Where to start? When I installed the cutout, I noticed that the pinion seal was leaking a little. I had the seal replaced a few days later.

4 days later, the first time I got on the interstate since the pinion seal was replaced, the rear end fell apart at 65 MPH.

Extended warranty won't cover it (long story which I won't discuss pending litigation) so I had to pay the repairs out of my own pocket. I've got a 4.11 going in this morning. (hey , if I'm paying for it, I'm upgrading!)

Here's the pics:

http://www.blackws6.com/diff/

 

What did they determine ( I am assuming a dealer ) was the cause of the failure ?

By that, I mean lack of lubrication, or a bad part , etc ?

I hope I have phrased this in a way that will allow you to answer - if not, well then best of luck to ya !!



Oh, what did that thing sound like at 65 MPH ??


Britt

P.S. "Nice" Pictures !

 

sounds to me like the pinion nut was either overtorqued or undertorqued when it was put back on after the pinion seal was replaced.

 

Mine did JUST that. The dealership tech working on my car thought the pinion nut had to be torqued down.

Took me 36 days to get them to warranty the replacement and pay for my rental car.

Grr. Still pisses me off to this day...

 

Official cause of death -- Lack of Lubrication

Sounded like a bomb went off behind the seat when that sucker cut loose. Oh, and we can't forget the wonderful smell of gear oil burning off the exhaust pipe.

 

Roger, did you bring your car to Sunrise to have the seal replaced. Andy Karlon did. He just blew his rearend for the second time. The area manager down there will not approve of having his warranty cover the rearend on his 2002 firehawk. Sounds like this guy is a total a**hole. Did he say you were racing the car, so they won't honor it? Good luck. Enjoy the 4.10's. I do everyday.

 

I just trashed the rear too....

two bolts came out from my torsen and got mauled up inside.. ended up gouging out chunks on the inside driver side of the housing.. the dirver side bearings looked spun, and out of place, which probably means my housing is distorted...


how those two bolts came out of my torsen? who knows..

 

I know I'm beating a dead horse here....but once again why can't GM put a better rearend in these cars?????

I would of happily checked the little box for a 12 bolt when I ordered my 98 SS from the dealer and paid an extra $2K for a 12 bolt rearend! I just got the Moser installed last week, and it cost me a total of about $2k. We have modern cars, with more horsepower and torque then alot of cars have seen since the early 70's......yet they give us crappy stock clutches, and rearends that might as well be made out of glass. I ditched my 6 speed (tired of buying clutches) for the TH400 with a transbrake and a big stall, due to GM just not getting it right.

Sorry to hear about your rearend troubles, but the 4.10's are only gonna make it worse. Those gears are fine for street tires, but drag radials will blow them up, with a few dozen hard launches.
CMON, GM......try asking the customers what you should do for your next muscle car realease. Your engineers are obviously out of touch with this rearend problem.

Rant Mode---OFF.

 

Our rear ends are fine for the stock HP. You can't really expect GM to build every part on the car strong enough to handle what a small fraction of owner might do to their cars. A factory 12 bolt would add weight, cost, and driveline loss.

 

Only if you stay on street tires. Once you go to stickier tires then even with stock power you can bust one.
The 7.5" 10 bolt is totally inappropriate for this power level.
They should have at least went with the next size larger 10 bolt that are common in GM trucks.

 

i agree, the stock rear is fine with the stock clutch and normal radials. the reason the small rear is used is it's light weight and low drag. they have that cafe standard to meet and all. i'd hope no one was torquing the pinion nut with a torque wrench as that would do nothing but screw things up. as for the lack of lube, i've heard of a few people forgetting the lube in the diff and not having it come apart. sounds like it wasn't put back together right.

 

heh I was on street tire too..

I think the 1-2 shift abuse I did thruout its life took toll..

Then the nasty wheelhop I get occasionally off the line..

mix in some drag strip and autox time..

and some REALLY nasty wheelhop under hardbraking in AutoX..

most likely contributed to my breakage...

I'm hoping to get a stock 10 bolt replacement from another car, and get a fancy diff cover and a T2R diff and hope that'll last me.