Blown 14bff carrier? (pics)

[midnitewarya]

I'm almost done with my 14bff rebuild. I pulled off the diff cover and found these strange little metal pieces stuck to the magnet. I have no idea what they are and what they are supposed to do. Everything in the pumpkin looks fine, there is no grininding or clicking when I turn the pinion. Anyone know what these things are? It's a '98 14b 3/4 ton.

 

[stock93]

Those pieces look like bearing cage.

John

 

[midnitewarya]

If it is the cage, does it require a rebuild? Is it okay to run without it? How does this piece fail (what kind of driving caused it)? Sorry for so many questions. I'm just a little frustrated. My K5 has been parked for 4 months and I thought I was finally at the end of the tunnel.

 

[85mudblazin]

Yep looks to be a bearing cage(or whats left of one). You NEED to re-build it or atleast pull it out and see which bearing is gone and replace it.

 

[6.2puller]

It definatly looks like a bearing cage, question is wich one. You definatly need to replace atleast one bearing. I would pull the carrier and check the carrier bearings for starters. Mark the preload spanners befor you back them off and count how many turns on each side you back them off. That way you can put it back and not change the backlash.
If the carrier bearings are good than it is one of your two big pinion bearings, the small end pinion bearing doesn't use a cage like that so that rules it out.

 

[stock93]

If you need to see a breakdown of the axle go over to pirate4x4.com and look at their 14 bolt tech article. I would suggest replacing all 5 of the bearings while you have it apart. The kit is only around $150 for BCA bearings. You will need access to a press for the bearings. Its not hard to do just requires some patience. Make sure you check the gears closely. Also check their pattern with some marking compound.

John

 

[sandawgk5]

More than likely it is the third pinion bearing. That is the only one that seems to grenade on its own and would also not provide any indication of a problem as it only supports the "nose" of the pinion. There are no rollers floating around in your dif?

Ira

 

[midnitewarya]

Nope, no bearings rolling around inside, or any other cage pieces. I think it's from the 3rd pinion bearing. Thanks for all the help guys.

 

[6.2puller]

the third pinion bearings I have installed have all been straight needle bearings and not roller bearings that have a cage like in the pic. If the inner pinion bearing went and the 3rd support bearings was good it would not feel bad spinning by hand. It would probably make a lot of noise on the road but your axle is not installed correct?
I don't think it is the support bearing.

 

[midnitewarya]

No, it's not on yet. It was going to go on over Christmas weekend, but I think that will have to wait. It kind of works out for the better this way. It is a 4.10 and up front I have 4.56. So now I an excuse for the wife to let me get a new ring and pinion and bearings.

Al

 

[sweetk30]

all the older axles used the rollers, then the change was in that bearing i think.

 

[HarryH3]

Looks just like the pieces that the pinion support bearing spit out on my 1974 14 bolt FF.

 

[pvfjr]

Yep, definitely cage pieces, that is a very bad thing. Saw those in my wheel bearing one time, that truck was all over the road in a scary way.

 

[afroman006]

I can almost garuntee its the third pinion bearing. I've seen two come apart in the diff myself and one was in my DD crewcab. There was absolutely no indication anything was wrong untill I popped the cover for a routine fluid change. Luckily its a fairly easy repair.