Busted rear diff dodge 2500

[Hay Dude]

Dog- 'Should have bought a Chevy'View attachment 802587

……which uses the same rear axle.

 

[nknelsen]

I was towing the excavator 3 hours away to a job I'll be working on for a month and a half. About half way there rolling along 60mph with cruise on, see a red light ahead and tap the brake to start coasting to a stop the hear a pop from the rear.

Press go pedal and it just revs,(with some clunking from rear) no drive. Stop at light and no go, put it in 4wd and drove into parking lot. Look under truck and diff fluid is pouring out, gear busted a hole in the casing.

Replacing it with reman rear axle with a five year warranty. Luckily I was able to rent a suitable truck(for a month) went back to pick up excavator, take to job site, then picked up broke truck and towed back to shop in my hometown, the picked up plow and hauled to job site. Was a long day was driving and towing stuff/loading unloading from 9am to 11:30pm. Having your own business can be tough but even days like this it's better than working for someone else!View attachment 801418View attachment 801419View attachment 801420

You should upgrade to a Ford. They may cost more, but there's a reason they sell more trucks.

 

[Hay Dude]

You should upgrade to a Ford. They may cost more, but there's a reason they sell more trucks.

As a former Ford loyalist of 20 years, I can tell you with 100% certainty that statement is not true. Few work a truck harder than I do. It also has nothing to do with the OP’s broken rear axle, which could have been caused by abuse or neglect and has nothing to do with Ram.

 

[Fixastuff]

You should upgrade to a Ford. They may cost more, but there's a reason they sell more trucks.

I've had a 2011 f150 and an 2008 f450 in the past.

 

[John0829]

You should upgrade to a Ford. They may cost more, but there's a reason they sell more trucks.

No they just claim they do sell more. I for one will never, NEVER own a Ford again, in the past I have had 4 Ford's over the years and each and everyone, without exception, was a black hole. Causing great damage to the bank account before I could get rid of them. Each time I bought one it was because the wife talked me into it and I figured my luck should surely be better the next time. BOY was I wrong and finally now she agrees NEVER another Ford on the place unless it is a tractor and they don't build those any longer.

I know some people have good luck owning a Ford, my SIL claims to be but I have seen his needed repairs so I don't agree but it is his money. I have run GM trucks until the wheels should have fallen off but would not, back in the 70's and 80's the bodies would though. Love the Toyota's, now there is a truck that just keeps on going but sadly they do not make anything but a half ton.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

It may be alive but it is not well. It sounds like it was not repaired, either buy you or warranty.

Why should we be forced to pull the cover to change oil? If the magnet is clean?? If it has more metal than normal, then pull the cover. If you want to pull the cover every time, you are more than welcome. It is a real pain to pull the cover on my '21 Ram 2500. The sway bar and track bar are in the way.

Okay, it's well enough to propel up to 39,000 lbs. on occasion, makes no noises, and the contact pattern is good. Thanks to finding out somewhat early, there was nothing to repair that I could find, it was only a matter of getting all the debris out of it.

I avoid dealerships if at all possible, meaning that warranties are practically useless to me. Besides, a dealer would've just (rightfully) said that it still works, and it's quiet, what do you want us to do?

If there's little or nothing on the magnet it's a good thing, but there's usually still sludge at the bottom that magnets won't catch. More importantly, by removing the cover I have found a cracked ring gear tooth, a shim starting to migrate out from a carrier bearing, and a few loose ring gear bolts. By he time those issues would have shown on a magnet, it would've been too late.

Also, having had three Ram 2500s I can safely say that removing those covers has not been "a real pain". Then again, everybody's pain threshold is different.

Setting up new gears isn't fun, but it's not rocket science either. Still, I prefer to catch potential issues before there's real damage done - which requires removing the cover.

 

[dcarman]

I was towing the excavator 3 hours away to a job I'll be working on for a month and a half. About half way there rolling along 60mph with cruise on, see a red light ahead and tap the brake to start coasting to a stop the hear a pop from the rear.

Press go pedal and it just revs,(with some clunking from rear) no drive. Stop at light and no go, put it in 4wd and drove into parking lot. Look under truck and diff fluid is pouring out, gear busted a hole in the casing.

Replacing it with reman rear axle with a five year warranty. Luckily I was able to rent a suitable truck(for a month) went back to pick up excavator, take to job site, then picked up broke truck and towed back to shop in my hometown, the picked up plow and hauled to job site. Was a long day was driving and towing stuff/loading unloading from 9am to 11:30pm. Having your own business can be tough but even days like this it's better than working for someone else!View attachment 801418View attachment 801419View attachment 801420

Sounds like there must have been some previous off the chart stresses on the housing to weaken it then it just reached its fail point at that moment.
People will hook a chain to the axle housing to pull the truck out of the mud a d give it a jerk. The housing gets a small Crack from the stress and here you are.

 

[sportscarclinic]

You should upgrade to a Ford. They may cost more, but there's a reason they sell more trucks

Another plus: there are so many Ford trucks in the boneyard with trashed automatic transmissions that finding a used differential should be easy.

 

[Gregster613]

You may want to look up the actual ratings on Ram.com.

As I recall, my 3500 cab and chassis with duals is rated at about 22,000, and that's with 3.73 gears. If your 2500 is a '13 through '18 it came with 3.42 gears.

For those who haven't heard of many issues with AAM axles, I've had my fair share. This is what the magnetic plug looked like with about 2,000 miles on it (after careful break-in).

Normally I change the fluid at 500, and sure feel bad about letting this one go so far before doing the initial rinse. The diff is still alive and well, thankfully, after a fewView attachment 802659 fluid changes in rapid succession and many more cleanings of the magnet afterwards.

Also, I wish no axles (that has a removable cover) had drain plugs, forcing people to see how things look inside. View attachment 802661

I don't want to get off track here but I've a quick question about gear ratios. How are the numbers determined? I don't understand the difference between 3.73 or 3.42. You make it sound as if the 3.73 is better for towing purposes? Correct? Is the higher a number the better for torque? The lower number better for mileage? Sorry, but I've never understood which meant which. Thanks for any clarification! Greg
2

 

[Too many Kubotas]

The way the numbers are determined is by dividing the number of teeth on the ring gear by the number of teeth on the pinion, but that's probably not what you wanted to know.

Using 3.73 and 3.42 gearing as an example, the difference is about 10%, which means that the engine would turn 10% faster at a given speed with the 3.73s. And another 10% with 4.10s.

Lower gears (numerically high) are better for towing and put less strain on the drive train. They put more torque to the ground. Tall gears, like 3.42s, can deliver better mileage depending on the usage.

Think of it as levers. A short lever (3.42s) is harder to apply force with than a longer lever (3.73s), but you have to move your hand a slightly longer distance.

Hope that helps, Greg.