Rear End Died!

[riceman98]

Hello all,

New to the boards. I have a 2006 Silverado 1500 4WD 70k miles that the readend just died. Started making a really bad growling noise yesterday. Taking my son to football practice today and it made a really loud pop, then a few clunking noises and the gear grinding noise. I coasted it to the side of the road. When I have my foot on the break and the truck in gear it makes a really loud grinding noise and the spedo goes up to about 10 Mph but the truck doesn't move. What could the problem be? I was thinking broken ring or pinion teeth or a spider gear but I have no clue. Is this normal for the rear end to go out after 70k miles. The truck does light towing (2 atvs and trailer) every now and then. What should I expect to pay and does anyone know of a good shop in Boise, ID?

[ColoradoSkiCountry]

You my friend have just experienced the infamous G-80 Locking Rear diff going kablooey. Welcome to the club. Sucks, don't it. I had to pay $1600 on my 99 to have it replaced after it went out at 80,000 miles with no abuse and serviced twice during it's lifetime.

[ColoradoSkiCountry]

do NOT go back to the dealer, unless it is under some kind of warranty. More than likely they'll use the same crappy parts that caused it to fail in the first place. Take it to a place that has experience rebuilding rear-ends and knows the Eaton G80 (That's the RPO code) They probably have seen their fair share of them failing in similar fashion to yours and can rebuild it using better parts as they did with mine.

[KMGZ400]

You my friend have just experienced the infamous G-80 Locking Rear diff going kablooey. Welcome to the club. Sucks, don't it. I had to pay $1600 on my 99 to have it replaced after it went out at 80,000 miles with no abuse and serviced twice during it's lifetime.

 

 

its infamous? is it really common or are you exagerating a little bit? my G80 take heavy heavy abuse and it works perfectly with 74k on it now. orig fluid. should i be scared?

[asilverblazer]

You my friend have just experienced the infamous G-80 Locking Rear diff going kablooey. Welcome to the club. Sucks, don't it. I had to pay $1600 on my 99 to have it replaced after it went out at 80,000 miles with no abuse and serviced twice during it's lifetime.

 

 

its infamous? is it really common or are you exagerating a little bit? my G80 take heavy heavy abuse and it works perfectly with 74k on it now. orig fluid. should i be scared?

 

 

Probably less common than "over active lifters". If yours personally goes bad, then they ALL must be bad...

 

I've got over 70K miles on the current one, and had over 150K miles on my last, both with normal use and little or no maintenance, and they still work fine.

 

On topic: There is no indication that he even has the G80 locker, not to say that he doesn't, we have no indication either way. It could be something else entirely. Just saying...

[jhm]

You my friend have just experienced the infamous G-80 Locking Rear diff going kablooey. Welcome to the club. Sucks, don't it. I had to pay $1600 on my 99 to have it replaced after it went out at 80,000 miles with no abuse and serviced twice during it's lifetime.

 

 

its infamous? is it really common or are you exagerating a little bit? my G80 take heavy heavy abuse and it works perfectly with 74k on it now. orig fluid. should i be scared?

 

 

Probably less common than "over active lifters". If yours personally goes bad, then they ALL must be bad...

 

I've got over 70K miles on the current one, and had over 150K miles on my last, both with normal use and little or no maintenance, and they still work fine.

 

On topic: There is no indication that he even has the G80 locker, not to say that he doesn't, we have no indication either way. It could be something else entirely. Just saying...

 

Agree. If I worried about every problem someone reported here I would have dumped my truck years ago! Take it to a reputable shop fix it and be done.

[riceman98]

Just got back from the shop. The drivers side carrier bearing failed. When that happened everything shifted to the driver side. Chewed up the ring and pinion. He said the locker looks fine. So I am looking at about $1000.

[Mckenzie]

188,000 miles on my 01 Z71 with the same rear end that it came out the factory with!

[riceman98]

Bad news. The carrier bearing cap on the drivers side is toast. So it's either replace the whole axle or put a new cap on it and prey it doesn't fail before I can sell it.

[jro909]

gm rear ends nuking is a rare thing, the g80 is not bad either i have 103k on mine with no issues

[rockcrusherrevived]

Hello all,

New to the boards. I have a 2006 Silverado 1500 4WD 70k miles that the readend just died. Started making a really bad growling noise yesterday. Taking my son to football practice today and it made a really loud pop, then a few clunking noises and the gear grinding noise. I coasted it to the side of the road. When I have my foot on the break and the truck in gear it makes a really loud grinding noise and the spedo goes up to about 10 Mph but the truck doesn't move. What could the problem be? I was thinking broken ring or pinion teeth or a spider gear but I have no clue. Is this normal for the rear end to go out after 70k miles. The truck does light towing (2 atvs and trailer) every now and then. What should I expect to pay and does anyone know of a good shop in Boise, ID?

 

if the rear axle was making noise the night before why did you drive the truck the next day you could have maybe just had the bearing changed if you stopped driving after hearing the sound for the first time

[Silverado4x4]

Why do some people put down the G80? No its not a common problem and just because someone blows a rear all the sudden there junk. I ran a G8O running 42" tires for years and put through abuse at times while off road and it never gave up. Alot of people just jump on the band wagon so they can complain because it happened to them.

[ColoradoSkiCountry]

Do a search going back to say.. 2004/2005, I recall there being at least 7 or 8 others who suffered G-80 failures on their GMT-800s, in addition to the G-80 on my 99. The information I was told at the time when mine went out by the axle place who rebuilt mine was that he saw on average 4-5 GMT-800s in a week with G-80 failure. (This was a large shop where many repair facilities sent vehicles with axle/drive shaft issues) Had something to do with the components that Eaton used starting in 99.

 

That being said, I don't think I've yet come across a post on the GMT-900s with the G80 going out.

[asilverblazer]

You are member number 47216, 8 of those with failures... I'm not trying to start anything just pointing out that I would like to see the real percentage of failure. Along with real percentage of AFM issues...

[cwendel4]

I am one. My 2000 sierra with a G80 and 3.42. Just had it replaced this past summer. The mechanic saved all the parts for me and I looked at the spiders in the unit. They were pitted at 155,000 miles. The rear also stopped locking up around 138000 miles but I needed to drive the truck until I could get it fixed.

I now have a Detroit TRUE TRAC. Love it. Both tires grip and I can feel the truck moving.

 

I just bout a 07 1500 with the G80. It has 38000 miles and the rear does not even come close to the TT. wish I could have the carrier changed under warranty to get some real traction.

 

If you have to change the rear, look to have the carrier replaced with a TT. Also, a used rear would only cost about $1000 and that would have a G80.