I'm in the process of overhauling my Dana 80 due to gear whine, a rear end vibration, drivetrain clunk and a cracked ring gear tooth that I noticed when I changed my fluid a few weeks ago. When I got it open, I found the carrier bearing had spun on the carrier stub (housings look good though) and that there was a ton of play. This explains why the vibration would sometimes go away around a corner, I guess the bearings were preloaded correctly again. Trashed the carrier and went with an eaton true trac.
I got everything else apart, and found what's left of this large washer hiding in the little valley below the pinion shaft, below where the gear oil gets sent over top to the pinion area. I cannot for the life of me find out what this is in any dodge/ford/chevy parts diagram, dana manual, or dodge service manual. It's an 1/8" thick, with an OD of about 3.5" and an ID of about 2". I can't put it back together to tell exactly because there's at least one piece missing. It does have wear marks on the outside of one side, and the inside of the other like it was being used as a shim. I'm guessing this is what cracked the ring gear tooth. When I got the pinion gear out, I found a tooth cracked on that, too. Does anyone have an idea of what this is, and why it's in 8 pieces? Maybe left over from the last time this rear end was rebuilt?

I got everything else apart, and found what's left of this large washer hiding in the little valley below the pinion shaft, below where the gear oil gets sent over top to the pinion area. I cannot for the life of me find out what this is in any dodge/ford/chevy parts diagram, dana manual, or dodge service manual. It's an 1/8" thick, with an OD of about 3.5" and an ID of about 2". I can't put it back together to tell exactly because there's at least one piece missing. It does have wear marks on the outside of one side, and the inside of the other like it was being used as a shim. I'm guessing this is what cracked the ring gear tooth. When I got the pinion gear out, I found a tooth cracked on that, too. Does anyone have an idea of what this is, and why it's in 8 pieces? Maybe left over from the last time this rear end was rebuilt?


Last edited: