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Is my differential gunna go?

Nico Ferro

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Nico Ferro New Member

Nico Ferro

Posted
Posted

Hey all,

So down in socal i have my 2004 silverado 1500 5.3l 2wd and the other day while i was changing my differential fluid, i noticed a couple of the teeth on the planetary gear have been eaten away at. Now i have never noticed a problem or heard any noise coming from my rear differential, and still cannot hear any strange noises. But i will post Some pictures and maybe someone can tell me how close my differential is to losing its shit? Has anyone seen something like this? I have yet to find something similar through google searches.

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Nico Ferro New Member

Nico Ferro

Posted
  • Author
Posted

The rest of the pictures I have are apparently too big to upload. It is strictly only one of the planetary gears from what i could tell

Also, forgot to mention, shes got about 170k miles on her

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goborgoh Enthusiast

goborgoh

Posted
Posted

Time to replace, if they fail you'll be looking at more money and work. Be happy you caught it now.

 

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sdeeter19555 Senior Enthusiast

sdeeter19555

Posted
Posted

Those are spider gears, correct?

 

If you get no noise, I'd simply replace those. Think about replacing the cross pin and bolt too, the cross pin might be worn.

 

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txab Senior Enthusiast

txab

Posted
Posted

Upload pics to a photo site like photobucket and then link to them in posts on this site

goborgoh Enthusiast

goborgoh

Posted
Posted

Those are spider gears, correct?

 

If you get no noise, I'd simply replace those. Think about replacing the cross pin and bolt too, the cross pin might be worn.

 

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Yes, exactly.

 

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Nanotech Environmental Enthusiast

Nanotech Environmental

Posted
Posted

That gear appears like it may have been defective from the start. If that's the case and it's held up this long, then no real rush. An indicator would be related wear marks of the other gears. There should have been some metal deposits on the magnet. Was there?

However, for peace of mind, I'd replace the unit, or at least all of the spiders.

  • 2 weeks later...
Nico Ferro New Member

Nico Ferro

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thank you for all of the quick replys even though it kinda scared the shit out of me lol. So I had a roadtrip planned to go to vegas than mammoth (ski resort) then back to vegas and then home which is over 1200miles round trip. I had barely managed to change my knock sensor as the code came up 2 days before leaving and then got the truck tuned the day before we left. I had changed the fluids and noticed the damage on my diff gears a few days before, and I really just wanted to see what others opinions on the condition of the gears were because i knew it looked bad but I had been driving the truck as is for a while so i didnt know if it was something new that came up, over time wear or if my differential was really about to shit on me. i had made my mind up i was going to drive on it anyway lol just wanted to scare myself with other opinions. Didnt have A single problem the entire trip, i did not read 3beejay3s reply until after my trip, but it seems you may be totally correct 3.to answer your question, yes there was some metal shavings on the magnet, a good amount. I will replace it when i can but I am not so rushed anymore. 3beejay3, when you say defect, do you mean defected from the dealer? I am the 2nd owner so who knows what the 1st owner did, but if I were putting in new gears in my truck that looked like that, well, I wouldnt

Nanotech Environmental Enthusiast

Nanotech Environmental

Posted
Posted

Thank you for all of the quick replys even though it kinda scared the shit out of me lol. So I had a roadtrip planned to go to vegas than mammoth (ski resort) then back to vegas and then home which is over 1200miles round trip. I had barely managed to change my knock sensor as the code came up 2 days before leaving and then got the truck tuned the day before we left. I had changed the fluids and noticed the damage on my diff gears a few days before, and I really just wanted to see what others opinions on the condition of the gears were because i knew it looked bad but I had been driving the truck as is for a while so i didnt know if it was something new that came up, over time wear or if my differential was really about to shit on me. i had made my mind up i was going to drive on it anyway lol just wanted to scare myself with other opinions. Didnt have A single problem the entire trip, i did not read 3beejay3s reply until after my trip, but it seems you may be totally correct 3.to answer your question, yes there was some metal shavings on the magnet, a good amount. I will replace it when i can but I am not so rushed anymore. 3beejay3, when you say defect, do you mean defected from the dealer? I am the 2nd owner so who knows what the 1st owner did, but if I were putting in new gears in my truck that looked like that, well, I wouldnt

 

From the factory when it was built. It appears there is some defect in the hardening, or metal grain of that one spider gear. It should be replaced, but it has lasted this long, so it doesn't likely need to be done yesterday. You may as well replace all the spiders as a group, or just do the entire differential, whichever makes more sense.

sdeeter19555 Senior Enthusiast

sdeeter19555

Posted
Posted

It is actually quite common to find...spider gears take a lot of load. Replace them and move on...

 

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white1500 Senior Enthusiast

white1500

Posted
Posted

My diff went out without a single warning last spring, but at 230k miles it wasn't a surprise. Maybe just replace whatever part is the main failure point and prevent a surprise like that?

 

Sent from my SM-G550T using Tapatalk

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