How do I know if my Cone Suregrip is good

I have a cone sure grip that was reportedly good when removed. It is not in a housing currently, so I can’t do the usual in car checks.

What should I look for when disassembling the unit to tell if it has “too much” wear?

Thanks!

Don't tear it down. You can use your axles to test it.

Clamp one axle in a good vice. Slide the Sure Grip on and then the other axle. Use a good sized pry bar between the lug studs to see how hard it is to turn the axle. Seems like the manual calls for 100lb break away. If that's not right, someone will correct it.

And if it is not tight, don't trash it. I have fixed quite a few of them over the years even though a lot of guys say they are junk and cannot be fixed.

I’ll do that. Maybe a plate with the same hole pattern as the studs and a nut welded in the middle could allow me to use a torque wrench for breakaway.

Just bolt a wheel/tire on the axle that’s not in the vice. The old shade tree test was if you can turn the tire with your arms the sure grip is shot. Then you disassemble and resurface (belt sander) the cones, but that’s a different discussion.

Here's an old pair of axle stubs that I machined so a torque wrench reading could be taken in a vise. If the cones need to be machined, Doc Diff has spacer shims to take up the distance.

https://www.doctordiff.com/8-3-4-cone-sure-grip-shim-pack.html

It was garabge when it was designed, and still is. The reason one would machine the cones and add shims is because it disintegrates every time you turn, sending little pieces of metal into the gear oil that gets run thru the gear teeth and bearings.Save yourself the headaches down the road , you're almost all the way there, toss it in your scrap bin..

No cone sure-grip is any good when you apply power and traction!

I didn't pay attention to JohnRR years ago and junked a brand new Mancini built 742 cased 3rd member after just one season of hard use.

~$1,300.00 in the garbage.

Dana 60 and spool for the win.

It's like buying a Mack truck to pick up eggs at the grocery store. Yeah, it could do that but over kill.

Dana 60 and a spool is not for the same application a cone suregrip was designed for, no wonder it failed.

. That is a slick set-up!

I'm not a fan of them either but used em. I would take it apart and look at the condition of the cones. There may be debris or wear. You can grind down any imperfections and get a little more time out of it before it gets worse. If you don't already have one get a magnetic drain/fill plug, It will catch any metallic debris and help keep it out of the cones.

I have glue strong magnets in the housings to catch debris in one of my old drag race cars that I would swap the third members around for different race tracks at higher elevations, I would wipe it cleans each time I had the third member out
the reason for gluing them it was Murphy

I have done the same thing.