Hi,
I spent the weekend changing oil in my front and rear differentials and I did the transfer case reseal and change.

I test drove the car for about 30 minutes locally and then later last evening I drove it home. it was driving great and no more whine so I was excited.

and then it died. huge clunk/grind noise in the front and i pulled right over. was about 100 miles from home so had to get it towed. shop tells me it is the front differential and i need a new one.

it is not the drive shaft, i have a new one (1 month old, greased, etc).

so my main question is this: could i have screwed something up so badly with the differential change that I broke it? all i did was this and since i am new to auto repairs i was very methodical and i had my dad with me who is not new to repairs:

1. loosen fill plug
2. take out drain plug, empty old oil.
3. put in drain plug after cleaning and putting on some teflon tape
4. pump in gear oil - i used 80w90 per RAVE
5. when it started pouring out fill hole i put in my fill plug with new o-ring

anyone ever heard of breaking a differential by putting in new oil? seems crazy to me but at this point nothing much is going surprise with this truck.

thanks.

 

Sounds like you did it right. Maybe the diff was just on its way out anyway.

 

man i really hope so. i was so happy and pleased. also did the trans fluid and truck was running so great and then it kicked me - right in the nuts.

i still love it, even though it seems like it is trying its best to break me!

 

It may have been whining for a period of time, and you can't reverse metal loss. Was there a lot of gray / silver material in your first drain? How about now, how much drained out? We did have a post where a guy drove a truck partway across Montanna and the diff plug vibrated out.... salvage yard or dismantler?

 

there was a little metal but not much. to be 100% honest since i pulled 3 drain plugs for this work i can't recall exactly which one had the most metal but none of them had much at all. i dropped a wrench in the drain pan at one point and had to go into the oil to retrieve it and oil wasn't littered with chunks of anything, etc. smells nasty though!

not sure what you mean about salvage yard or dismantler - are you asking where i'll get a replacement front diff? if so the shop that i got it towed to (thank god for AAA PLUS) is a land rover specialist shop and they just told me they had one in the shop. they have a bunch of discos 'parked' out back.

FYI, i did use 2 new fill plugs, metal ones i got from rovahfarm. i put on new o rings and i check both diffs last night and this morning and no leaks. the guy at first repair shop said oil was nice and clean when he drained it.

thanks for the help!

 

Sorry to hear about your problem.
So, where is the truck now, how mechanical are you and have you considered installing a used 3 rd. member for the repair?