cv joint popped out and wont go back in (spring retainer style joints)

[Boxxerace]

04 model Outback here specifically but the tech carries over to many models.

While driving, my rear passenger side cv popped out. The car became almost undrivable but it got it home. Fast forward to today and I have the cv out of the car. This car has a cv retain by a heavy duty spring pin inside the differential itself.

Only thing is, I cannot get the cv back in and retained by the internal spring clip. Any ideas on why this happened I the first place and why I cannot get the cv to pop into place?

Some pics:






Spring clip alignment?

[Boxxerace]

Now I know why. My differential inside is broken into many little pieces.

160 diff shopping time.

[grossgary]

woah dude, you tore out the front diff - not a walk in the park!

[Dajeepman]

While its torn down install a lsd lol

[DavidPeab]

Were you driving off road, through city streets - many of which are rougher on a car than off roading? Do you recall a tremendous WHAM sound followed by a jolt?

[CNY_Dave]

Originally Posted by grossgary

woah dude, you tore out the front diff - not a walk in the park!

I wish the front diff came apart like that, would have saved me a lot of effort- that's a rear!

[Boxxerace]

Originally Posted by DavidPeab

Were you driving off road, through city streets - many of which are rougher on a car than off roading? Do you recall a tremendous WHAM sound followed by a jolt?

In this case, I believe the spider gear split in two, followed by the spider gear parts being gobbled up by the ring and pinion. Indeed, a loud bang was heard and felt on the freeway. Minutes later, another bang occurred and the passenger CV popped out. This stopped the car from moving forward. I was on the way to pick up my daughter from school and I've not had this wagon offroad yet. I do know the former owner has, as I've wheeled with him before. ;P

In reading and researching this issue, I found numerous other individuals who had the spider gears go, resulting in the same parts explosion. On a related note, it turns out that the R160 (and 180 and 200) differentials are made by Hitachi and used in numerous Datsun's and Nissan's.

Note: The original differential (the one you see above) has a limited slip differential in it. I plan on replacing it with another differential with one as well. This diff is too trashed to repair unless I wanted to go with an aftermarket limited slip AND had the money to do so.
Note X2: I've seen prices range from 50$ - 1000$ for used replacements. Most sell in the 200-350$ range.

[DavidPeab]

Drag! How many miles were on that puppy?

[Boxxerace]

Originally Posted by DavidPeab

Drag! How many miles were on that puppy?

63,000 or so. It's a low mileage car, so go figure. I guess the shaft that the spider gears spin on can wear, leading to play and the eventually failure. I read that one should look for metal bits when you change your differential fluid and then service if you see anything above the atomic level.

That said, I'm not sure you can even get parts for the differential like new spider gears or not. I know you can get ring gears and entire differentials $$$.

By the way, I also read that limited slip differentials also have forged gears that are heavier duty than open differential models. Not sure if that is true or not, but it would not surprise me.

[ntippet]

Dang, I wonder what happened to it in its previous life.
I beat the daylights out of mine and have yet to see any kind of abnormal wear (front or rear), not to mention spider gears exploding.