differential gear teeth

[mishman]

3 teeth on my differential gear are broken as well as one of the silver round caps on the top of the differential gear. I have been getting a wierd noise from the tranny, could this cause it? how bad is it to have broken teeth?

 

[jelloslug]

I would say that you may have thrown a diff pin. What other debris did you find on the magnet? At the very least you need to ring gear. The "cap" sound like on the the large rivits that holds the ring gear on. Are there any holes or gouges in the case?

 

[mishman]

no holes or anything in the case. When i was driving down the road it was like it hit something, but nothing was behind me. I took the tranny apart a few months later and found that some teeth were broken and some other things. I was hearing a wierd noise from the tranny too. however i just bought a new differential for 30 bucks, and im going to put that in and see how it works. on the magnet was a TON of crap. little metal shavings and two big differential teeth. very ditry in there. but i intend to clean it. And yes, the cap is one of thos elarge rivits. I havnt found the cap top yet... donno where it went, maybe it broke the teeth...

 

[TYSHO]

It's common to think you hit something when the differential gives out, especially under the car.

 

[SHO--ripper]

Check your output shaft, because broken diff teeth can cause problems with the fixed gear teeth on the bottom. Be sure to inpect all the bearings and gears, because all that metal floating around the inside of the tranny can create many problems.