Another front diff bites the dust!

[Mike E]

Ok, I know I like to go off roading but I found this out after I bought my H3 without the Adventure package. When I upgrade in '08 I will for sure have the adventure package.

The dealer called me this morning after having my truck for a week and said they finally found the noise I was complaining about. They opened the front Differential and every other gear is either cracked or broken! Whoops!

It has become very clear to me that you need a rear locker in the H3 for any sever off roading otherwise the stress to the front diff is too much and the gears break. At least this is my take. I off road with other H3's and they don't have any problems with theirs since they have the rear locker.

Anyone else want to share some thoughts on this??

Mike

[f5fstop]

Makes no difference, Mike. I'm pretty sure Neo, Bebe and H1 all have off-road (adventure series) packages and they blow front diffs as fast as photos are photochopped on this forum.
What happen is if you meet a maximum restriction such as a boulder, tree under water, etc., and you apply a lot of engine torque to go over the obstacle, the front diff tends to flex (it's aluminum), thus allowing the pinion gear to ride up over the ring, and start chipping teeth. Once this starts, it is not long before they start breaking.
Newer vehicles, and service parts diffs and ring/pinion gear sets have been hardened to help reduce front diff failure, but I personally don't think it is the true cure for those who really off-road on extreme trails.
A locker MIGHT help a bit to help you go over the obstacle faster with less torque required to the front diff, and I guess in some cases that might be true, but I'm not sure.

[Sewie]

Trust me, the locker is not the answer. Of the ones I know of, I think HI was the only one with a base model, no locker.

[Sewie]

Originally Posted by f5fstop

What happen is if you meet a maximum restriction such as a boulder, tree under water, etc., and you apply a lot of engine torque to go over the obstacle, the front diff tends to flex (it's aluminum), thus allowing the pinion gear to ride up over the ring, and start chipping teeth. Once this starts, it is not long before they start breaking.

This is the exact info I've been looking for to give to my service guys. They are completely in the dark about this issue.

Originally Posted by f5fstop

Newer vehicles, and service parts diffs and ring/pinion gear sets have been hardened to help reduce front diff failure, but I personally don't think it is the true cure for those who really off-road on extreme trails.

So both Bebe and I should be getting the newer gears this time around. Time will tell if its a real fix or not.

[f5fstop]

Originally Posted by Sewie

This is the exact info I've been looking for to give to my service guys. They are completely in the dark about this issue.



So both Bebe and I should be getting the newer gears this time around. Time will tell if its a real fix or not.

I bet if I tried, and I might, I could break one in a parking lot with a high enough parking block.

[timgco]

Some of us H3 owners get our oil changed. Others get new transmissions as we did, and otehr gets new front diffs.

Was this truck an early or later build?

[Mike E]

mine is an earlier build but the recent diff they are replacing is the supposed new and hardened one. So it doesn't seem to matter. Like F5 said, you get enought torque on it, the gears ride up and start chipping.

The dealer is supposed to take pictures for me so I'll post asap.

Mike

[Cal]

That sucks, i really hope i dont run into this problem, but it seems inevitable it you off-road it some what hard.

[usetosellhummer]

I pushed my rig hard but with lots of grace and steady throttle. no bouncing, you bounce you try another line. It really is a skill thing as much as the dif. mark it down as a war badge and get some quality time with some old dogs out on the trail.Attachment 31395

[usetosellhummer]

sounds like jedi bullsheet but you spend enough time off road in the truck and you can feel when it's working too hard or you just get a feeling it's gonna break and back off. I have a base truck but have driven H1's and 2's for years at events and at school. i found that it took a little wind up with the break then a ease out and smooth throttle up. the TC would kick in and up she went (with some tire squeeling)

[KenP]

I thought this was relatively common on the early models. (By common I mean common as a percentage of those that actually wheel the early 3's.)

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by usetosellhummer

I pushed my rig hard but with lots of grace and steady throttle. no bouncing, you bounce you try another line. It really is a skill thing as much as the dif. mark it down as a war badge and get some quality time with some old dogs out on the trail.Attachment 31395

--Thats very true. I'm very lucky to have some very seasoned off road guys in my club that have helped me a lot. Just another broken part for the books!

[Sewie]

Originally Posted by Mike E

mine is an earlier build but the recent diff they are replacing is the supposed new and hardened one. So it doesn't seem to matter.

When was the first one replaced?

[Mike E]

The first one was replaced in June.