i pulled the cover to change oil and inspect for the first time since the gears/detroit were installed in july. no steel in bottom and no broken teeth etc. oil was mucky and thick muck on the housing walls. didn't see a problem with that.

BUT, the 6 small allen head bolts that hold the detroit case together were all real loose- finger loose. it took several turns on some to re-tighten. how much torque do they require? wonder if any damage could have occured?

WHY did this happen? anybody know? i will call tractech tomorrow and ask them.

boy was i SHOCKED

Yo,
please post whatever you find out from tractech. I have the detroit in my D30, and am wondering if it is time to check it out.

thanks
jd

Originally posted by BlackSheep
Yo,
please post whatever you find out from tractech. I have the detroit in my D30, and am wondering if it is time to check it out.

thanks
jd


i think it totally SUCKS

i can't believe that my mechanic would have installed it that way- it's only too obvious how loose they were- some were backed out enough for an easy visual.

soooooooo, apparently they came loose. WHY?

i just opened my 8.8 last weekend to shave that lip on the cover off and briefly looked things over inside but don't really remember checking those bolts. the detroit for the 8.8 might be of a different design and have different bolts- don't remember. i'm tempted to take it back off and check.

did i already say this SUCKS?

I'll agree it sucks!!! However, damn good thing you checked it out!! It could have been alot worse!!!

jd

Originally posted by BlackSheep
I'll agree it sucks!!! However, damn good thing you checked it out!! It could have been alot worse!!!

jd

yeah no doubt
i was meaning to pull the cover and change the oil earlier but kept putting it off and spending time on other issues- you know the routine.

i wonder what would happen if all 6 bolts fell out and dropped down in the bottom of the pig and stayed clear of the ring gear. would the detroit come apart? it seems like it has no place to go right? or what if one or more bolts got into the ring gear- would the ring gear win? they are rather puny bolts.

just my luck

The dana 30 needs a fair bit of preload on the carrier and even then the casting is flimsy enough to flex under load and loosen the bolts in both Detroits and Arb's. (may also apply to others, these are just the ones I have experience with)

We have several detroits that we have just welded together to stop the problem.

Just keep an eye on them, retorque fairly often and hope for the best. If the bolts do fall out and your gear oil is too viscous from cold weather or just a higher than normal weight, the thicker oil can and does pick them up and carry them into the pinion and ring gear. Not at all a good thing.

Originally posted by mrblaine
The dana 30 needs a fair bit of preload on the carrier and even then the casting is flimsy enough to flex under load and loosen the bolts in both Detroits and Arb's. (may also apply to others, these are just the ones I have experience with)

We have several detroits that we have just welded together to stop the problem.

Just keep an eye on them, retorque fairly often and hope for the best. If the bolts do fall out and your gear oil is too viscous from cold weather or just a higher than normal weight, the thicker oil can and does pick them up and carry them into the pinion and ring gear. Not at all a good thing.

well, how about that. are you a mechanic/own a shop? just sounds like you are when you said "we have several detroits...."

should i clean out the threads completely and use locktite or just tighten them up? i used a short handled allen wrench and put pretty much all the torque i could with that short handle- didn't want to break so didn't use a cheater. they are now a lot tighter than they were:).

guess i will have to check every 1-2 months. this was after 4 months that i wheeled before checking. not a daily driver and wheel most every weekend.

Originally posted by mrblaine
The dana 30 needs a fair bit of preload on the carrier and even then the casting is flimsy enough to flex under load and loosen the bolts in both Detroits and Arb's. (may also apply to others, these are just the ones I have experience with)

We have several detroits that we have just welded together to stop the problem.

Just keep an eye on them, retorque fairly often and hope for the best. If the bolts do fall out and your gear oil is too viscous from cold weather or just a higher than normal weight, the thicker oil can and does pick them up and carry them into the pinion and ring gear. Not at all a good thing.


oh, and by the way..

is the D30 the only problem child or do i need to babysit my 8.8 too?

Nope, not a mechanic, don't own a shop. I use the word "we" very loosely as there is a fairly large group of us that play pretty hard in JV, Panamint Valley, on the Rubicon a few times and most of us have the D-30 up front and run it with great success.

Over time we have learned a few things the hard way and the continual loosening bolts was one of them. No one in our current group runs an 8.8 so I have little experience there. I do pay attention though and have heard no one complaining and the one friend I have in MO has had no issues with his.

Typically you snap a couple of the bolts off before they all loosen. That is when we weld them with a TIg and smooth out the weld to get the ring gear back on.

The little 30 requires a fair bit of attention to set up correctly for anyone that is going to play hard.

thanks blaine

i called tractech and they were shocked of course and said "never heard of that happening before".............yeah right. i pulled the bolts one at a time and blew hole out with brake cleaner then air. ran em back in with red locktite.

the D30 is holding up well on the AZ rocks. i put shafts from a 95YJ with the 297's in place of the 260's.

what part of CA are you in? i lived in the panamint valley from 1966-71. did a lot of wheelin in a willys and a land rover- both belonged to my dad. we used to go up surprise cyn all the time in 2WD :) goler wash was the big tough trail back the- waterfalls to climb. now it is basically 2WD- untill they get a BIG flood to rip it up.

thanks buddy

steve