I believe I smoke the rear Differential ????

[Au_Hunter]

On Sunday morning we returned from a 1300 mi trip to Indiana towing my 30ft travel trailer - no problems. This morning i made it 1/4 mi down the road in my 2004 EB Expedition when I thought I'd blown the Transmission. In drive the speedometer goes up when I'm sitting still but no movement. A fairly loud crunching / grinding noise is coming from the rear differential. I climbed underneath and driveshafts are spinning. Like the other member: it will only move in 4wd. Did I blow up the clutch pack in the rear end??? It never made any whining noises and never noticed any problems before this morning. Thanks

 

[stamp11127]

Best way to determine the damage is to remove the cover. If you choose to do so have a catch pan underneath. It also helps to have gloves on, the dope has a unique odor to it and stays with you. You should be able to see the failure once the cover is off. Hopefully it is only the spider gears.

 

[69Hcode]

A clutch pack in the rear end would only be for limited slip.

 

[Au_Hunter]

Good news - My problem was a bad rear axle joint. When I started to tear into it I found my passenger side rear CV axle was destroyed. I accidently had the traction control shut off - so when in gear it was spinning the broke axle causing no power going to the opposite wheel and causing a loud grinding noise and no movement. I'll replace both rear axles - and we should be good to go. At 142,000 miles I probably should have replaced them sooner. Thank God it was something simple.

 

[Bedrck47]

thanks for the update
it will help others