Bought this front axle 2 weeks ago, it has 81,000 miles on it. I opened it up this past weekend to see how the gears looked and I'm not sure if its ok for them to be like this or not:


Everything else looked good. The guy said if there's any problems with the gears I have a month to return it and get my money back. Just wondering what you guys think.

Thanks,
Clay

 

How is the ring and pinion?

 

just weld them all together and youll be fine!! trust me!!

 

I'm not sure what the ring and pinion look like. Could welding them together even be an option. I don't think I'm going to do that.

 

They are about shot.
I only see one thrust washer behind the side gears and there is usually 2 or 3.
I'm going by the Dana axles I've rebuilt , before the flames start.

Whoever had it apart last didn't set the spacing correctly. The side gears did not mesh deep enough.
If they overlooked that , you should pay close attention to the ring and pinion .

 

What an 'old timer' told me :
If ya burn it your gonna learn it.

Meaning you will learn the error of your ways.

 

is it just my eyes or does no one see the c clip on that axle shaft

 

No C-clip, but an E-clip....



It's a front 98+ M35. The surface rust(i assume it's rust) tells us a history of water in the diff, yet mine was half filled with water and the spiders didn't look anything like that. Side gears look at little chewed up, but again, it's been so long since I've looked at what those spiders and sides are supposed to look like, so IDK. Safest bet is to get to a good gear shop and see what their say is.

 

What gears are in it? Stock or otherwise?

Like these guys said, lets see the ring gear (the big one) that's really going to be what matters. In a front axle if the spiders are a little off it's not going to hurt anything.

 

Sorry , but that is not true . If just one tooth on a side gear goes it will trash the diff. I've seen it happen more than a few times.
The side gears in the pics are not meshing deep enough .This is not due to whether a C or E clip is present . All the clip does is hold the axle shaft IN . The side gears push toward the outside of the case. The thrust washers between the side gear and the bearing determine the mesh between the side gear and the spider .If the gears are not meshed deep enough you get what you see in the pics .
The less gear contact , the weaker the connection between teeth , the easier teeth are broken .

 

I think I'm just gonna take it back, I'm in no rush to do this anymore. I really don't want to risk putting this in and it not performing properly or breaking on me. Heres a zoomed out pic of the whole thing:

 

YEEEOOWWW !!

Now lie to me and tell me there was something similar to gear oil in there when you opened it up .

Where did you get it and did they tell you it had less that 1,000,000 miles on it ?

 

Whats its supposed to look like? The gear oil was grayish, felt like oil so it wasn't runny like water. I need to know so I can tell the guy when I return it.

 

Eh... sure, to the extreme. Looking at those things I'd bet they have 100,000 miles on them and have another 100,000 in them. In the front of a Ranger doesn't worry me at all. Are we looking at the same contact patch?

 

Dang I have some serious bad luck. I hope the guy understands and gives me my money back. I got it from a junkyard.

 

Most JY's around these parts have a 30day money back sorta deal.

Tell ya what, talk to the JY, I'll go get my stock 80,000 mile axle from my buddy's shop, I'll pull the cover and take pics. I'll show you what a 80,000 mile front axle should look like. I know it's a good axle too...it used to be mine, now it's mine again. lol.

 

It came out of this, an 03:

 

Ya thats what he said.

 

ohhh that is the front! now the pics make sense....wiw its been a long day

it doesnt look too out of the ordinary for a d35 then, my spiders looked like that (the mushroomed over look) and the other front axle i had looked much worse than that. will brakleen remove the stains on the side gears?

 

Its got 4.10s in it.