help!!!! differential/axle problem on diplomat!!!

[88dippy]

hi guys, i need some help!! i was driving to school the other day and my car just made a horrible sound then would not move at all, it would go into gear but it made a terrible noise. im pretty sure its not the tranny nor is it the drive shaft or universal, but i noticed that when i spun the right tire the gears would spin in the center of the diff, ( its non suregrip). but when i spun the left tire the axle that was supposed to be attached to the gear spun inside the gear but did not actually spin the gear. my question is how do i reattach the axle, get it out if at all possible or what to do? please help thanx all

[88dippy]

forgot something, when i put the car into gear, the driveshaft turns and everything, the gears turn but neither of the tires do...help please

[Doug Wilson]

1) broken axle 2) broken spiders in the axle.

3) major headache.

[bbaspense]

Don't play with it... swap in a different rear end... This happened to me..

You can use a rear from

'76-'80 Aspen/Volare
'80-'83 Cordoba/Imperial/Mirada
'77-'89 Diplmat/Caravelle/Fifth Avenue

If you would like to get a better gear, i've heard that most /6 auto Aspen/Volare Wagons came with a 3.21 gear... This would probably help since your rear would likely have 2.76 or 2.91..

[88dippy]

now, also when i shift outta gear makes a horrible screaching noise from the transmission.....ahhh, any ideas about that, and even then, in park, car will still roll...

i found a cop diplomat around here with the 8 1/4 sure grip rear and also found an older (early 80's) with a 727 tranny, should i just do the whole swap, seems like i got nothing to lose

[bbaspense]

The lockup up stinks.... try to find a tranny without the lockup...

Get the cop car rear... remember it will have the big cop brakes and it should have the heavy sway bar.. grab that too... you will not be able to use your existing brakes....

I could be wrong though....

It will also have the large front brakes if you would like extra braking...

[5thAve]

Ditch that rear and get another. Right now it'll be a 2.2X if it's the stock one. The 8 1/4 is one way to go but you'll have to either find a 904-8 1/4 driveshaft or have yours shortened. Have a look at the spiders in yours first, if that's all that's sheared they can be changed fairly easily.

Some 8 1/4s had the smaller drums, in the later 80s even the fleet packages (police and taxis) had them. What size of brakes it has doesn't matter- you can take the backing plate and all from one axle and move it over to another. The front disks aren't always bigger on them.

[88dippy]

no sheared spiders, just the axle on the left that is supposed to be connected to the smaller gears in the middle ( im assuming those are the spider gear) isnt attached, so when i turn the right wheel by hand on the jack stands the left one doesnt move in the opposite direction like its supposed to

[Tarrbabe]

My first though was spider gears, that is the weakest link in the rear. Spider gears are about 50 bucks at the parts store but what scares me is the screeching noise from the trans. Many rear end failures in a Chrysler lead to failure of the over-running clutch in the rear of the transmission. The screeching is the sound of the over-running failed. If the noise is still there after fixing the rear, DON'T try to keep driving the car until the trans is fixed, you can break the transmission case and if you try to race it it could explode.