone has a better idea. I was at Red Ball yesterday and ran across a differential guts....some call it a Hog's head or chunk.....I'm talking about the front or rear differential gears assembled that come out as a unit. I had no real intention of buying it, but as soon as I touched it the seller made it a point to make me take it home. So $20 later it's in the back of my truck. It looks to be in good condition, with zero backlash, no rust on the gears, etc. It's been out of the diff for some time, as it's not dripping with lube, but not a rusty pile of junk either. I only rotated the pinion a little bit to make sure it was smooth, as I didn't want to mess up the bearings if there's any crud in there.

So here's my question........it's been out of the truck for some time and I don't know where it was kept. It had a few grains of sand on the ring gear from when someone probably stood it on end when moving it. I REALLY don't want to pull it apart to clean all the bearings and make sure there's no foreign debris inside it, but I know what a few grains of sand can do to a bearing. So how would you clean it without taking it apart? I think the 100% correct answer is that there is no way to make sure it's clean without taking it apart...........but I'm hoping one of you has another good answer.

thanks,
bob

[isaac_alaska]

if it were me, if it looks clean, i'd run it

pretty good deal, the bearings alone to rebuild one of those are close to $500 these days

i guess if itlooks like it may have gotten dirt inside it, it's maybe worth cleaning? but that's a LOT of work, and i wouldn't suspect there's enough dirt in it to matter if it looks good

[just me]

You can try and flush it with pressure solvent. Or, you can take it apart and be sure. The bearings, if good, are worth the hassle.

[ashyers]

Bob,
This advise is worth what you paid for it!

By some bulk WD-40, take the diff to an engine rebuild shop with a jet wash, wash the thing out, drain/blow dry it immediately and hose it down completely with the WD-40. Then see what you have.

Andy