Rear driveshaft spins, wheels dont move?

[Marshall]

If just the spider gears are broken i thought there isnt much or any adjustment needed with those. Just a ring and pinion need all the adjustments? And yes my old truck with the blown engine is still nearly complete but i havent asked the guy for a price yet. Just waiting for time to go take a look at my truck to see how bad it is

I have not done one of these, spider gear is no big job I believe, if that’s all,
When young my brother use to wipe spider gears on my 58 Edsel citation if I was stupid enough to let him use it Sat nights.

 

[Ritchie_Rich]

OP, instead of speculating and asking hypothetical questions, go pull the diff cover and report your findings here.

 

[Hellcat dreamer]

A broken axle fits your symptoms, if it broke near the carrier you won’t hear or feel anything unusual.

 

[Harry Paratestes]

OP, instead of speculating and asking hypothetical questions, go pull the diff cover and report your findings here.

I am just seeing if i should be bringing any special tools or any advice to see what is wrong when I get there. It isnt close to me and is outside so just trying to put a plan together

 

[Ritchie_Rich]

I am just seeing if i should be bringing any special tools or any advice to see what is wrong when I get there. It isnt close to me and is outside so just trying to put a plan together

Take a jack, jack stands, 3/8 socket set and a ratchet with 6” extension or a 3/8 cordless impact gun.
Raise each side of the rear end and support with jack stands. Remove the diff cover and inspect. Also block the front wheels and put the trans in neutral. All of this will allow you to turn the drive shaft and wheels to fully inspect the diff gears. Also determine if an axle is broken.

 

[Recoil]

I am just seeing if i should be bringing any special tools or any advice to see what is wrong when I get there. It isnt close to me and is outside so just trying to put a plan together

Get a buddy with a truck, take a trailer and tow it home. Then you can work on it at your house without having to worry about how far away it is.

 

[Marshall]

I am just seeing if i should be bringing any special tools or any advice to see what is wrong when I get there. It isnt close to me and is outside so just trying to put a plan together

And don't forget a pan to catch the oil when you take the cover off.
Take the cover off before you mess with jacks and such, if parts fall out , no point in the jacks. You need a tow truck or someone that can fix it, a shop.

 

[Harry Paratestes]

Get a buddy with a truck, take a trailer and tow it home. Then you can work on it at your house without having to worry about how far away it is.

Id like to do that but i don't have any garage space at the moment and my neighbors wouldn't be too happy to have a torn apart truck in my driveway. That and its been 90+ degrees for over a week here. Being in the sun at that temperature wouldn't be too fun. Id like to see what parts i need by diagnosing it where the truck is, get the parts and then trailer it home and use my garage to fix it. I only have a 1 stall small garage

 

[Harry Paratestes]

And don't forget a pan to catch the oil when you take the cover off.
Take the cover off before you mess with jacks and such, if parts fall out , no point in the jacks. You need a tow truck or someone that can fix it, a shop.

I would swap in whole rear axle assembly if i cant fix whats wrong inside the current differential. I dont want to pay a shop $100+ an hour to have sloppy work done

 

[Harry Paratestes]

I had time to stop by the truck today. I jacked the rear end up and only the passenger side wheel would spin.
I didnt have time to open the cover.
With my new info should i look at anything specific when i take the cover off or is the advice i got before still the same?
I might be able to get there on thursdaycor Friday

 

[Recoil]

Call your local salvage yards and pick up a used, complete rear end and swap it out. I did that on my 2003 when the pinion gear went out and it took me about 4 hours. Then if the current one is fixable, fix it yourself, sell it and recoup your cost of the salvage yard rear end.

 

[Harry Paratestes]

Call your local salvage yards and pick up a used, complete rear end and swap it out. I did that on my 2003 when the pinion gear went out and it took me about 4 hours. Then if the current one is fixable, fix it yourself, sell it and recoup your cost of the salvage yard rear end.

Not a bad idea. I think im still going to see if the current one in it is fixable. Its a southern truck so the axle has very little rust compared to what i would buy at a yard around here.
My old truck i sold with the bad engine has a 3.92 and anti spin rear and was also a southern truck so if i do buy a used rear end ill try to buy that one since it isnt rusty and it has the better gears. Current one is open 3.55s

 

[Marshall]

stuck brake pad could do that if its been sitting for a while.

 

[MrBonez]

If you decide to fix what's in it now the first clue when inspecting is to make sure the gear oil in it doesn't look like liquid silver.
If so, go ahead and start looking for a compete rear end to swap in.

Simply rolling/moving the pickup will still circulate metal debris through the assembly, if it wasn't brought back to the owners's place on a flatbed that will probrably be the case because the traditonal style of towing (Front hooked up and lifted or it simply being pulled along) will do that because the rear wheels are still on the ground in either case and the internals are still turning.....
Not to mention did the owner say anything about noise(s) coming from it before it clunked.... Or exactly what they were doing when it did?

Disassembling one to fix it is one thing - What you have to do based on what you find is another and if required, setting up ring and pinion tolerances can be quite involved if you don't know how to do that properly AND lead to further problems in the future if it's not done right, with right tools for the job too.

Best, fastest, cheapest way to go is another rear end for a decent chance to fix it and just go here.

Also don't forget if the gear ratio is different than what's in it now, that will throw off speedometer readings so getting that fixed will have to be done too to make it right but probrably still better than tackling what could be a full-on rear end rebuild, based on the setup for that issue of course.

 

[Harry Paratestes]

If you decide to fix what's in it now the first clue when inspecting is to make sure the gear oil in it doesn't look like liquid silver.
If so, go ahead and start looking for a compete rear end to swap in.

Simply rolling/moving the pickup will still circulate metal debris through the assembly, if it wasn't brought back to the owners's place on a flatbed that will probrably be the case because the traditonal style of towing (Front hooked up and lifted or it simply being pulled along) will do that because the rear wheels are still on the ground in either case and the internals are still turning.....
Not to mention did the owner say anything about noise(s) coming from it before it clunked.... Or exactly what they were doing when it did?

Disassembling one to fix it is one thing - What you have to do based on what you find is another and if required, setting up ring and pinion tolerances can be quite involved if you don't know how to do that properly AND lead to further problems in the future if it's not done right, with right tools for the job too.

Best, fastest, cheapest way to go is another rear end for a decent chance to fix it and just go here.

Also don't forget if the gear ratio is different than what's in it now, that will throw off speedometer readings so getting that fixed will have to be done too to make it right but probrably still better than tackling what could be a full-on rear end rebuild, based on the setup for that issue of course.

I appreciate the post. I wouldnt try to setup a rear end, I dont trust my abilities for that and was never on my mind to even attempt it.
The truck was on his own land when it broke and he towed it a short distance across a field to his house where it sat since i bought it. I rented a flat bed and towed it the 4.5 hours home and rolled it off the trailer to where its at now so I dont think it has been enough movement to spread any metal contaminants would it? He said he was just driving it in a hilly field and it made a noise and wouldnt move. I dont believe it was making any noise prior to that from what he told me.
The few repairs id consider is an axle shaft, spider gears and not sure what else doesnt involve all the knowledge of setting up a rear end like you described but Ive watched enough youtube videos and read enough about it that id just rather get a whole different rear end and swap it if its more than a simple fix.
I can live with speedo differences if i get the 3.92 rear end. It would be worth it for the power increase. I usually have a gps mounted on my dash anyway so that would display my true speed. I dont see any other issues with swapping a 3.92 rear end for the current 3.55 from my research unless someone knows more about it than what I currently do? Cruise and abs should still work if its even equipped with rear abs, shouldn't it? Id have to look at the build sheet again to see if it was even equipped with rear abs.

 

[kevkev]

I always replace it and rebuild the old stuff. Nice to have a replacement in stock."has a 3.92 and anti spin rear and was also a southern truck." Mine too.

 

[Harry Paratestes]

I always replace it and rebuild the old stuff. Nice to have a replacement in stock."has a 3.92 and anti spin rear and was also a southern truck." Mine too.

Id love to do your way of thinking but i dont have the storage space for a whole other rear end

 

[Yardbird]

Id love to do your way of thinking but i dont have the storage space for a whole other rear end

Yes you do. It's right behind the cab...lol

 

[MrBonez]

I appreciate the post. I wouldnt try to setup a rear end, I dont trust my abilities for that and was never on my mind to even attempt it.
The truck was on his own land when it broke and he towed it a short distance across a field to his house where it sat since i bought it. I rented a flat bed and towed it the 4.5 hours home and rolled it off the trailer to where its at now so I dont think it has been enough movement to spread any metal contaminants would it? He said he was just driving it in a hilly field and it made a noise and wouldnt move. I dont believe it was making any noise prior to that from what he told me.
The few repairs id consider is an axle shaft, spider gears and not sure what else doesnt involve all the knowledge of setting up a rear end like you described but Ive watched enough youtube videos and read enough about it that id just rather get a whole different rear end and swap it if its more than a simple fix.
I can live with speedo differences if i get the 3.92 rear end. It would be worth it for the power increase. I usually have a gps mounted on my dash anyway so that would display my true speed. I dont see any other issues with swapping a 3.92 rear end for the current 3.55 from my research unless someone knows more about it than what I currently do? Cruise and abs should still work if its even equipped with rear abs, shouldn't it? Id have to look at the build sheet again to see if it was even equipped with rear abs.

Sounds like it was used largely as a farm truck and could have alot of wear just from doing that over time.

Maybe not (Occasional use that way) but still, the easiest way would be a simple rear end swap.

If the replacment rear has ABS and the specs of it match what it's got now it should work, no problem as long as the parts (Sensors and so on) involved are OK and it's wiring is good too.

As for any real issues from a different ratio'ed rear end, the speedo differences are probrably about all you'll run into with that, but do bear in mind it will be turning higher RPM's at the same highway speed and you can have one geared too low (Making it run hotter) BUT that's in a case of really low gears and gas mileage will definitely be different regardless if that matters to you.

I'd have to think a unit with the same gear ratio should be found easily enough but if wanting a different gear ratio then that's the way to go here too, just find one of the ratio you want and install it in the pickup.

As for contaminants, that depends on how it was wearing before it broke.

It broke for a reason and exessive wear could (Not neccesarily "Was") have been the cause of that, meaning all the circulating of metal debris was done before it broke down. What you find when you tear it down will tell you the story of what was going on internally and what will need to be done to make it right again.

If you find slivers of metal inbedded in it's bearing surfaces when you check those or the bearings just full of it, best bet is again a replacment rear end unit since at that point you know you'll be going all the way through it to fix it....
And that may include setting up ring and pinion tolerances because there is a chance you'll probrably find the same stuff imbedded in the carrier's bearings and gears (Ring and pinion) or at least alot of scoring/scuffing/wear from it like it was lubed with sand instead of gear oil.

However go ahead and at least tear into it and see what you find, then let the evidence of what's seen guide you from there on what to do next because it could be a straight foward fix and all would be well again once done.

When you tear it down, be sure to post some good, clear pics of the damage and it's overall condition if you're not sure of which direction to go once you're in it and see the evidence of what happened.

 

[Harry Paratestes]

Sounds like it was used largely as a farm truck and could have alot of wear just from doing that over time.

Maybe not (Occasional use that way) but still, the easiest way would be a simple rear end swap.

If the replacment rear has ABS and the specs of it match what it's got now it should work, no problem as long as the parts (Sensors and so on) involved are OK and it's wiring is good too.

As for any real issues from a different ratio'ed rear end, the speedo differences are probrably about all you'll run into with that, but do bear in mind it will be turning higher RPM's at the same highway speed and you can have one geared too low (Making it run hotter) BUT that's in a case of really low gears and gas mileage will definitely be different regardless if that matters to you.

I'd have to think a unit with the same gear ratio should be found easily enough but if wanting a different gear ratio then that's the way to go here too, just find one of the ratio you want and install it in the pickup.

As for contaminants, that depends on how it was wearing before it broke.

It broke for a reason and exessive wear could (Not neccesarily "Was") have been the cause of that, meaning all the circulating of metal debris was done before it broke down. What you find when you tear it down will tell you the story of what was going on internally and what will need to be done to make it right again.

If you find slivers of metal inbedded in it's bearing surfaces when you check those or the bearings just full of it, best bet is again a replacment rear end unit since at that point you know you'll be going all the way through it to fix it....
And that may include setting up ring and pinion tolerances because there is a chance you'll probrably find the same stuff imbedded in the carrier's bearings and gears (Ring and pinion) or at least alot of scoring/scuffing/wear from it like it was lubed with sand instead of gear oil.

However go ahead and at least tear into it and see what you find, then let the evidence of what's seen guide you from there on what to do next because it could be a straight foward fix and all would be well again once done.

When you tear it down, be sure to post some good, clear pics of the damage and it's overall condition if you're not sure of which direction to go once you're in it and see the evidence of what happened.

Thanks for the advice and help. Will be sure to post pictures and ask for advice on where to go when i open the rear. Part of me wants to swap the whole rear with that 3.92 anti spin from my old truck but if its an easy fix im just going to go tnat route and not swap. I only have a small single stall garage, basic tools and it would only be me doing the swap. The weight of the whole rear end would be tricky with 1 person doing the work