My ring and pinion looked much worse than yours and I blew one of my end caps to bits. The housing looked okay, though.

 

never saw a cracked housing like this!

 

Hmmmm... You know, when the pinion breaks and a big chunk decides to fly between the rotating pinion and ring gear, something has to make room for that chunk of metal to fit between them. From past posts, it either looks like the ring gear is pushed towards the back of the car and the end caps fail, or the ring gear is pushed straight sideways, and the entire diff case will split open to make room.

It's going to be interesting to watch what happens with the Comptech re-enforced housings. By the looks of their upgrades, they strengthen the end caps and that should prevent the ring gear from moving backwards. But, I'd be now worried that in the event of another pinion failure, you'd see the ring gears now move sideways instead and the probability of a case failure like what Jay_Ray had would be much higher.

Chris.

 

Good point. You've got to buy the same parts no matter if you break the end caps or the case anyway...

 

Yeah, maybe I'm just questioning the value of the Comptech re-enforcement upgrade. There is a possibility that the Comptech upgrade simply moves the problem from the end caps to the carrier housing. The most common failure with the diff is the pinion, and if that goes, there's a good chance that the housing may go with it, be it a cheap stock housing or an expensive Comptech housing.

Why is the Comptech upgrade done? Have there been cases of failed differentials where the first point of failure was determined to be the end caps and not something else (mainly the pinion gear)? If that is a common problem, then I can see the value of the updated caps. But if the end caps ALWAYS fail second after another part (like the pinion), then I'm not too sure if the caps are fixing the real problem.

Anyone ever have a pinion self destruct and not do any damage to the rest of the housing? If there's a chance of that happening, then maybe the Comptech upgrade may better further those chances.

Chris.

 

There have been lots of pinion failures that didn't result in housing damage. I wouldn't be surprised if the reinforced housing provided positive side effects that could even protect the pinion. For example, if the bearing caps are flexing (not breaking) enough to change the contact pattern, then that could be contributing to the pinion failures. The reinforced housing might reduce the flex, and give a more consistant contact pattern between the ring and pinion.