Rear diff feels hot!!!

[Darledge]

Hey guys, just took my wolverine for a little cruise around the ranch. I drove on gravel roads in high traveling around 25 to 30mph most of the time, round trip back to the house was 8mi.
when I got back I did a once over on the Wolvy, everything looked fine, the only thing i noticed was the rear diff was pretty hot compared to how cool the front diff felt.
The only thing i can think of is maybe the wet parking brake is wearing in causing a build up of heat since the rear diff is in the same case as the parking brake causing the diff to feel warm...
or it could be low on oil... Or it could be normal.....
Get in your wolverine and just cruise around normally in high around 30 for a little while, then compare how the front diff feels versus the rear diff, let me know what yall find.

thanks guy's

[chalkminer]

There i a good chance it is normal. Was it hot to the touch or like burn your fingers? If I drive a few miles at speed the rear diff on my rhino gets hot enough to be uncomfortable to put your hand on it. The front does not get hot in 2wd as it is not driven.

[Hump]

It's just the gears and bearings getting broken in, don't worry about it. After learning the correct way to set up a ring and pinion on a truck, I done my 1st one on a Toyota 8". Checked and checked over my work, and had a friend who was really good at it double check me, then started driving. That thing got so hot for the 1st few hundred miles that you couldn't hold your hand on it. When you set up gears, you have a recommended amount of resistance you have to get on how hard the bearings are to turn. Then, once it has a ton of miles on it, they move very free. Bearings are a wear item throughout the life of the diff, so they are slightly tight in the beginning and that generates a good bit of heat.

Make sure you change your gear oil after break-in.

[Darledge]

Good to know, pretty sure im just a little paranoid.
It never got too hot to hold your hand against

Thanks guy's

[moobster]

Have you checked the oil level in the rear end?

[Yotehunter66]

Warm is normal. Friction will alway cause heat.

[Darledge]

So basicly im just gonna go back and do the dealers PDI (pre-delivery insp.)
This morning I noticed one of the passenger seat bolts was rattling at idle bacause it was only finger tight...

[moobster]

Yup, I would. You gonna trust some snot nosed kid, making minimum wage, to assemble your new machine.
Keep notes of what you find wrong and see if they will refund you the cost of the PDI...Lol

[Darledge]

Everything checked out alright, I printed out the assembly manuel and grabbed sum tools, probably took me 30min to figure out
that just about everthing on the PDI sheet was just checked off without anyone ever actually preforming the check, for example loose seat bolts and one of the cage bolts was also rattling, and the sun top
had two clamps that were not tight.

That said everything that was assembled by yamaha in Gerogia looked good, all fluid levels are good, front and rear diff started to drip right when you got to the last coule threads so thats good..
the only stuff i had to focus on was all the dealer prep crap.. But who cares im drinking a beer and riding my wolvy on my day off

[jimclemjr]

If you are really concerned about it, If you have one of the little radiant heat guns like I do you could shoot it and log for a few rides and see that it is gradually getting to its broken in condition. Ambient temps and rather you take it in water would make some difference that you may want to log in with your readings.
Name your location and the dealer for others if desired. Least they could do would be a free oil change.............

[123.bert0621]

My Rhino is the same with synthetic oil in it, it is normal the cars and trucks rear ends also get warm some even have cooling fins on the rear covers.

[chalkminer]

yeah it is normal. I checked my rhino diff yesterday after riding several miles at speed and it was almost burn your fingers hot.

[robleticia]

Some of the Viking guys are installing a heat shield between the diff and the exhaust header because they are so close and the pipe gets glowing red hot on the Viking. Don't know if the Wolverine is built the same way or not?? But it's cheap insurance that the diff isn't getting any unnecessary heat from the pipe.

http://hotrodforums.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5127&stc=1

[cutemboys]

Got my new wolverine yesterday, I might be hearing things but seems like theres a lot of rear end "clunk" noise... it might be normal? This is my first side by side

[moobster]

Some of the Viking guys are installing a heat shield between the diff and the exhaust header because they are so close and the pipe gets glowing red hot on the Viking. Don't know if the Wolverine is built the same way or not?? But it's cheap insurance that the diff isn't getting any unnecessary heat from the pipe.

http://hotrodforums.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5127&stc=1

And now we know why Texans drink warm beer...Lol

[robleticia]

Hot beer....NEVER!!!!

[Fabricator]

Got my new wolverine yesterday, I might be hearing things but seems like theres a lot of rear end "clunk" noise... it might be normal? This is my first side by side

congrats on the new ride. welcome to the forum by the way.

[cutemboys]

congrats on the new ride. welcome to the forum

Thanks!! Seems like there is a wealth of knowledge on this site, from everyone!

[Flach24]

And now we know why Texans drink warm beer...Lol

Is it just me or does this look like a fire hazard waiting to happen?

[robleticia]

Is it just me or does this look like a fire hazard waiting to happen?

Fire Hazard? Why? Surely you don't think........

[moobster]

Yup

[robleticia]

http://hotrodforums.net/forums/images/imported/2015/05/159.jpg


Sent from The Green Machine

[Flach24]

The cover you installed would be full of leaves and brush in 20 minutes riding around the woods where i'm at, which as you clearly said the exhaust gets red hot there, which in turn would probably start a fire. Run me over all you want, it just looks like a terrible idea to me.

[robleticia]

Hasn't been a problem yet, for me or half the other people on the Viking forum. I carry a fire extinguisher anyway


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