OK, after four months on jackstands, I was finally done with all the work I was doing and drove the car yesterday and today.

I saw yesterday that my pinion seal was leaking, but not enough to drip on the floor in the garage. I drove to work today and it must have given way between home and work (about 40 miles of 75 MPH driving). When I got off the highway to turn into work the rear end started to grind badly and I could smell burning gear oil!!!

So, what do you think I could have done damage wise? I did not hear any noises until I got off the highway, why not?
I would assume that if my oil in the rear end was gone that it would just grind right away, or am I missing something?

What would you all do? Should I just get the pinion seal replaced (is it hard, can I do this in the garage or have someone else do it?) and hope that all is ok? Is the only sign of breaking something metal coming out when the cover is taken off?

Let me know ASAP!! Please!!!

 

Have you checked the level of the gear oil? If it only makes noise when turning, add some GM limited slip additive also. You may get some more life out of it yet.

Best bet would be to remove the cover, inspect the teeth of the ring and pinion. If it looks ok, just fill it up with new oil and LSA.

 

Yea best bet would be to open the cover and check and make sure you didnt grind off any teeth or anything, i remember when my freind shattered the rear end in his truck, we put a new one in at the conveinence store had to buy a new carrier because when it broke it screwed the carrier, so check now before you go threw hell later.

 

I did just fill it up with new DuraBlend 75-90 gear oil and the limited slip additive when I changed the rear end cover to an aluminum TA cover (no, the gasket is not leaking on the cover...checked that).

So, Shoebox, you think it is possible to fill it up and replace the pinion seal and maybe to good to go (is the seal a PITA to change)? The way the grinding sounds, that is hard to believe (its is noisy either turning or straight, but I did not hear any noise until I "turned" off the highway and slowed down). Why in the heck did it not make any noise on the highway?

I just went back out to the car, and there is no oil on the ground but it sure smells bad of gear oil (kinda smells burned as well).

To be safe, I'm gonna have it towed home (thank God for AAA) and check it out there.

If there is no metal inside when I remove the cover and the gears look good, is there ANYTHING, and I mean ANYTHING, else that could be wrong? I'd rather fix it cheap and wait until I really need a 12-bolt before doing it (and I cannot spend the cash on the 12-bolt right now....spent toooooooo much already on all the other stuff).

Oh, one more question.......if I get a 12-bolt (when that happens), should I go with Moser or Strange?

Thanks everyone, please let me know what you all think about EVERYTHING!

 

One question would be "did you use the GM LSA?" .

 

I used the LSA they had at AutoZone, but it stated it was equivalent to the GM LSA part #.......
I can't remember the brand at the moment, but I do know I had heard of the brand before.....

 

Well, I went to the shop (called B&M Transmission and Gear in Englewood, CO) to take a look......here is what I experienced:

When I approached the shop, I could actually "smell" something awful. It was my car!!! Apparently the gear oil was badly burned and it smelled really bad....to the point that the ajoining shop to this one thought they had a fire! YIKES!

Anyway, they showed me the gear set and it had black marks on the gear teeth and they said that the gears could not be re-used since they got so hot (overhardened).....I was even told they had a real hard time getting them out. The gear teeth looked fine, no chips, but they were black on the teeth.
They told me the main thing that failed was the bearings, which caused the fluid to get overheated and then caused the damage to the ring and pinion. Sounds right to me, how about you all?

So, the cost to fix this is going to be around $1100!! That is for a new ring and pinon (they will be Richmond gears, the dealer has a hold back for the stock GM parts....I know these may whine more, even according to the shop they said they would, but are these not stronger?) install kit, bearings and seals, fluid & LSA, and driveshaft yoke. I do get a 12 month/12,000 mile warranty, so is this about average for a price?

 

That seems awfully damn expensive to me. But, i did my own when my pinion bearing went out. When i replaced mine, i bought a set of Richmond gears (would never do that again), install kit, and new axle bearings, i think it was around $350 for all of these parts. So, they are charging you around $750 for labor. Seems a little much to me. The Rchmond gears are stronger, but if you drive your car everyday, you will absolutely hate the annoying noise.
I think i've seen on the parts for sale sections here and at LS1.com a used complete rearened for around $300. You could also check speedautomotive.com. My .02

 

As far as I'm concerned Richmond gears blow chunks.

I broke two sets (both on the street with drag radials) before I went back to GM Motive gears. The Motive gears have even held up behind my Big Block. And Richmond's customer service sucks too.
Call Summit racing (1-800-230-3030) and order some Motive brand gears (they make the gears for GM). Those will cost you similar to the Richmonds (~ $190) and use them instead. The install kit which includes all your bearings, seals, crush sleeve, etc... is another $100. So that's around $300 plus whatever shims you might need.

The other thing is to hope that the shop doing the install knows what they're doing. It's a fairly precise process to set up a rear-end....not for someone who's lazy because you have to assemble and disassemble quite a bit to get it right. Most shops won't do it right.

The other thing about using Motive gears is that because they're GM gears, you can use the shim set that's in your rear now (providing they kept them in order) and it'll be real close to ideal so it'll be a much quicker and easier setup.


Sorry if I caused worry, but just trying to give you a heads up

-Dave C. '97 Z28

PS: Oh yea, and $1100 is ridiculous. I would think more around $500-$600 including the parts. Most places will set a rear from $200-$300, and your parts will cost around $300.

 

I figured that $1100 was a bit much.....

They told me that they will not put in any parts not from them, and if I wanted to have the car back right now, they are $390 into it without fixing it!!!

They have the car hostage, so what do I do? Just suck it up and have them fix it? They are supposed to be a good shop and come highly recommended for both trans and rear end work. Maybe that is why they charge so much, reputation?

I would hate to pay them $390 for not even fixing it........so, if they do fix it, how will I ever know that they took the time to do it right? What signs should I look for when I get the car back?

Ugh!!! This just sucks!

 

Sorry to hear that. So, are they going to charge you the $390 on top of the $1100 or ithe $390 already included in the $1100 price tag? Also, what was the $390 for? I hope it wasn't for them to just pull the rearened apart and tell you that you smoked the gears???

 

Two questions:

how much fluid did you put in your rear differential?

Are you sure you followed the TA installation instructions properly in reguards to torqueing the bearing supports?

Those prices sound expensive as hell, ask them why the dissassembly costs that much.

 

The $1100 includes the $390 already charged. They did say that was what I was into it so far (disassemlby and inpsection of the parts). I guess its their way of getting me to just do the whole thing.......

As for the gear oil, I filled it to the top of the fill hole on the side of the rear-end, not the one on the cover. Also, I only tightened the pre-load bolts 1/4 turn past the point where they contacted the inside, or about 5 ft lbs. which I what I read right here on this board. The 10 bolts for the cover were tighened to what the factory OEM manual said (around 15-20 ft lbs I think). I am sure I did everything right, but after only 40 miles of driving on that new oil (with the proper LSA) the bearings went out. Keep in mind the car has 108k miles and I did not obtain the car until 86k miles, so who knows what the previous owner did or did not do to it. I am the second owner.

Sounds like I am pretty much reeled into fixing it there.....at least I get a 12 month/12k mile warranty on the work. I just wish I knew how to tell if they do a good job on it or not?

 

That really sucks. That's a tough call. Do you need the car that bad, or do you have something else to drive? Also, i guess it would depend on your future plans for the car. You already have to pay $390. So, you can either go ahead and spend $750 more for basically a stock rearend. You can search for a used complete 10 bolt rearend on the message boards for around $3-400 (but you don't know what kind of shape they are in). Or you can use the money for a new 12 bolt rearend. I guess it really depends on how much money you want to spend right now, and if you plan on upgrading in the near future. Good Luck.

 

damn, 300-400! I sold mine with 50k mi and no problems at all for 100 bucks.