2010 Yukon Denali front diff replacement

[jtbadowski]

hey everyone. got my differential out but having trouble getting the output shaft(passenger side) out if the carrier assembly. Flange came apart fine, but the shaft won't release...is there a ring inside holding it in?

not sure what is getting it stuck...don't want to damage anything...any help would be appreciated.

thank you..

 

[TheAutumnWind]

Already having trouble with a 2010 front diff? Bummer. Im not looking forward to having mine go on me.

 

[jtbadowski]

Already having trouble with a 2010 front diff? Bummer. Im not looking forward to having mine go on me.

So looking back I can see how it happened. I had oil dripping from filter right after oil change. Thought it was just a leak and it went away. I think it was the rear seal and it flung diff fluid when it went bad. They are right in the same spot. The so I drove quite a few miles with a mostly dry diff. Yeah. No Bueno.

Dealer wanted 3K to swap. Paid 1150 for remanufactured unit. Came out without much hassle. A little squeeze and some wiggling and it fell out. Getting it back in will be a bigger challenge I think. Tempted to drop the crossmember to make it simple to put back in. Worried that might cause problems taking it out...never done it before.

So always inspect your axle seals. If you see it wet with fluid...better check your level. It doesn't have hold much.

On a brighter note, I did get the shaft out. A few hits with a deadblow and the snap ring opened up and the shaft slide out. Just like it was designed to.

 

[MichaelSE]

What were the symptoms that your diff went bad - was it howling, or did it just not engage to spin the wheels in AWD?

 

[jtbadowski]

Got a rattle at low speeds with no load on the gears. Coasting. But at around the 10 mph it would drop tol first and go away.

Full disclosure...had a axle seal replaced just beforehand and was told they found metal shavings and no fluid. Smoking gun.

 

[jtbadowski]

okay...go figure the rattle noise was not the differential. kinda bummer. thinking transmission or transfer case now...sigh...but i found metal chunks in the oil and a significant amount of metal sediment in the case when i removed the axle tube, so it needed to be replaced, even if it was not the source of my rattle.

Ended up dropping the cross member and she went in without any problems. Actually quite a simple procedure in hindsight. total cost was 1130 for the remanufactred unit, about 15 bucks for fluid for the next 500 miles then a drain a fill, and 7 bucks for a 21mm socket i needed. beats the heck out of 3K the dealer wanted...