Anyone have a problem with their 4 wheel drive. I have a 2004 Chev. Crew Cab with 15000 miles and the front differential blew out. The dealer said it was so bad that they were not ordering parts but a new front differential from the factory. Anyone else have this problem? My truck has been in the shop for a week now and they expect it to be another week or longer to get the new front differential in.

My buddy has a 1500HD and had problems with the 4wheel drive the other day. It keeps blowing the fuse and he get a light that says service 4 wheel drive. I think he has 18K miles. He dropped it off at the dealer today. I'll update this as soon as I hear whats wrong!

what do ya mean blew out. what caused the failure? Did they give you a reason why if failed?

The only reason I could see a pumpkin blowing out would be if the gears were not shimmed or alligned properly and cause the granade or have some chunk of metal in there that would cause the granade. Let us know.

Seen many of these the side carrier bearing is loaded to tight causing the bearing to over heat. I never seen them blow up. but cause grinding and grouling noises. the diff is about a 45 min job warranty pays like 1.7hr so its not a bad r/r.

Looks like this inside... this is an '89 1500 but they are very similar. No shims on the sides... threaded adjusters which are really nice. Still has a shim under the pinion though.

I know they had problems with the earlier 04 models in that they didn't come from the factory with the synthetic oil in the front diff. I checked when I bought mine and they did change it so I knew I was safe. My coworker bought his in January 2004 and his went out at 800 miles. Was driving down the highway and saw his RPMs shoot up and speed dropping like crazy...seems it had the dino oil in it and hadn't been changed prior to deliver per the GM TSB. They replaced the front diff under warranty and then gave him a 7/72 warranty on powertrain for the hassles. The TSB concerns cold climates...read below...


http://service.gm.com/gmtechlink/images/issues/feb03/TLFeb03e.html#story13

Anyone have a problem with their 4 wheel drive. I have a 2004 Chev. Crew Cab with 15000 miles and the front differential blew out. The dealer said it was so bad that they were not ordering parts but a new front differential from the factory. Anyone else have this problem? My truck has been in the shop for a week now and they expect it to be another week or longer to get the new front differential in.
Did you use the 4 wheel drive alot in those 15k miles?

I got my truck back today from the dealer (12/30) and the paper work says that they found the pinion was seized in the pinion bearing in the case will not come apart. They called the Powertrain Center and the cost to repair exceeds the replacement cost. The dealer was told to install new.

I asked the service dept. if they put in the synthetic oil and they said no, just regular gear oil.

Parts were $1646.68 and labor was $541.31 .. total $2187.99

You didn't have to pay did you? I'd get the synthetic put in it or put it in yourself. It's not hard to do.