Originally Posted by bulkwarrior

My 06's (4.4i) front differential broke a few days ago. At first I thought it was the transmission, because when I was driving all of a sudden as if the car's on hard brake, I almost lost control of the car. Luckily it happened in a local road and my speed wasn't very fast(probably only about 30MPH). After that there's a very loud pinning(clunking) sound when I drive it very slowly to a nearby parking lot.

Had the car towed to a shop. They said I was lucky because the transmission was fine. It was the front differential that gave out. I did some research. A rebuilt front differential cost around $1200, and a used one at ebay is $500. The shop quoted the labor charge to put it in for $800. I'm still trying to decide whether to get a rebuilt one or a used one. Also wondering if the $800 labor charge is on the spot.

Any ideas?
Thanks.