rear differential slack

[glick1969]

Hoping someone can help. I bought a 2006 ram 2500 4x4 with 5.9 auto and it has about 134k and appears rather stock . I found what I feel to be quite a bit of slack in the rear differential. The lot I got the truck from keeps telling me that its normal. I just don't think it's right. Is there any places I can find, or does anyone know, specs/tolerances on this rear end? From what i found this should be a dana 80. This is my first diesel as well so any recommendations are welcome as well.

 

[B.G. Smith]

There is a little backlash slack between the ring gear and pinion, New would be like .010. Then there will be slack in the spider gears and the axle splines. There should be no radial slack in the pinion. Are you getting noise? bg

 

[lpennock]

06 uses AAM 11.5 not a Dana 80

 

[glick1969]

Just so you know I do have many years of experience with vehicles, just no Diesel experience. No noise I would consider abnormal although I do feel a vibration in my butt when going down the highway, it reminds me of a u-joint going out but the u-joints are tight and don't have any slack. I swear I feel a catch when i'm backing up while turning though. I also think that there is much more than 10deg of slack in the drive line. If i was guessing I'd say I can move the drive line more than an inch side to side like if it were rotating or going from drive to reverse.

I read somewhere, and of course cant find that post now, if you set the e-brake and have more than 15 deg of slack then you should at least putting a new set of bearings in and reset your everything. Do you know anything about this and do you know of any sites where someone could find like documents that state this stuff?

 

[glick1969]

thanks for the info. That might help.

 

[TWebster]

This from my 2005 service manual


SPECIFICATIONS
AXLE SPECIFICATIONS
DESCRIPTION SPECIFICATION
Axle Ratio 3.73, 4.10, 4.56
Ring Gear Diameter 266 mm (10.5 in.)
Ring Gear Backlash 0.13-0.18 mm (0.005-0.007 in.)
Pinion Bearing Preload - New Bearings 1.69-2.82 N·m (15-25 in. lbs.)
Pinion Bearing Preload - Original Bearings 1-2 N·m (10-20 in. lbs.)
Pinion Bearing Preload + Diff Case Bearing Preload -
New Bearings
3.4-5.6 N·m (30-50 in. lbs.)
Pinion Bearing Preload + Diff Case Bearing Preload -
Original Bearings
2.8-5.1 N·m (25-45 in. lbs.)

 

[lpennock]

10.5 axle was used on gassers. Here arte the specs you want for the 11.5
REAR AXLE

DESCRIPTION SPECIFICATION
Axle Ratio 3.73, 4.10
Ring Gear Diameter 292 mm (11.5 in.)
Ring Gear Backlash 0.13-0.18 mm (0.005-0.007 in.)
Pinion Torque To Rotate - New Bearings 1.69-2.82 N·m (15-25 in. lbs.)
Pinion Torque To Rotate - Original Bearings 1-2 N·m (10-20 in. lbs.)
Total Torque to Rotate - New Bearing 3.4-5.6 N·m (30-50 in. lbs.)
Total Torque to Rotate - Original Bearing 2.8-5.1 N·m (25-45 in. lbs.)

 

[TWebster]

Thanks for updating