A few weeks ago, I spent a Saturday doing some pretty good mud riding with a few guys from work. No real competition, just a couple 2wd quads, and a Honda 300 4x4 with stock tires. About 2:30, I found myself bogging through a pretty good hole and had a solid wave of mud pushing up against the left rear fender by my leg. I was almost through the hole, but I had the handlebars totally pulled to the left. I heard a click like I hit a rock on the frame (that click was something breaking inside the differential actually), and then I heard this major stripping sound. Somehow, I still made it back out of the hole, but I had broken off something inside the front differential and it was making a massive stripping noise whenever I moved.

Obviously, this problem occured as a result of the massive strain of the lift kit and the bars turned all the way to one side. I loaded it, and took it home. Haven't taken it in yet, but I will whenever I get in the mood to spend a few hundred $$$. It sucks, but will I take off the lift to prevent future problems??? No way. I had too much fun there, and went through some massive pits that I would never have made it through without the extra clearance. Never got stuck, though I came close many times. Spent the day pulling the others out quite a bit.

The dominance of others is a good feeling, but I guess there is also a price to pay for it.

 

Andy:
First off, haven't heard from you in a while, glad to see you back!

Secondly, how many miles do you have now on your 'Cat? Have you chanced the diff. fluid before? -I don't doubt you at all, just curious if it was the lift for sure that caused the breakage of whatever it was in the front diff, and not something else like normal wear and tear. Good description though, and glad to hear you are still happy with the performance of the lift. I know exactly what you mean about that extra clearance, and being able to make it through, or having to go around.

Anyway, best of luck with whatever happened there, and let me know what broke, or what it took to fix it if you would, I'm kind of curious now. Take care,

Mike

 

Sorry to hear about that. While I don't have much experience with lifted atv's I do have alot of experience with 4 wheel drive trucks and I will say that anything you do like bigger or more aggressive tires, lift kits put a huge strain on things. Lift kits are very tough on body mounts and universals and cv's because of the extra angle. If you stripped something in the differential big tires or just plain strain is more likely the culprit than the lift kit. Hope you get ot fixed reasonable. Good luck.

 

I have stock tires and already am wanting to lift 'er up. I think I'll start by getting a set of 26" 589's and see the difference. I just went on an awesome ride up here in upstate NY around Lake Sagendaga. The lake is drawn down so we were able to ride right in front of all the camps w/out going on anyone's property! Talk about mud!!! Must say, there was a few other kinds of 4x4's with me an me and another AC were the ones pull'in the others out!

Anyway - good post. Have to take the good with the bad I guess. I copied a couple of pictures from your Yahoo posts - hope you don't mind. I thought I'd stick 'em on my desktop as inspiration to make my machine as great a mud-buster as yours! (looks awesome)

 

Hey Andy, when I broke my cat I to thought it was something in the diff. but it ended up in the tranny. Before you disassemble anything you might want to disconnect the front driveshaft and turn the diff by hand to check. Theres not really a hole lot to break in the front diff without something else going first.
Just a thought

 

Btw I'm not doubting you its just I have mine lifted with 28" vamps and the front-end locked and havn't had any problems with the front diff. (yet )

 

I changed the differential oil at around 1200 miles I think. It has a little over 1700 on it now. No, I'm pretty sure it was the strain that broke it. I had it turned real sharp just pulling towards the side of the hole and of course it was uneven in there as well so one side was lower than the other. I was nailing it hard continuously in 1st high, and I think all the power and the stress to the driveshaft just finally made the ******* give. I don't know whats broken yet, but I'll find out sometime in the next month. I'm not ready to drop cash on it just yet.

Good luck with the heat. Sounds like you got screwed.

 

IF something broke internally in the diff then it's not the lift kit. What you are describing sounds like a bearing on one of the pinnions.

This was what happened when my rear pinnion bearing went out at around the same mileage you have on yours. It felt like something in the transmission let go but I could see that the rear wheels were not pulling an the fronts were.

I rode home and found out that after it cooled down I could spin the tires and all was fine, but when it warmed up alittle the rear end would start slipping making a horrible grinding noise.

So watch what you put the blame (might not be the front differential-- and might not be the lift kit's fault), that pinnion bearing is famous for going out on our older models(different rear axle design). Mine went out before I even had mods.

 

More than likely, its the shaft on the left side. The right tire pulls and the left doesn't, so I doubt its anything inside the diff. It should cost me around $250 unless there is really something bad wrong. The dealership has a stripped out 2001 auto that somebody stole and they recovered. It was covered under insurance and they just use it for parts. I'm pondering taking the differential out of it. I'd sure like 2wd capability. Depends on how much $$$ we are looking at. Also depends on if it is screwed up any. Also, I could answer that mythological question of any improvements in the newer differential. Hmmm... Maybe I should hold off on re-financing the truck, and drop some cash on a new differential.

I will say one thing. The newer rear ends are a buttload better than the old ones. Much stronger looking, lug nuts instead of bolt on wheels, and the drain plug is rotated. Also has more clearance at the differential. Somebody already got that off the salvage bike though. By the way, this is the edited version of last nights rampage. I was pretty pissed off already, and Mr. Bud Light was taking its effects. That and the fact that most of us here are aware that the lift puts a lot of strain on cv joints, driveshafts, and everything else in the front end. I didn't see any reason to doubt it myself. Yes, it can happen to you. I found out the hard way.