I was driving my '92 RS/SS with a brand new 350TPI & drivetrain for the very first time (see sig for mods). I was actually heading to the exhaust shop to have some leaks tightened up. It was 7:45am today on a narrow 2 lane road with heavy traffic and no real shoulder. Cruising literally 1 mile from my house at about 45mph or so, I feel a shudder, then another, then....skeeeerrrrrrrrrccchhhhh-wham-clunk-grrrrrriiiiinnnddd!!! Oh shnitzle....I mumble as I peel myself away from the steering wheel and limp the car on to the gravel "shoulder" which is only about a foot wide!! So there I am, barely off the road, traffic backing up, me wetting my pants, and all kinds of neat thoughts running through my head....did the engine sieze? Trans give out? Rear end? All of the above? I got out, looked around and underneath the car, but only saw chattering skid marks from where the car locked up. No fluid leaking or obvious signs of trouble.

I started the engine (whew!), slipped it into gear (whew again!), and tried to move forward. No deal. Reverse? No way. Shifted back into drive, gave it some gas and it lurched forward making the most hideous grinding noise and then stopped abrubtly. DOH!! I then figured out that the rear must have blown. 20 minutes later, limping 20 feet at a time, then stopping for a few minutes, then 20 feet more....until I get to a clear spot to pull off the road. I called the wife, she cruised up in the Explorer, we go to U-haul and rent an auto transport, go get the car, and tow it back to the shop that installed everything under the car. After a short bitch session, I bet them that there is no oil in the rearend, and I leave for home.

I get a call shortly after and get the scoop. The gears are "toast", but everything else looks ok. I ask if there was any oil in the rear...the answer was NO! Great...

Here is my question after the long winded story - with NO oil at all in the new rear end, driving about 1 mile, the car violently coming to a stop, limping about 1/8 mile further with the rear locking up every 20 feet, driving onto the trailer and then off again at the shop....is the ring & pinion the only thing I should be worried about?? My gut tells me there has to be more damage. Can you guys please tell me other things I should be looking for? Anyone else had this happen and then have more trouble later? Please help!! The shop is going to replace the ring & pinion and then "check it out" to see if it's good to go with no other new parts. What do you think about that?

 

Bearings are toast, pinion shaft is toast also... Same thing happend to a truck that had the whole rear end swapped.. they drove it from a body shop to the auto repair place and then back with no oil in the diff. Everything was toast inside.

 

as long as they are at fault i wouldnt sweat anything. if it needs everything then its on them due to neglect.
i had that prob with "jiffy lube" once. guy came up from the pit and said your fill plug is acting "funny" and felt like its stripping. i said hmmmm well ok ill look into it later.( i was just getting a "top off" so no real worry)
as i drive off 1st was ok , 2 nd felt a lil notchy, 3 said "aint happenin" . thats when i went back.guy said pull it up on the rack and lets take a look. so i reached for rev , it wasnt there ! so i rolled back and drove around on to the rack. i looked and i should have smacked myself when he shown me what plug he "tried" to pull. it was the 5th/ rev linkage plug.
i called a tranny specialist i seen in car craft and asked him a Q's. he told me what the deal was . i called then shop the next day and guy said jus bring it in and ill adj the linkage . i said " dude its a T-5 everything internal"!well to shorten it after a hassle with getting jiffy lube to move on things i got my T-5 rebuilt at THEIR expense and none of mine.

 

I would have the entire rear end redone, new axles, carrier, gears, bearings, etc....
No telling what that heat could have done.

I'd have them get you a nice built Moser 12 Bolt. Just let them know what could have happened if you were on the highway cruising 65mph and the rearend locked up like it did.

 

They called me today and told me that they are replacing the entire rear end EXCEPT for the Auburn posi, which they say looks "fine" and all tolerences are correct. I'm still worried about the posi as it was brand new when they installed everything. It only has about a mile on it, but it was the harshest mile a posi could ever see!! They also said that the driveshaft & output shaft on the trans are fine. Anything else I should be looking for?

 

did they actully crack the carrier open? how do they know its fine?
my carrier had a pepsi can amount of fluid in it and by ythe time i got to atlanta it was damaged. (thanx to walmart)
they didnt check the fluid like they said they did.
i found this out on the way home when i stopped for gas and made a left turn, it started popping.
IMO being that it was dry chances are it might have damage if everythig else sufferd the way it did. this may be a bit extensive but i would have the carrier sent to auburn to be checked out. no sense in spending another $500-600 on a rebuild down the road cus they " thought the carrier was fine".
Richard

 

That kinda heat is bad on everything. I would require them to at least get a whole different good junk-yard rear end(housing and all) and then have them rebuild it with the same stuff you already had(new, not the used stuff). You should end up with a rear end that is at least equal to what you had before.

 

I know this isn't what caused your rear end faliure but in case it was never mentioned, you have to do a break in with new gears. It's something like moderate driving for about 15-20 minutes with no hard starts, no full throttle blasts, and not constant speed like on a parkway. Then you park it, let the rear cool down and do that again 2 more times.

 

I'd call auburn, and ask them what they think. Ask um about your warrentee, bet you there ain't one now. I wouldn't trust a center section that has been that hot. It may work ok for now, but that had to take a lot of life from it.

 

UPDATE:

I received a new-used rear end and they put it all back together with new gears and such. I've driven it several times after I got the car tuned right and the trans shifting so-so. The rear end feels fine & seems to hook up good, but I have a question: The rear seems to be off a little to the rear of the car and further back on the passenger side. It looks like it's tracking to the right - off center (not being parallel to the rear bumper). I measured the gap between the tires and the wheel openings and the right side is further back than the left. Both sides are off-center to the back at least 1/4". It's noticeable (my friend noticed it first). It's like the '94-'96 Impala SS rear end problem, but even worse 'cause it's back further on one side. DOH!!

Can this be fixed?? The only thing I can think of is the subframe connectors are mounted too far back? They had to remove the passenger side SFC and modify the front to clear the y-pipe. We only noticed the rear being off after they installed the new-used rear and modifed the SFC. I also had them install relocation brackets for the LCAs at the same time. Could this also be part of the problem?