Differential low on fluid n noise, damaged?

I was travelling on i90 and noticed my front differential got above normal temp, close to 200 and started humming..I've pulled over on shoulder and removed fill plug and it was low. Filled about quart of oil but still noisy. I've exited freeway to local abandoned truck stop. What are chances if I have shop come out and drain and refill fluid and it should be fine. Maybe it suffered failure and I'll need it rebuilt? Anyone have advice for me. I'm in the middle of nowhere Saturday afternoon in SD, 70 miles east of rapid City SD

 

Only 1 quart low? Doubt that caused any problems at all. There's so much oil being slung around in there when driving.

Did you happen to have your interaxle or diff lock on by mistake?

Either that or your diff was already suffering a failure and its just becoming noticeable now. Either way I honestly do not believe being 1 quart low contributed much to it. Unless you have an active leak the diff should have been at that level since the last time it was checked/serviced. Diffs and gearboxes don't consume oil like an engine can.

 

Yeah I know. Theres no leaks anywhere. I'm at nearby truck stop and double checked it and it's full now but don't want to drive it any further until I get it changed out at least. I didn't see any chunk's in it but I didn't drain all of it out.

 

What is a normal front diff temp for you? 200 is not that high. You might be right but how do you know the humming is coming from the front diff? Your assuming the gauge is accurate. Chunks would come out first. I would be more concerned with how much fine silvery stuff is on the magnetic plug and how silvery the fluid looks. Fine, smooth, silvery stuff would be bearing material. I agree with AModelCat that 1 qt would not make much of a difference and would not have caused a failure.

 

Changing your oil isn’t going to help. It’s going to be a waist of money. Kick your power divider in an out at road speed see if the hum goes away

 

You think power divider is faulty?

 

No but if you have a bad front diff when you kick power divder in it will quite down

 

Wouldn't that damage rear one as well on dry pavement

 

If your power divider is bad you are gonna have lots of slack or play at the yolk into the power divider

 

No it says don’t engage if a wheel is spinning. Road speed doesn’t hurt it. Kicking it in and out while in a straight line Line and good traction doesn’t hurt it. While spinning yes it’s a death sentence because it locks front to back. So if one’s spinning extremely fast and is locked to the one with traction then it’s a sudden stop