any experts on the dana 70 lsd?

[t walgamuth]

my 03 dodge with cummins has about 83K miles and the limited slip has gone south. I suspected it was failing recently but now that I have driven it in snow I can say for sure it is not working at all.

So I pulled out the owners manual and of course the warrenty on it stopped at 70K miles.

Any body know enough about these rear ends to speculate as to the cause and possible cure for the failure?

It is not as if I have taxed it, the truck is never driven anywhere except on asphalt and the lsd only needs to work when there is snow or occasionally wet grass.

Tom W

[peragro]

Sorry about your bad luck Tom.

I played briefly with rear axles back when I had the F350. I found out that there are as many flavors of Dana axles as there are stars in the sky. It's not something I had fun with. You have to get under the truck and get the exact numbers and markings off the rear axle, then you know what you've got. You might be able to find a replacement or at least discuss the issue online with a forum like this but dedicated to Trucks.

Hopefully the fix is simple for you but I suspect it won't be. I think the primary cause of failure is most likely the 5 letters that are found on the tailgate of your truck. We drive those at work and I'm frequently amazed at the utter crapiness of the vehicle on a regular basis.

[t walgamuth]

I would have thought a dana was a dana.

I had suburbans in which I installed a second hand dana 60 with lsd and with who knows how many miles the limited slip worked just fine. Was that a detroit locker? I remember it often would clunk when I took off.

Tom W

[iwrock]

http://www.auburngear.com/


My friend with an 03 Cummins said that they make a good LSD.



I think it was that company... It was either them, or another company.



Dont put a locker in... That will be hell going around corners.



A different Dodge fan who is a friend said that he thinks they stopped the Dana 70 in like 2002.

[t walgamuth]

I am not familiar with the design in mine. Any chance I could cure the problem by changing lube? (it is the factory lube at present) or by adjusting it?

Hmm mmmm maybe I should check lube change schedule.

Tom W

[POS]

I'd take to a sympathetic Dodge dealer and see what they'll do - there's no reason why the LSD should go out so soon on a Dana axle.

[t walgamuth]

Yeah, that was what I was thinking. I looked in the owners manual and it says that there is no scheduled maintenance required for it. ON the maintenance booklet though, it says change it every 15,000 miles. It also says no special lube is needed.

Tom W

[PaulC]

Hmm. Usually limited-slip diffs require a second fluid called a friction modifier in addition to the regular fluid.

[t walgamuth]

Yes.

I know a man who works at the dodge dealer as a mechanic. I will call him and see what he knows about it.

BTW, I could not find any reference to the diff as to brand or number. It is an 11.5" ring gear though.

Tom W

[blkntancj]

Look on the axle tube next to the differential, or possibly on the tag attached by one of the diff cover bolts, there should be a 6 digit number. Go to dana's website I belive it is danaexpert.com (do a google to be sure) and go to the BOM lookup and enter that number. It will give you some basic info on your axle. Also you can call Randy's ring and Pinion tech help and they can help you out.

[t walgamuth]

Thanks for the info. I will do that.

Tom W

[pastmaster]

Tom, I hope it's something simple and that will be it. Christmas isn't over yet.

Paul

[Matt SD300]

My Dana 70..has 185K on it, and still spins both tires...the last 50k have been seeing 800+++ ft lbs of torque...

[rwthomas1]

Its been a long while since I messed with an LSD but IIRC, rebuilding just the clutch packs is not that difficult. Any 4X4 oriented shop should be able to handle that for you. I have cooked my share of "posi" units in hotrods though.... Used to have lockers and had no problem with them. The noise was not objectionable to me. RT

[blkntancj]

Here's a guide to finding the BOM (bil of materials) for your Dana 70 and a link to the Dana expert
http://www2.dana.com/expert/wc.dll?cvsp~debill~