Soooo the day I drove my beloved little long-armed trail-eatin' '87 through 15 miles of dirt with no water pump before rolling it, I also had a horrible chattering coming from my rear diff. Turns out the pinion flange nut had backed itself off. I've done quite a bit of research on the issue, but I thought I'd throw it up here as well to get a few opinions. Of course, the responsible thing to do (and what I will indeed probably end up doing) is to just pull the thing and pass it along to a reputable differential shop for inspection and repair.
But I would like to have a solid sense of what I'm in for, what I could feasibly do had I proper tools and time, and what I need to get out of this shop. As fellow Yota wheelers, I'm sure you can all understand the way the hair raises up on the back of my neck when I think about taking even a part of my rig to a shop for servicing.
So would I be right in assuming that if the pinion nut backed off and then was run awhile to get off the trail, that the pinion bearings should probably be replaced? They're not howling right now, but all accounts I've read have them howling in less than 30k. Not worth doin twice.
Of course, the seal's puking. I could feasibly just swap the seal and tighten the flange nut down to the original spot on the crush sleeve, but that seems like asking for a blown diff, doesn't it?
I could also throw in a TG spacer and torque to the proper inch-lb spec. I've alllso heard of some folks just torquing the nut to 180 ft-lbs and calling it a day, but again- asking for a blown diff?

 

Well it depends how much it backed off. I know people that have had that happen and get their entire pinion sucked into the third then having to cut the third to get it out. I would definitely take out the hits though, look at all the teeth on the ring and linings gears, check to see if it hit the carrier and check all the bearing. Then go from there

 

If it was already chattering, pull the diff and inspect.

:wabbit2: