Dana 44 woes

[Tex06]

Regearing my D44 rear end.... already did the D30 up front and just looking for deeper gears. Was not expecting to see this when I opened up the case. The damaged side was loose when I went to pull the carrier after I pulled the bearing caps. Drivers side was very tight as you would expect. 

 

This is only my 2nd Dana axle and 5th or so axle rebuild. Anybody with experience please chime in as to what you think could have happened.

 

 

Passenger side carrier bearing casting area and cap:

 

 

Something definitely chewed up a bit of my casting. Looks to me like it was possibly a clutch pack spring? 

 

Carrier as pulled: some scratches seen but nothing that screamed at me as outside of normal.

 

missing clutch spring: 

 

 

clutch spring in place on opposite side: 

[Tex06]

For comparison this is the good side:

 

 

And other side of the bearing cap:

 

This does explain the massive amount of metal attached to the magnet that someone installed in the bottom of the case.

[Tex06]

Found the culprit. It was the clutch spring, the remains of which were lodged in the oil passage that goes to the pinion bearing. Glad I found it, had that come loose it would have wrecked havoc on my newly setup gears and locker.