Broke my front pinion

[swamijake]

Was pulling away at a light and heard a small pop and then lots of growling when applying torque.

When it happened I didn't know what had let go so pulled over and took a look to make sure nothing was hanging down. No drive shafts hanging down or gears poking out anywhere so I continued to drive another 50 kms gingerly out to the shop. Once I undid the front drive shaft the the flange fell off.

Looking at the break it looks like it was mostly broken a long time ago. Perhaps even when it was living its tough previous life in Suffield.

Thankfully I had a spare diff on the shelf I'd picked up from Don at Rovalution a few years back. Thanks Don! I got it swapped out pretty quick once I knew what had happened.

So, should I be packing a spare diff when in the bush?

[red90]

That is a strange place to break. I would suspect it was driven with a bad u-joint for a period of time and that put stress on the pinion shaft. The pinions are a lot stronger than anything else in the axle. Normally those 10 spline diffs break the short side halfshaft or the cross pin in the diff.

[swamijake]

Thanks Red, I thought it was pretty odd as well. If you look closely at the broken bit you can see a fair bit of rust, leading me to believe this has been mostly broken for some time. Good old ex military gear.