I have a 2005 1500 and was on the HW when it felt like I ran over a dog, then the rear end sounded like I was driving on the rumble strip. When I stopped to look, where the drive shaft enters the diff housing, it was leaking oil and smoking- quite the foul smell. I'm thinking I blew a seal or something. I limped home and really didn't feel comfortable going over 35mph. Any thjoughts on what happened and what could be involved in getting a repair?

Thanks from Central Mass

 

Welcome to DF.

First, before anything else, please read this:
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/dodge-ra...s-section.html

I will move this to the 3rd gen section for ya.

 

Ripton. Please search my posts on here. I believe it says "guess what I blew up my rearend". Or something like that. The exact same thing happened to me. What MINE was happened to be the pin that holds the spider gears in. What happens with these trucks is (1) the pinion seal leaks leaving evidence all over the bottom of the bed and side of the gastank. (2) on hw the pin gets hot and spits out of the carrier and shells out the pinion gear (3) you limp home wondering how much this is gonna cost.
You can turn it in on a warranty (usually cheapest)
You can go buy a new (used) rearend and install it. That usually starts at about $800 before fluids.
You can buy the gears from websites like ring and pinion dot com. Your going to buy first off the ring and pinion $250 a shim kit $70-$100 and bearings another $$???
Here's what I did. I did some part order # research and found that the ring and the pinion gear for a 9.25 dodge rearend hasn't changed since 1974. So I called the same salvage yard that I called for the direct replacement rearend for my truck, and asked them how much was a 96 or 97 dodge 9.25 with 3:55 gears. $150. I bought it brought it home and viola, there were all my parts in a smelly old package. I cleaned every thing up in both rears and downloaded a PDF from randys ring and pinion on how to set up gears chatted with the guys on here. And last week I pulled an 18 foot dovetail with our 75 jeep cj5 75 miles an hour for well over 2 hours.
Check first for the oil under the bed and then open the diff up. I hope I'm wrong and its something real simple. If not I hope I helped.

 

I recall from my time on here a while ago that two of the most imperative "scheduled maintenance" items to follow to a "T" are the changing of the rear diff. fluid and lubrication, as well as transmission fluid, IIRC. I can also recall reading threads where the owners were initially denied warranty coverage because of failure to follow the maintenance schedule for these items.

I guess the rear differential is prone to failure if not kept up properly, and even then, it is also still recognized as a part prone to failure. Some great research and advice from Sookie, there. Do you still have any warranty left?

 

I can't agree that the "rear differential is prone to failure" even if not kept up properly. I don't condone it, but I've seen AAM axles on Rams run for over 100,000 miles ON THE ORIGINAL, FACTORY FLUIDS.

What are the weaknesses are the factory LSD which (if equipped) is inside the differential. It will eventually spit it's clips which will in turn grenade the differential, but the differential unto itself I've found to be at least as solid as a comparable Dana, if not a little more.

The other problem area is the rear pinion seal. It is prone to leaking and if left in this state for too long, you'll end up slinging all the gear lube out and obviously, NO GEARS will operate for very long with no lube.

My guess is one of these factors took out the OPs rear diff.

If you do proper maintenance at the proper schedule, you can usually catch either issue BEFORE it can grenade the axle and repair is cheap. If not caught and the differential goes, not so cheap...

 

yeah, thats why its good to pull the cover and inspect it regularly but not even that guarantees you will find or catch the issue before hand. What i would is clean and scrub the outside first, then pull the cover and inspect and lastly if nothing else helps would be to lift the rear end and with the truck in neutral, turn the wheels and watch and listen. If all else fails, pull the tires and brakes and axles and then the diff.

 

If it's running hot, there is friction! Either because of a lack of fluid or something grinding (like a failed clip). Either way you need to stop driving it and pull the diff cover...

 

I just posted on my steering wander.
The shop that took care of my front end checked my rear diff fliud level and said it was a full quart low.
The dealership said they checked it which is obvious they did not. I have taken the truck in for scheduled service. So it looks as though I've either been a quart low from the factory because I've never had a drip on the diff. I visually insect the truck all the time.
moral to the story..check your fluids even from the factory. Hope you get it all sorted out

 

I can't believe it functioned if it was a full quart low - the thing only takes a bit over two quarts!!!

 

I'm with you, I can't believe it was a full quart low but I have to take what the shop said for his word. He did a quality job for me and those were his words exactly. I haven't beat the truck and only drive on weekends right now. How it got that way I don't know but one thing I'll be checking it often now. I hear ya