2015 Dana built front diff

[oneandtwo]

Stripped down a late 2015 front axle today, although a standard two pin diff, the diff crown wheel and pinion were noticeably different from every other diff I’ve had apart - the profile on the teeth is different from previous, the peaks are sharper and the crown wheel outer looks to have more machining processes. It also is made by Dana according to the computerised stamping on the crownwheel. 
 

Anyone know anything about these later Dana crownwheels and pinions and are they better than the earlier Land Rover type? 
Axle is completely standard and had never been apart.

Forgot to take photos but will post some tomorrow.

[landroversforever]

@Hybrid_From_Hell would probably know!

[Vogler]

I was told a while ago that Dana made the diff gears during the last few years. That was confirmed when I ordered a genuine crown wheel & pinion last year and received Dana stamped gears in a LR labeled box. 

First I made an attempt with a CW&P set that I ordered at Ashcroft, they turned out to be Antonio Maziero / AM Gears. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get backlash settings consistent enough: I kept getting different readings, although I measured at the same CW teeth, so eventually ordered genuine. The Dana gears delivered good measurements immediately. Here are the original, Dana and AM CW&P huddling together. Original upper left, Dana upper right, AM below:

 

The original looks the beefiest, and the faces of the Dana CW pinion seem a bit thinner, but one can also see that it increases towards the outer diameter. The Dana teeth also seem more curved than the others, and they are more polished than the AM gears.

Here's the Dana compared to our Td5's original CW&P. The latter suffering damage from broken CW bolts:

 

The original pinion was stamped 'XTC'. Don't know if that refers to a manufacturer.

And some data from the Dana pinion:

 

 

J
 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2021 by Vogler

[oneandtwo]

Thanks. I have the 2015 Dana front and also a 2008 front as pictured below, both pulled out of respective front axles yesterday hence the oil. I have an Ashcroft 4 pin to go in but don’t want to fit it to the Dana diff if the crownwheel and pinion are not as good as the earlier diff.

PS the strangest thing is your Dana gears are made on 6/3/15 and mine were made a day before!

 

Edited January 23, 2021 by oneandtwo