Hey, guys
I recently worked on a truck that had a very severe problem with the rear differential, rendering the truck undrivable
I removed the cover and drained the fluid into a clean tub for inspection and analysis
A horrendous amount of metal came out along with the fluid, and the pinion gear was wasted.
A quick records check revealed that somebody had done a diff service, using 85w140 conventional instead of the 75w90 synthetic which it was supposed to get. This diff service was just a few days ago, by the way.
I looked on the dana industrial website, specifically the failure analysis section. And the “incorrect lube” pictures pretty much match what I’m dealing with.
Have you guys ever seen incorrect gear oil destroy a differential in only a matter of days?
In case you’re wondering, this vehicle has just just under 90K and there was absolutely no history of diff troubles before this.
And it’s a class 1 truck, not something big and heavy
The vehicle will get repaired, so junking it’s not really a subject for discussion.
I’m basically looking for opinions and stories that relate to similar experiences and/or incidents