Yep me and a few guys from Long Island should be around in sept. We stay at the comfort as well

 

Well caveat emptor for sure when dealing with Craigslist people. I don't know why I didn't look inside the pumpkin when the guy brought it to me on his truck, you learn from your mistakes.

I was more focused on if the axle was bent or not looking for new metal near the pumpkin and putting a straightedge on the tubes. Well today I pressed in the Teraflex joints and decided to open up the pumpkin to knock out the seals. Lo and behold there are gear teeth inside the pumpkin. I wanted to vomit thinking I just threw away $300 and will have to press out my Teraflex joints. You live you learn, but I digress.

Since the ring and pinion were likely grenaded what should I check on this axle before I go any further?

 

You were already planning on regearing that anyhow though right? If that is the case, not a big deal. $300 for the housing that has gussets and a truss isn't bad. At the end of the process you'll be able to flip your current axle for a little bit as well to recover that costs.

 

Indeed Resharp. Though I was wondering if there are things I need to definitely check with measuring tools or such before I even go buy a carrier and gears. Ensuring that I did not buy a $300 paperweight.

 

Going to guess that PO regeared that and either 1) gears weren't set up well, or 2) they wheeled it very hard and lower gearing with more/smaller teeth couldn't hold up to their use. As long as the tubes are straight (which I'd think they probably are with a truss on it), everything else will get replaced. New master install kit will replace all bearings and seals, and you'll obviously have new R&P gears. The carrier that is in there could be ok unless you've determined that is trashed.

 

Oh no not at all. Fact of the matter and why I am kicking myself is that pumpkin was already empty when I bought it. I want to get a Detroit Truetrac for the axle.

 

Then your fine, clean it out and get your TT/gears/master kit and shafts of choice (Ten Factory is what I like) and your all set to go. Destroying a ring and pinion is very typical and destroying a housing while doing it (while yes, it can happen) is very unusual. It's like unicorn piss, you'll likely live your life and never see such a thing.

 

I wish Dynatrac would learn how to design and build parts for people like me. We want all of that but don't want to spend over $500 on a set of ball joints. I'm glad there are others that are willing to spend that much on a set of ball joints. I look at the Dynatrac ball joints and say, "Seems like a well built part. How much does it cost to get a set? Over $500? For ball joints? Next option..... Hey, these TF joints look pretty well built also. How much do they cost for a set? $200? That seems more reasonable for ball joints." Sorry, but ball joints just aren't a very exciting part and I wouldn't consider spending $500 on a set of ball joints, even if they installed and rebuilt themselves. So Dynatrac ball joints are obviously not targeted for customers like myself or Dynatrac is just that clueless of what a large majority of us are willing to spend on an upgraded set but TF seems to have that part figured out. We could debate how much better Dyntrac ball joints are than the TF, and that they can be rebuilt and the TF can't. When I can purchase another complete set of the TF for under the cost of 1 set of Dynatrac ball joints, the benefit vs costs ratio just does not add up. So when I look at it, the only conclusions I'm able to make are that either Dynatrac has price margin markups that way too high, or they have over engineered their parts and they may need to get their engineers in check during the development phases.

 

When you're starring down a 3rd BJ replacement in less than a year, you tend consider if you're willing to do a 4th, or just be done with it. For MOST people the $200-$250 BJs are perfectly fine. For me....hey, maybe the 3rd set was going to be perfectly fine and last for years and years.....but I was not willing take that gamble. I was tired of repeating the job, and when Synergy sent me a brand new POS BJ out of the box, I was done. At that time TF wasn't out with their BJs or else I might have tried my luck with those. I just knew I was effing tired of replacing BJs

 

Totally understandable. Even with all that, I'm pretty certain you were pretty reluctant in having to spend over $500 for a set of ball joints, and additionally reluctant if you were thinking ahead and taking into consideration it may cost you another $150 if you needed to rebuild that over $500 initial investment.

There's a price point where everyone has to just take a step back and come to the realization, they're "ball joints" where I feel Dynatrac has exceeded that price point in my opinion and I'm happy someone like TF is able to come around and provide a more reasonably priced alternative solution. Don't even think, that your experience with your Synergy joints has not influenced the price point of the Dynatrac ball joints. There's some sales guy at Dynatrac who has done that analysis of looking at all of the alternative competitor solutions, what are their prices, and what associated problems have customers had to deal with and then if they are able to determine that their solution doesn't have those same problems, then the price margin mark up goes up accordingly. That's the reason the Dynatrac rep in this discussion is so eager to point out any supposed disadvantages of those TF joints. They have done that competitive analysis and probably have an excel or powerpoint spreadsheet open on their screen, just waiting to highlight any of those advantages. They also know the disadvantages such as price but they will never focus on discussing the disadvantages. They're here to justify their much higher price over the competitors and make you feel good that you and other potential customers made a wise purchase decision.