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Help! Rear diff troubles

2K views 9 replies 3 participants last post by  Jesus_man 
#1 ·
I am convinced I am a victim of poor workmanship at a dealer in Minot, ND and now the bearings are burned up on my rear diff after >1500 miles. They are replacing bearings, Ring and Pinion, Seals etc. However, it's been over 3 weeks and there are two parts on backorder. Two questions:
1. Is there a way to determine which differential my truck has without being able to look at it? Sterling 10.5, Dana 275 or Dana 300?

2. I have found Spicer makes the gearset, so wanted some feedback in terms of quality for these for anyone who has experience.

My hobby is offroading and I am always happy to replace parts with Spicer as I think they make quality items, but I really want all these issues with my truck to go away once and for all. So hoping to pick some brains out there! Thanks!
 
#2 ·
You should have an axle code on the door sticker that will ID your axle.


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#3 ·
I will have to look. Unfortunately, the truck has been at the dealer (45 min away) since 23 Aug. I may have a picture somewhere, but it would take lots of digging!

Based on my research, it appears to be a Dana 275.
 
#4 ·
Well, it kinda scares me that I can search my google photos for parts of my vin and BAM! the picture of my door sticker pops right up. It lists the axle as a 3J, which translates to a 3.55 Limited slip. But I don't see a size of the axle denoted anywhere other than a thread that again states M275...
 
#5 ·
Looks like 2017 and later used the M275 on the SRW and the M300 on the dually.


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#7 ·
As I was calling around trying to track down parts, a dealer who had serviced my truck when it was new, recommended I call Ford corp. and open a case regarding lack of parts as that may help. He stated that when there is a parts shortage, dealers can request parts all day long with no traction, but when a customer calls in, that carries some weight. I did just that and got the results I needed. Parts arrived earlier this week and I hope the dealer is currently working on my truck, but I am waiting on confirmation. I can't say for certain my call made the difference, but it was just a couple days later that the parts arrived. I should have my truck back next week at the latest, but with any luck, tomorrow...

That being said, I worry about a gear break-in procedure. Have an offroading trip planned 1 Oct, which requires me to pull a 7k lb trailer around the mountains of ID. Not sure that is a good thing for breaking in gears or if I should commute in my truck as much as I can before the trip??
 
#9 ·
I got bad news on Friday. Dealer couldn't get the gears setup properly and discovered that the housing is damaged. So now after approval from Ford, they will have to order that and re-install a mix of new part and existing parts into the housing before I can have my truck back!

I am confident the issues stem from a tech not knowing what they were doing and installed something wrong, didn't get something torqued, etc to cause these issues. So very frustrating that this is causing so many plans to change and expenses to pile up because I can't haul what I need to haul, pull what I need to pull, etc... Even more frustrating that we are on a beautiful part of the country now and want to do a lot of camping, but can't.
 
#10 ·
Been a long time since I've updated this thread. In the end, after waiting a very long time for parts, and cancelling/ modifying a few trips due to not being able to take our camper anywhere, I got my truck back sometime late Sept/early Oct. I did what I could to put some "break-in" miles on the rear diff knowing we had a 2,000 mile camping trip planned in mid- Oct. And I was very happy that the noise was gone and the truck did as it should!!

I really haven't driven the truck since, but I am hoping all those troubles are behind me.
 
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