Changed diff fluid, found tiny spring

[ronrodriguez114]

1500 miles ago I had the rear diff bearings changed with the “kit” via a professional mechanic. All work guaranteed and I’ll be calling in the morning. Changed the diff fluid and found this spring attached to the plug magnet. I can’t find anything online showing this tiny spring. The axle is a dana 44 with the Mopar electronic lockers. I swapped the axle shafts with Yukon chomolies if that matters. 5.13 gearing.

Anyone know what this is? Spring is super thin, maybe 1.5 to 2 inches long.

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[Retrograde]

I've seen springs like that around the inside of axle and pinion seals... The question for you is, did it come out of the old one, or the one he put in? And where's the rest of it?

[edit] Looking closer at the pic, I see where the rest of the spring is... in little tiny pieces on the plug. That's not good, 'cause you know there are little tiny pieces everywhere.

Springs are made of hard steel, and have the ability to trash a bearing. At a minimum, that whole axle is going to have to be torn down, thoroughly cleaned, and inspected for damage. And I don't know that I'd trust the guy who did that work to work on it any further.

 

[AdamG]

I agree with @Retrograde. That looks exactly like a garter spring from a rubber sprung-lip seal. They’re designed to maintain the sealing force as the contact lip wears, and help with followability as the shafts have runout, circularity, etc. I used to work for Freudenberg, we made millions of springs/seals just like that for axles, engines, transmissions, etc. The only reason you aren’t getting a leak is a) it didn’t come from one of your seals and somehow got in there while work was being done or b) the seal is new and still have enough sealing force from the rubber itself.

Long story short, that there needs fixin’

 

[Dyolfknip74]

Paging @chevymitchell

 

[chevymitchell]

1500 miles ago I had the rear diff bearings changed with the “kit” via a professional mechanic. All work guaranteed and I’ll be calling in the morning. Changed the diff fluid and found this spring attached to the plug magnet. I can’t find anything online showing this tiny spring. The axle is a dana 44 with the Mopar electronic lockers. I swapped the axle shafts with Yukon chomolies if that matters. 5.13 gearing.

Anyone know what this is? Spring is super thin, maybe 1.5 to 2 inches long.

Hey there. There's nothing here to be alarmed with.

It's an easy inspection to see if it was part of the old seal or the new one.

You simply take the flange out. Once the flange is out, then you can inspect the new seal.

The spring is likely from the old one because of how you have to pry the old seal out when replacing the bearing. Either way, your diff is perfectly fine and things like this happen. I wouldn't let this deter you away from having the same person do the work. The old spring can be easy to miss if you're not looking for it. There hasn't been any long term damage caused here. Your diff will still have a full life without issue if the spring is all that's wrong.

If it's the new seal, which would be very weird, then it's just a matter of taking the flange out and popping a new seal on. Still less than an hour job either way.

You're in good shape. Nothing to really worry about. Fresh fluid, a quick seal inspection, and keep on rollin'.

 

[ronrodriguez114]

Thanks for the info everyone! I called the mechanic and theyre going to take it in. The work was warrantied so just a pia to drive it in. This information did help calm my nerves!

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