My front diff blew apart on the Rubicon Trail last Saturday

Was crawling up Big Sluice when I heard a bang and suddenly had no drive to the front wheels, ended up spending 6 hours winching out and towing back to South Lake Tahoe, has anyone else grenaded a Dana 44 on rocks?

3 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

3 Comments

drew9063mo ago

Had the same thing happen on my Dana 44 on a rocky climb last year. Just let out a loud crack and the front end went dead. Ended up cracking the housing right at the pinion bearing, total junk after that. Had to winch out for miles too, it’s a nightmare on the trail.

4

olivia_murphy3mo ago

Man that sucks. You know what saved me once was carrying a spare pinion bearing and a tube of JB Weld in my trail kit. It's not a permanent fix but it's enough to get you off the mountain without having to winch.

7

kevin_martin3mo ago

Man, I gotta say I used to think JB Weld was just a joke fix. I always figured if something cracked you just replace it or weld it proper. But hearing stories like this about being miles out with a dead axle makes me rethink that. Carrying a spare bearing and some epoxy actually sounds pretty smart for a get-home setup.

7