Tiny update. I did a diff oil change today. About 80 miles so far, not much. But diff oil is cheap and I wanted to see how things looked before a highway run. Hard to say really at this point. The oil looked great of course, it is new. The magnet had more on it than I would like including several small flat pieces of metal. It is possible this is debris from the rebuild that was trapped up in the pinion bearings and now worked itself out. Or I could be a touch high on the torque preload values as I mentioned before. But I am within spec. Assuming the specs are correct.... There is so little info on this actual diff. The diff sounds great in that it makes no noise at all. I will do another change in a couple weeks and see what ends up on the magnet. For the record, when I drained my old diff before removal I expected some metal bits and had none at all though, just metal sludge as normal. No chunks, bits like this, etc. I was surprised and even more so when I saw the state of the old bearings.

EDIT: Since we do not have to do a proper break-in since we are not replacing gears, I did one heat soak run. Drove around town at lower speeds for 20 minutes then let it sit an hour to cool. This is in addition to the around town driving I have done all week but those were always much shorter trips. So after cooling for an hour I took it on the highway for a few miles to an exit then looped back home. The diff was pretty hot but I am bale to touch for at least 8 seconds. So it's not overheating, but it does feel hotter than I would like. But there is so much conflict of info out there.... The consensus seems to be that they will run hotter because even with just doing carrier bearings there is some break-in. I am curious to see how hot it gets after an hour of driving at 70mph. Surrounding metal like the frame supports were not super hot, so I know it is not heat soak from the engine heating it up.


And that is blue teflon tape, not thread lock on the plugs. I always use some to help prevent leaks and aid in much easier removal.

 

And on another note.... if I do end up having to rework the diff, I am pretty sure it can be done in vehicle assuming I am not touching the pinion bearings. Right? Just a matter of getting to every one of the clamshell bolts and assuming there is room to back them out. If possible it should be pretty easy to remove the passenger side tube, then the cover. Leaving the pinion, driveshaft attached, etc. No mounts to unbolt too. And if the drive side race is an issue, would still be pretty easy to pop out with that half of the shell installed. Hell, if I thought of this before install itself would maybe be easier.

I feel that IF I do have much preload it is that darn NTN race I used in place of not having a Timken for my passenger side Timken bearing. I should have just used the original Timken race instead, it was in great shape......

 

I have the gauge, what's the spec?
Is there a number for pinion alone?

 

Depends on new or old bearings. Best I can tell for pinion only without seal. Seal causes about 3 to 4 extra inch pounds from what I read.

new, 12-15 inch pound
old, 6-12 inch pound

this is rotational reading, not the initial break free torque needed. And again, with no pinion seal.

 

Disclaimer, do not quote me on the specs. It is what I find but not every place has the same values for some reason. I still have not found anything specific to the LR3 when it comes to the clamshell design we have. Maybe I need to contact Dana directly.

 

I put together the rusty one, getting about 1.5 N/M and some play in the gear, will see what happens.
This truck is not gonna see a lot of miles so even if it's gonna come apart it will be a while...

Meanwhile I'm changing plastic transmission pan (leaking) to a steel one from AB, also need to change AC compressor and then swap the diff, after that I'll take it up to Maine and it's gonna probably get driven 3,000 miles a year...

 

For anyone interested, it does look possible to disassemble the diff installed. The front mount may be an issue but I am pretty sure once the halves are broke apart it will rotate up or down out of the way but I think the gear set will have to come with it, I don't think the cover will have room to make it around the gears installed..... but they would fall out anyway. Only a couple bolts are a little hidden but should not be a project to get at. When I do my next fluid change, which will be soon, I may indeed drop it and replace the bearings if I find more debris. I will compare the NTN passenger race with the Timken I have that is new (just arrived) and see if that is what is causing slightly more preload than desired. If not then I will pull the original shim and put in some of the slimmer shims I have. I don't like the idea of doing this but I really hate the idea of pulling the whole thing again. If I need to, then the lift will certainly be involved.

I need to do my pan again, my metal one is rusting and I would like to do the valve body seals anyway. And same for AC, I put a new one in and from the start it was noisy. Lasted all summer until late fall, blew a hole in the side. So this time I will probably seal off the rear AC and plop a cheap used one in with a cheap condenser (already have one) versus the "nice" Nissens crap I put in.