SCREWED OVER!! Need Rear Differential!! Cannot find one anywhere.

Need OEM part #0517301AB. Mine is toast on truck I just bought. I was completely screwed over on this deal. Backstory I paid $27K for as is used 2013 Power Wagon. 1st needed brakes all the way around that was 1600$ okay no big deal there brakes are brakes. 2nd needs new rear Bilstein Shocks$439. 3rd Front axle diff seals leaking and pinion seeping so $1897 to repair front diff. 4th now for the clunking sound isolated to rear diff. so was openedand this was found see images below. Here is link to full Diagnostic Report Of course bought as is and now im looking at 7600 in repairs because rear diff cannot be found so I am gonna have to get whole rear end complete for $3211.99 totalling to $4086.99 for just that rear so yeah all in $7600. I'm kind of screwed as i just bought it and I'm stuck with it.

Man that was one neglected truck. Sorry to hear you’re having so many issues. I take it that a shop is doing the all of the work so far because that’s quite expensive for a break job and shocks

Not to poke at you, but all that should have been fairly easily spotted before buying.

And why do you need a whole new rear diff? That’s ridiculous.

buckeyexx said:

Man that was one neglected truck. Sorry to hear you’re having so many issues. I take it that a shop is doing the all of the work so far because that’s quite expensive for a break job and shocks

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Yes brakes rotors and calipers were all replaced for 1600$ at shop. The shocks and rest of work has not been done yet. I am going to pass on the shocks and do that myself.

olyelr said:

Not to poke at you, but all that should have been fairly easily spotted before buying.

And why do you need a whole new rear diff? That’s ridiculous.

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I have never owned a truck and I bought the truck out of state. Very costly mistake. i know i am an idiot. Never noticed any leak coming from front axle until I was having brakes changed and we thought a caliper was leaking and discovered that. The truck drove great and no noise or vibration. there was a audible sound when shifting to park and reverse etc. but from what i looked up online a lot of people were saying it was normal. The rear diff would not have been caught unless it was opened and i never thought to open it up as I was told it was all good and didnt really see any reason to. I just decided to have them check the sound when shifting and they isolated it to rear diff and discovered that. It needs a whole new Carrier part # 0517301AB because this one is trash and the shop nor myself can find it. All we can find is a whole new rear end consisting of housing, diff and all internals as well as axle shafts. basically a whole rear end rotor to rotor minus the leaf springs.

powerwgn said:

Yes brakes rotors and calipers were all replaced for 1600$ at shop. The shocks and rest of work has not been done yet. I am going to pass on the shocks and do that myself.

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All the calipers? Holy smokes not sure I’ve ever seen a truck where all calipers being bad. Yes all the rotors and pads for sure. Good idea passing on the shocks because you can get better shocks than the factory ones for that price. Just be prepared to cut the top nut off the rear shock tower. A dremal works great on them. Either way hope you figure out the rear end issue

I'm pretty sure that is normal for the carrier. I can find pictures online just like it. I also thought the same thing about mine when changing fluid but the cuts are machined and there is no metal in the diff out on the magnet. Something grinding like that would make a heck of a noise.

powerwgn said:

I have never owned a truck and I bought the truck out of state. Very costly mistake. i know i am an idiot. Never noticed any leak coming from front axle until I was having brakes changed and we thought a caliper was leaking and discovered that. The truck drove great and no noise or vibration. there was a audible sound when shifting to park and reverse etc. but from what i looked up online a lot of people were saying it was normal. The rear diff would not have been caught unless it was opened and i never thought to open it up as I was told it was all good and didnt really see any reason to. I just decided to have them check the sound when shifting and they isolated it to rear diff and discovered that. It needs a whole new Carrier part # 0517301AB because this one is trash and the shop nor myself can find it. All we can find is a whole new rear end consisting of housing, diff and all internals as well as axle shafts. basically a whole rear end rotor to rotor minus the leaf springs.

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Cant find any internal parts separately? Wth

I am curious, is your Power Wagon a 2500 model ?

If you want to know which parts were used to build your Ram.
Enter your VIN into this website
Use CAPITAL LETTERS


For instance, it will tell you what your Differential Ratios are, or at least were when the Ram was built

Your parts are available in your State
you they don't have to have OEM parts

RANDYS WorldWide, Inc.
10411 Airport Road, Suite 200
Everett, WA 98204

GTyankee said:

I am curious, is your Power Wagon a 2500 model ?

If you want to know which parts were used to build your Ram.
Enter your VIN into this website
Use CAPITAL LETTERS

FCA RAM

fcacommunity.force.com

For instance, it will tell you what your Differential Ratios are, or at least were when the Ram was built

Your parts are available in your State
you don't have to have OEM parts

RANDYS WorldWide, Inc.
10411 Airport Road, Suite 200
Everett, WA 98204

Click to expand...

The power wagon is only offered in a 2500.

GTyankee said:

I am curious, is your Power Wagon a 2500 model ?

If you want to know which parts were used to build your Ram.
Enter your VIN into this website
Use CAPITAL LETTERS

FCA RAM

fcacommunity.force.com

For instance, it will tell you what your Differential Ratios are, or at least were when the Ram was built

Your parts are available in your State
you don't have to have OEM parts

RANDYS WorldWide, Inc.
10411 Airport Road, Suite 200
Everett, WA 98204

Click to expand...

Sent you a message.

olyelr said:

The power wagon is only offered in a 2500.

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That's what I thought too.

bigdodge said:

I'm pretty sure that is normal for the carrier. I can find pictures online just like it. I also thought the same thing about mine when changing fluid but the cuts are machined and there is no metal in the diff out on the magnet. Something grinding like that would make a heck of a noise.

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Right that's what I am thinking as well. I have a video they sent me. Where can I send it to you to listen and look at it?

Understand your frustration but unfortunately that is the gamble you take when buying a 10 year old vehicle from out of state. I'm fortunate to be able to do almost all of my own work on vehicles but know not everybody has the experience, tools, or time to do so. While I think the prices on the brakes and shocks are crazy high in perspective to doing them at home, those are also pretty typical prices for a shop to do them especially if they are sourcing the parts. That is based on friends having similar work done at shops recently (even though I offered to do it for them, and brakes and shocks are pretty basic items to me). For example on the shocks, I bet if you got a set of rear factory shocks through Mopar they are going to be at least $200 and then that's only 1-2 hours of labor time to equal $400+. A friend just spent almost a $1,000 for a shop to replace all 4 shocks on his stock Ford truck and they are just the basic plain black OEM shocks. Same thing with brakes as I bet you could easily get $700-$800 just in OEM rotors and pads and at $150/hour labor that adds up pretty quick.
In regards to the rear axle I would think there are other options available. A lot of shops just don't have the experience, or simply don't want to mess with, actually rebuilding an axle and setting up gears and thus would rather just bolt in a new assembly. Maybe find a shop that can actually rebuild them. Can't remember but was 2013 the last year of the 4.56 gear ratio? If it had 4.10 one option would be to just get an axle out of a regular 2500 with 4.10 gears and bolt it in.......yes, you lose the locker but would be much cheaper and easier to find as 4.10 was a pretty common axle gear. If you do have 4.56 a possible option is a complete 4.10 non-PW rear axle but have a shop swap to a 4.56 gear, but again would have find a shop with some experience in doing this, and obviously calculate out the total cost versus buying a complete new rear axle assembly so see how much cheaper versus spending $4,000+ on it.

Not sure exactly what you may need but I have an OE 4:10 rear gear that I'd be happy to part with if needed. 2016 PW and swapped right around 35k to 40k miles. The gears have normal wear for listed mi. I swapped to 5:13 for larger tires, gears did not experience any type of diff failure.

My suggestion, find another shop and get a second opinion. I get the truck needing a brake job, but all 4 calipers? Also, hard to tell from the limited pictures but that diff doesn't look out of the ordinary. Clunks are usually caused by a loose u joint, loose pinion or something actually broken. Is there anything broken, any metal shavings in the oil, do the gears turn smoothly when you rotate a rear tire, is there any play at the u-joint or pinion etc. If you don't know enough about differentials to tell, I would be finding the best drive line shop in the area and take it in there. They will also know how to repair it if it does need work, without costing you a complete rear end. Best of luck.

WY.Ram said:

Not sure exactly what you may need but I have an OE 4:10 rear gear that I'd be happy to part with if needed. 2016 PW and swapped right around 35k to 40k miles. The gears have normal wear for listed mi. I swapped to 5:13 for larger tires, gears did not experience any type of diff failure.

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2014 or newer PW gears (11.5 axle)won't go in a 2013 or older truck(10.5 axle)

gtomike60 said:

2014 or newer PW gears (11.5 axle)won't go in a 2013 or older truck(10.5 axle)

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And ‘13 and back pw’s had 4.56 gears.

WY.Ram said:

Not sure exactly what you may need but I have an OE 4:10 rear gear that I'd be happy to part with if needed. 2016 PW and swapped right around 35k to 40k miles. The gears have normal wear for listed mi. I swapped to 5:13 for larger tires, gears did not experience any type of diff failure.

Click to expand...

stepping up for a forum member, I'd give this post 1,000 likes if I could.

powerwgn's Ram has

4.56 gear ratio
10.5" rear axle
TRU-LOK Front & Rear Axles
Conventional Differential Front Axle
MAN SHIFT-ON-THE-FLY TRANSFER CASE

that is according to the

He sent me the VIN