dana axle/gears

When the wheels are spinning and you lock the power divider it will grind and naw on the clutching teeth but won't engage until power is disengaged from the driveline and driveline rotation speed slows, but the power divider lock will engage when you pop the parking brake button when nearly stopped due to very slow driveline rotation speed and power being removed from the driveline. It's very common that people aren't aware that their power divider locks every time they set the parking brakes but if you look at your international dash when you set the parking brake the PDL indicator lamp illuminates indicating that the power divider is locked, push the park knob in and lamp goes off meaning power divider unlocked.

 

Be polite and professional. The last thing you do is start to rant and yell and be rude. Tell them flat out, with the economy the way it is and the price of fuel that profits are down and times are tough and you need some help with this. Tell them you always heard great things about their products and never heard of anyone being abandoned like you and that you are really disappointed that their warranty won't help. Ask if they can supply the part and you pay labor, or some kind of combination. If the person you are talking to can't authorize it, ask to talk to their supervisor or manager and ask them.

 

The labor hours to remove and install and completely rebuild a front (power divider) differential is 20 hours, so $5000 in labor is extremely absorbent, even if they charge additional time for tear down and inspection.

Not knowing the degree of damage to other related components and contamination factor from metal fragments/grindings throughout the diff, it's hard to say what really needs to be done to repair it properly, but from the picture it appears to be a clean break and I would guess that would only require replacement of the interaxle differential assembly in the picture and a clean out and refill. I have replaced this broken component many times without total differential removal, only the front housing removed. It's a 4 hour job. It appears to me that they're turning a $1000 dollar job into a $6500 dollar job.

In the case that broken components went through meshing gears in the power divider section and damaged all those gears a complete rebuild may be necessary and gear replacement costs add up fast along with a bearing kit, but when repair cost of your diff exceeds replacement cost you're better off to exchange it for a good rebuilt unit. Doing otherwise would just be feeding the wolves and it looks like the wolves are eyeing you up and licking their chops waiting for you to give in.

 

I would question the need for the diff to be removed from the housing, the cross shaft or thru shaft as we call it unless there is visible damage to it. The need for total disassembly and a bearing kit is also highly questionable. If I were you and I was footing the bill I would replace the the broken part, clean it out good and run with it.

When they come back at you with no warranty on this type of repair just tell them that's alright, you've found out that there warranty policies are a bunch of dung and meaningless anyway.

 

Most dealers will never rebuild the gear themselves because it is too expensive on a per hour basis compared with just putting in a complete reman. There isn't much to a diff as far as tearing one down just to get pictures. If there isn't any metal all over the inside and not much to have to clean up I don't see why this would be over 15 hours complete to just install a complete reman gear and be done with it. $6500? really? That is closer to a tranny job!

 

Did they also remove the rear rear diff too when they were looking for the problem?