I know this is obviously not dodge related, but since you guys are some of the smartest ***** I know, for all intents and purposes lets pretend its a chrysler 9 1/4

My wife mentioned a couple nights ago that she smelled a burning smell around her Blazer and said she saw smoking and sizzling comin from the rear end. So I figure she prolly cooked a rearend. I had noticed a week or so ago that it was leaking and planned to check it out anyways. So I took it down to the old mans garage today to check it out and change rear pads/rotors.

Turns out the rearend never ran dry, however it was leaking badly. Manual calls for 2L of fluid, and prolly around half that was in it when I dumped it. Is that low enough to allow overheating in there? Gears all look fine, and it was still gettin lubrication. I'm tryin to determine if it was in fact smoking, or if it was the seized caliper I found on the LR. She is quite certain it was comin from the rearend though.

the ***** in question. all the dirt on the back is oil specks, this is how I first knew it was leaking. It must have started quite suddenly because this mess just developed in the last week or 2.


The leaky rearend. I thought originally that the ding on the bottom might be the cause, that it mighta bent the cover enough to seep past the gasket. I had recently taken the kids for a rough drive down some muddy roads in it, and thought I mighta caught a rock or something.


turns out it wasn't a rock..... the thing is like a freakin cheesecloth lol


The more layers of rust I scraped away, the more holes popped up lol


The gears themselves look to be fine, and there was no abnormal filings or anything in the fluid. The oil though looks kinda funky, you can see the foamy **** still on the gears here. Does this mean the fluid overheated and boiled or what? I don't have a lot of experience with rearends (of this type anyway )


GM 7 5/8" rearend, 3.42 gears


new rear pads and rotors, and an emergency trip to the parts store for a new caliper and bracket. The piston AND caliper slides were seized SOLID.


I'm just gonna pick up a new diff cover for it tomorrow and fill er up and hope for the best

 

The foam could be because there was not any limited slip additive in it. Just put some lucas oil additive in the diff. If you haven't refilled it yet, just use a 50/50 mix. The lucas oil additive does not require the limited slip additive because the lucas has anti foam in it.

Use the lucas oil additive...the regular stuff you use a quart of when you change engine oil. If you read the package it is safe for diffs up to 100% and no LS additive needed.

That will raise the viscosity and keep leaks to a minimum.

--Dan

 

That foam is from water my friend, deff plan on replacing that diff cover cause i havent seen one that rusty in a LONG time. I thought my drivetrain was bad but jesus thats got more rust on it than my driverside fender does and thats ALOT lol

 

it's not a limited slip rear, though. Just an open diff with spider gears. Would it make a difference you think? I searched around on a blazer forum and they all say not to use the LS additives in these particular rears, even the limited slip ones. The lucas is a good idea, I'll probably pick up a jug tomorrow

 

its weird yak, the truck isn't rusted very bad at all, I was quite shocked when I saw the cover looked like that

 

I agree with Yak, looks like water got in there, +10 on the Lucas.

 

+1 on looks like water in the rear end.
+1 on replace cover with new or junkyard one and hope for the best.

you might have some bearing problems, but who knows, maybe you'll get lucky.

 

Eh could just be a factory defect or they forgot to coat it in rust adhibitor. Its a gm what do you expect, although i will admit i miss my 94 jimmy that ****ing thing would fly and in 4lo would rip through anything.

 

The cover on my S-10 and on my 86 Blazer looks the same. Next time I change the fluid, I'm gonna get a new cover and paint it with POR-15.

Go to a junkyard and get a rear end out of a ZR2. Should have 3.73 gears and a locker. Its the Off-Road edition of S-10s.

 

Well I could easily see how water could have got in there. I don't think it's been like that for long, like I said, maybe a week or 2 and only driven a handful of times. I'm hopin that no bearings got damaged, it's not makin any noise or anything. I'm def gonna be gettin a new cover.

When she told me it was smoking, I figured it was dry and was kinda scared to pull the cover off. My dad had a rearend run dry and actually catch fire while he was on the highway in his old dakota. Quite a relief to see as much come out as what did.