shailey
08-11-2007, 10:18 PM
A very few early 04 and 05 titans had problems with differentials going out. Since then, not many have done so. I say very few because compared to the number of titans made, the ones that had problems were WAY less than 1%.
But we will learn a little as to what it is that breaks, what is strong and what the symptoms (if any) are.
First off, leaky axle seals will more than likely not ever cause a differential problem. It is highly unlikely that just because you have an axle seal leak, that it will turn into anything more than that. There normally just is not enough diff oil to come out through an axle seal leak to cause it to run dry. The first pic is what an axle seal looks like. The amount of fluid seen here may equal two teaspoons and this is as bad of a leak as I have seen on a titan.
http://www.clubtitan.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=14332&d=1156880324.jpg
Secondly, the cause of the early axle failures were the spider gears. Nothing else. The ring gear and pinion gears are very strong. In fact, got_titan had a ring gear bolt back out on his true trac and it did not do any damage to the ring gear on the drag strip.
The next two pics are of the spider gears and ring gear. The spider gears are the problem child. This differential is off my 05 titan and this was around 75,000 miles. This thing was still at the top of the factory spec range and it was holding good. Goodness knows I beat that truck to death and it did me well.
http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/8/22220555986.jpg
http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/8/22220555914.jpg
As you can see the ring gear is a solid 9" ring gear and it has not given anyone any trouble.
http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/8/22220555971.jpg
The newer castings are better and have not given much trouble though.
Now on to the symptoms. In open style differentials it is common to get a humming noise when one is starting to go out. However, in most titans that had the problem they went out without ever making this humming sound. They did it without warning and they usually did it at low speeds or when someone was actually being "nice" to the truck.
Sometimes a clunking will occur, but since the rear end of the titan clunks anyway, this is hard to distinguish.
My suggestions are this. Just drive the truck and if it happens it happens. There is over a 99.6% chance that you will NEVER have a problem!
By the way, the early fix was a full synthetic diff fluid and a finned cover which was put on to displace heat. They said that rust was an indication of heat. However, take a look at this last picture. It is of a chevy rear end (that I took) that has 20,000 miles on it. I am willing to bet that you walk up to any rear end on a dodge, ford or chevy and you will see a rusted rear end.
http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/8/22220555938.jpg
But we will learn a little as to what it is that breaks, what is strong and what the symptoms (if any) are.
First off, leaky axle seals will more than likely not ever cause a differential problem. It is highly unlikely that just because you have an axle seal leak, that it will turn into anything more than that. There normally just is not enough diff oil to come out through an axle seal leak to cause it to run dry. The first pic is what an axle seal looks like. The amount of fluid seen here may equal two teaspoons and this is as bad of a leak as I have seen on a titan.
http://www.clubtitan.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=14332&d=1156880324.jpg
Secondly, the cause of the early axle failures were the spider gears. Nothing else. The ring gear and pinion gears are very strong. In fact, got_titan had a ring gear bolt back out on his true trac and it did not do any damage to the ring gear on the drag strip.
The next two pics are of the spider gears and ring gear. The spider gears are the problem child. This differential is off my 05 titan and this was around 75,000 miles. This thing was still at the top of the factory spec range and it was holding good. Goodness knows I beat that truck to death and it did me well.
http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/8/22220555986.jpg
http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/8/22220555914.jpg
As you can see the ring gear is a solid 9" ring gear and it has not given anyone any trouble.
http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/8/22220555971.jpg
The newer castings are better and have not given much trouble though.
Now on to the symptoms. In open style differentials it is common to get a humming noise when one is starting to go out. However, in most titans that had the problem they went out without ever making this humming sound. They did it without warning and they usually did it at low speeds or when someone was actually being "nice" to the truck.
Sometimes a clunking will occur, but since the rear end of the titan clunks anyway, this is hard to distinguish.
My suggestions are this. Just drive the truck and if it happens it happens. There is over a 99.6% chance that you will NEVER have a problem!
By the way, the early fix was a full synthetic diff fluid and a finned cover which was put on to displace heat. They said that rust was an indication of heat. However, take a look at this last picture. It is of a chevy rear end (that I took) that has 20,000 miles on it. I am willing to bet that you walk up to any rear end on a dodge, ford or chevy and you will see a rusted rear end.
http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/8/22220555938.jpg