$3800 whoops while having fun
 

Well I broke my ride while wheelin with some modified jeeps outside of Boulder Colorado. I decided to go to Left Hand Canyon to try out some of the many trails in there because i heard it was a blast. Well I followed some Highly Modified jeeps down a trail called Carnage Canyon Trail and it holds to it's name. I was on a 20° off camber hill when my rear tires hit some loose rocks and slid to the right and off the edge of the shelf road into some loose dirt. My front tires were still on the rock and my rear tires had dug themselves down to the frame. As i was getting winched out I had to gas it a little because of a low rated winch one of the jeeps had. All of a sudden there was an explosion and fluid started spilling everywhere under the rig. A quick crawl under the truck revealed I had split my Front Differential casing in two seperate pieces and grenaded my ring and pinion. In the pic you can see the casing split near the rear of the Diff. I have heard of problems with this happening on other H2's but not a recall yet.
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/6914/image00057pm3.jpg

It is in a 4x4 shop right now getting a new front diff, Idler arm, and fabtech Tierods.

RE: $3800 whoops while having fun
 

That sucks. I have not heard of the diff breaking.

RE: $3800 whoops while having fun
 

Damn...That BITES!![:@]

RE: $3800 whoops while having fun
 

Holy hell ... man that sucks, hope you get the rig back on the trails soon!

RE: $3800 whoops while having fun
 

That really sucks. That kind of damage is my greatest fear when I go off road. Body damage is one thing, but an injury like that means big bucks to get it into town, then big bucks to fix. OUCH!
I'd love to see the pic, but all I get is a little red X.

RE: $3800 whoops while having fun
 

I actually drove it off the trail 4 miles to the trail head and drove it 40 miles back to the hotel. It would only move in 4High Lock and 4 Low Lock. The good thing is the gears didn't shatter apart they all stayed together and the gear attached to the drive shaft was not making contact with the ring and pinion so I was able to drive it in 2wd.

RE: $3800 whoops while having fun
 

That is a major plus when you can do that. I've often thought about what I would do if that happened to me, and hopefully I could remove the half shafts and front drive shaft without causing more problems. This reason is why I like full floater rears as well. You can yank the axle shafts and cap the ends with cardboard and plastic, and pull the driveshaft and limp home in front wheel drive mode. Once the warranty is used up, I will probably cut a Dana 60 down so I have the full floating rear, or find a Dana 44 that will work that can be converted. I will also address any issues with pulling the front apart and being able to drive home without it working.

RE: $3800 whoops while having fun
 

By the way, is that case aluminum or cast iron? With all of the ribbing on the outside, it looks aluminum.

RE: $3800 whoops while having fun
 

It is an aluminum case. After speaking with other H2 owners they told me you can remove the front drive shaft and not loose fluid out of the Transfer case. I have not tried it but i am going to ask the mechanic if it is true. So if i run into this problem again I will be able to tackle the problem easier. I have also picked up a used front diff for about $200 that has 20k miles on it just in case i break another one. I can truely say that this will not stop me from wheeling and I will return to Carnage Canyon to tackle that beast trail that took me out but I will be more prepared.

RE: $3800 whoops while having fun
 

That's bad new bro.

Well, it looks like I've just joined the club... broke my front diff while going through 2 feet of snow to get to my Mom's place, delivering gasoline for her generator and other supplies... Need the whole case with gears, if anyone can help, please let me know... Thanks!

How in the world did you manage to break your differential by driving through snow???

I was going up my mom's driveway (about 300 feet long, uphill). Got a run from the road, got about halfway up, and heard a loud "Bang!" under the front end... backed down by the road where it was clear and saw diff fluid dripping off the skid plate...:eek:

Wow, sorry to hear that. I never would have thought it was possible to break a differential on a snowy road.

I didn't either....

I had the same thing happen to me... had the front freewheelin going up an incline... soon as the front wheels touched down the front diff exploded and ripped all the gears to bits. I removed the front driveshaft, diff bits and sideshaft (except the CV going through the hub, to keep the wheel bearing together) and capped the transfer case. Select 4 high (or low) and off I went. Have done about 10k miles since. Problem is I work in Angola and stay in SA, but neither has any support for H2's. If anybody has a used unit I can buy, and are willing to ship it to SA, I will really appreciate it.

Removing the front shaft does not cause loss of fluid, had to do it when I had a similar problem 50 some odd miles out in the desert south of Ft Huachuca. Worked like a charm.
The difference being that I had some shale collapse under me and centered mine on a rock which put a nice crack in the case.