Pulling your DD diamond drive and changing it's oil, including pics

[guyfromthenorth]

Any advice on what to do to prevent water from getting in the DD gear box? The last 2 times I changed the oil on my 05M I found water in the drive. My 06 Crossfire has never had water in it. The last time I changed oil in the M7 I also changed the seal. Now I am thinking that I should tear it down this spring for a little inspection.[/b]

Check to see if yours is vented. The bolt that holds it to the secondary should have a hole drilled right through it, if that hole isn't there then the expanding fluid (from heat) inside can rupture the seal and when it cools it'll draw in moisture and even water directly through that rupture, which will end up mixing water inside. If yours is vented and it's still getting water in then check to see if your case halves have warped, they may have been pressed on at the factory improperly and aren't mating evenly causing a bad seal and letting water\moisture in. I'd try taking it out, splitting it, cleaning it up and check your seals (the gasket on the case halves AND the seal on the output shaft) replace the output shaft seal if needed, or do it just for peace of mind. The amount of water getting in doesn't need to be much to make that fluid milky or foamy, there's such a small amount of fluid only a few drops of water can contaminate it, that's what's nice about cleaning the halves with brake cleaner thoroughly, it also removes any water droplets hidden inside the planetary.

[killerrf]

Check to see if yours is vented. The bolt that holds it to the secondary should have a hole drilled right through it, if that hole isn't there then the expanding fluid (from heat) inside can rupture the seal and when it cools it'll draw in moisture and even water directly through that rupture, which will end up mixing water inside. If yours is vented and it's still getting water in then check to see if your case halves have warped, they may have been pressed on at the factory improperly and aren't mating evenly causing a bad seal and letting water\moisture in. I'd try taking it out, splitting it, cleaning it up and check your seals (the gasket on the case halves AND the seal on the output shaft) replace the output shaft seal if needed, or do it just for peace of mind. The amount of water getting in doesn't need to be much to make that fluid milky or foamy, there's such a small amount of fluid only a few drops of water can contaminate it, that's what's nice about cleaning the halves with brake cleaner thoroughly, it also removes any water droplets hidden inside the planetary.[/b]

[what?trail?]

so, do you have to remove the dd or could you just remove the outer cover with it still in the sled? like we did with a chaincase.....

great instructional post by the way!

[guyfromthenorth]

so, do you have to remove the dd or could you just remove the outer cover with it still in the sled? like we did with a chaincase.....

great instructional post by the way![/b]

Unfortunately you can't do that. It's too tight of a spot and the case cover is too tight a fit to be easily removed. I thought about it as well but it's just not do-able. It's really not that bad to remove, mine would have come out easier had I removed my track tension.

[zr5boy]

I had the catastrophic failure you were talking about happen to mine a few months ago. Riding along quite aways from home and i had been noticing that through out the day there was an increases whistiling sound coming from under the hood. We had an idea it wasnt good obviously, but no rope or anything to tow with. We headed home and made it 3 miles from home when i hit a series of bumps going pretty fast and kaboom...sled revved up and i slowed down. Awful smell coming from it, too. Got it to my buddys and took the dd apart to find that the inside looked like diced up vegetables. Pretty scary sight. No fluid to be found, must have escaped like you said.

I do have a question though...why remove the long bolt from the brake side? All i did was loosen it enough to free the DD and didnt have to worry about losing it/misplacing parts, or to take the belly pan off the side of the sled (05 f6 SP).

[xcsks]

nice post, thanks. Just wanted to say that you can leave the DD on the sled to change the fluid. Just pull secondary and then split
the DD cover, letting the old fluid just drop out. Spray everything with a generous amount of brake cleaner, let sit overnight and
then re-install with new fluid. I set the sled on it's side to put the RTV gasket on.

[old cat man]

Nice write up, I take it the 07's with reverse look the same?

[guyfromthenorth]

Nice write up, I take it the 07's with reverse look the same?[/b]

The 07's will look different as there is a reverse mechanism in there. They need more fluid as well, maybe someone with an 07 can drop some pics and info in here for the others.

I had the catastrophic failure you were talking about happen to mine a few months ago. Riding along quite aways from home and i had been noticing that through out the day there was an increases whistiling sound coming from under the hood. We had an idea it wasnt good obviously, but no rope or anything to tow with. We headed home and made it 3 miles from home when i hit a series of bumps going pretty fast and kaboom...sled revved up and i slowed down. Awful smell coming from it, too. Got it to my buddys and took the dd apart to find that the inside looked like diced up vegetables. Pretty scary sight. No fluid to be found, must have escaped like you said.

I do have a question though...why remove the long bolt from the brake side? All i did was loosen it enough to free the DD and didnt have to worry about losing it/misplacing parts, or to take the belly pan off the side of the sled (05 f6 SP).[/b]

I removed the bolt from the brake side because it retains the DD against the driver, I pulled it out to be sure it was totally undone from the DD shaft itself, I could have undone it, pulled it out 6" then left it there but really the difference was negligeable.

[farmerjoe]

Wow, great info. very helpful since it is on my list of to-do's. Thank You

[bee1971]

I do have a question though...why remove the long bolt from the brake side? All i did was loosen it enough to free the DD and didnt have to worry about losing it/misplacing parts, or to take the belly pan off the side of the sled (05 f6 SP).




I removed the bolt from the brake side because it retains the DD against the driver, I pulled it out to be sure it was totally undone from the DD shaft itself, I could have undone it, pulled it out 6" then left it there but really the difference was negligeable.



On the Firecats - Yes, leave the bolt laying inside the belly pan - No reason to start drilling rivets - Just loosen the bolt and leave it lay inside the belly pan

Nice thing about the Crossfires - They have removeable belly pans or sides , so yes you can remove the bolt completely - Love the access , with the flip out belly pan sides


If you really want to get technical when changing the fluid , personally i think the gears should be popped out of the cases , that way you can check the seals and bearings , and really get all the oil/dirt cleaned out - Chances are you will also find metal shavings and gunk on the plastic magnetic pickup retainer for the speedo sensor - It really is a piece of cake popping everything out and putting back together - I have replaced bearings / seals before on my Firecats - Just went through my DD gearcase on my Crossfire 7 and my wifes sled is next