Engmus
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Anthony
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2019
- Threads
- 7
- Messages
- 76
- Reaction score
- 100
- Location
- Pennsylvania
- Vehicle(s)
- 19 Ranger Lariat
- Occupation
- Information Technology
- Thread starter
- #1
Hey Team,
Figured I'd share my experience. Please read the entire post here before hammering away. My 2019 Lariat Ranger, with 35,700 miles had catastrophic rear differential failure. Before the information, here is some relevant information.
Never towed
Hauled once (A 400 LB, four-cylinder motor on a pallet 20 miles)
Never went to a drag strip.
I don't think this failure was caused by a fluid failure
Heres the story, at around 1,000 miles, I drained my rear differential, front and PTU, and refilled all with appropriate Amsoil fluids, specifically the rear got 75w90 SVG in the correct amount (3.70 Pints or 2.2 Quarts).
I once again at about 30,000 miles decided to see how things were wearing in, dumping the front differential, PTU and Rear differential. The front and PTU units, I could have reused the fluid, they looked exactly as you would expect. The rear differential was not healthy. It had several chunks of metal on the magnet, I did not photograph this or save the shavings and I regret not doing that.
Now I am a guy who doesn't drive around in dead silence, I listen to podcasts, Pandora or Spotify, or have conversations on the phone. My work has me up and down the eastern shoreline from the Philadelphia area to around Northern Virginia, I drive a good amount of time for work in my personal vehicle and enjoy doing it. But with the discovery of the rear differential issues, I decided to start listening more to the vehicle and less to other sounds.
I couldn't tell any differences in noise, nothing noticeable until about 40-50mph, in that specific range you could hear a high pitched, and almost silent whine. This was present on acceleration and deceleration. With this I scheduled an appointment at my dealer and took the ranger in, the dealer was able to agree they could hear something but wasn't sure it was anything of consequence and told me that the vehicle drove fine (great actually) and sent me on my way. (They also serviced my transmission, replaced the filter and fluid, and noted no issues, or clutch material on the filter and said the fluid was in pretty good shape)
I decided that I was going to drive another 5k miles and then dump and inspect the fluid again, this time I took pictures and saved the shavings for the dealer, as when I dumped the magnet side, it had way too much wear. With my new evidence I returned to my dealer and told them I'd pay the cost if nothing was found, but confident something was, they popped the rear differential cover and discovered that the entire unit was grenaded. I don't have pictures, or much for details, but it was described to me that the differential spider gear pin, had almost sheared entirely in half (was barely in place) and that metal debris had damaged everything from the casing to the pinon, axles, everything. Parts are on back order, and in the meantime, I've been loaned a 2021 Bronco with less than 1k miles.
The dealer is taking care of the issue, which is great, and from what I've gathered this isn't a widespread or heavily reported issue. My guess is that my rear differential had a metallurgical failure, or was assembled on "A Monday morning, or Friday after lunch" although I have no proof of those things obviously being true or false.
My vehicle is modified as described in my signature, but I don't bash on my truck, I do a lot of highway miles, and have other vehicles that I joy ride.
Figured i'd share my story, and give you all something to read. Thanks, Anthony
Figured I'd share my experience. Please read the entire post here before hammering away. My 2019 Lariat Ranger, with 35,700 miles had catastrophic rear differential failure. Before the information, here is some relevant information.
Never towed
Hauled once (A 400 LB, four-cylinder motor on a pallet 20 miles)
Never went to a drag strip.
I don't think this failure was caused by a fluid failure
Heres the story, at around 1,000 miles, I drained my rear differential, front and PTU, and refilled all with appropriate Amsoil fluids, specifically the rear got 75w90 SVG in the correct amount (3.70 Pints or 2.2 Quarts).
I once again at about 30,000 miles decided to see how things were wearing in, dumping the front differential, PTU and Rear differential. The front and PTU units, I could have reused the fluid, they looked exactly as you would expect. The rear differential was not healthy. It had several chunks of metal on the magnet, I did not photograph this or save the shavings and I regret not doing that.
Now I am a guy who doesn't drive around in dead silence, I listen to podcasts, Pandora or Spotify, or have conversations on the phone. My work has me up and down the eastern shoreline from the Philadelphia area to around Northern Virginia, I drive a good amount of time for work in my personal vehicle and enjoy doing it. But with the discovery of the rear differential issues, I decided to start listening more to the vehicle and less to other sounds.
I couldn't tell any differences in noise, nothing noticeable until about 40-50mph, in that specific range you could hear a high pitched, and almost silent whine. This was present on acceleration and deceleration. With this I scheduled an appointment at my dealer and took the ranger in, the dealer was able to agree they could hear something but wasn't sure it was anything of consequence and told me that the vehicle drove fine (great actually) and sent me on my way. (They also serviced my transmission, replaced the filter and fluid, and noted no issues, or clutch material on the filter and said the fluid was in pretty good shape)
I decided that I was going to drive another 5k miles and then dump and inspect the fluid again, this time I took pictures and saved the shavings for the dealer, as when I dumped the magnet side, it had way too much wear. With my new evidence I returned to my dealer and told them I'd pay the cost if nothing was found, but confident something was, they popped the rear differential cover and discovered that the entire unit was grenaded. I don't have pictures, or much for details, but it was described to me that the differential spider gear pin, had almost sheared entirely in half (was barely in place) and that metal debris had damaged everything from the casing to the pinon, axles, everything. Parts are on back order, and in the meantime, I've been loaned a 2021 Bronco with less than 1k miles.
The dealer is taking care of the issue, which is great, and from what I've gathered this isn't a widespread or heavily reported issue. My guess is that my rear differential had a metallurgical failure, or was assembled on "A Monday morning, or Friday after lunch" although I have no proof of those things obviously being true or false.
My vehicle is modified as described in my signature, but I don't bash on my truck, I do a lot of highway miles, and have other vehicles that I joy ride.
Figured i'd share my story, and give you all something to read. Thanks, Anthony
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