DIFFERENTIALS

[dusty]

It has been my experience (with the last 9 cars 3 of which have experienced ruined differentials due to lack of proper maintenance.) THE GEARS HAD TO BE REPLACED." IF the spider housing and pins have not been worn to the breaking point". this problem was due to lack of lubricant. Our cars LEAK just sitting around so be forewarned it is Darn expensive!! check the LUBE.

[joefrazer]

Ok, a question related to this theme. My 54 will roll forward only about 2 car lengths before coming to screeching halt. It's not the brakes as there are no shoes on the rear wheels...and I know it's the rear wheels locking as I've raised them and the same thing happens with no load. An issue with the ring and pinion?

And, it does it with no drive shaft in place as well.

[Fid]

I don't have an answer to your question Joe, so someone please respond if  you have info. 
Anyway, I want to address dusty's comments; I know I've posted this on here before but I will do so again as it may be helpful.  I store my cars over the winter and the first thing I do when I get them out in the spring is check the level of lube in the trans, overdrive, differential and steering sector. No matter how nice we like to think our cars are, the fact is 60 year old vehicles do leak a bit. Seems there's always one trans that needs to be topped off (out of my 3 cars) every  year. It is a good practice and can mean the difference between having a long life, roadworthy car or looking for parts.  It's very easy to check these things and very easy to correct if they're found to be low. If they're found to be leaky, investing in the time to replace a gasket is well worth it. I have rebuilt transmissions and differentials in the past and I can assure anyone that an ounce of prevention will save several tons of cure on an old car.
I do the same before I start out on a long journey as well. When I drove my '52 J some 400 miles (one way) to Sublette I made sure those fluids were full before I left. The trip was trouble-free and fun.

[dusty]

Two things come to mind. (1) there in a chunk of metal that has become lodged in between the ring gear and the housing. or (2) you have a bearing that has a broken ball or balls , usually the outer bearing on the axel as it probably has never been re lubed in its life and might have been sitting on a slant so no grease or lubrication ever got to the bearing.

[brian.b]

ive never been inside one of these differentials but i have had this problem on my truck,,the roll pin broke that retains the cross pin the spider gears ride on and it would slide out of the carrier letting the pin bind up