Rear Diff Clearly Mishandled by UPS. What would you do?

Ive never shipped a diff, but that looks like a triple layer box with padding.

1000% better than anything Ive ever received from Amazon haha

 

Every package I've ever received from UPS looks like it was thrown out of a plane, driven over by a truck and thrown out the window onto the front porch by a moving vehicle.

I've had much better results with Fedex, but they're expensive. USPS loses everything or sends it to the wrong address.

 

Just so y'all know, ECGS told me to run it. They quickly sent out the lost clamshell bushing and front seal first thing this morning.

I cleaned it as best I could with brake cleaner and lots of compressed air and will install it this evening. I just gotta remember to spill some yellow paint to Mesh, the patron saint of pinion lash.

 

This is the question to ask ECGS. Why didn’t they ship it back in the same container?

 

A scrape isn't damage on a non-machined surface, it's a scrape. Doesn't affect the operation. Yes, it's unfortunate. It should've been boxed better and UPS is very careless with packages, considering what they're paid. But then, what they're paid is part of the problem. To cover that cost, management pushes to move more packages faster...leading to this.

 

They push a single unloader to finish a 53' by hand in an hour!

 

If something is heavy, oversized, or valuable, it’s almost a game for UPS to see if they can damage it as much as possible prior to delivery.

I ordered a custom steel bike frame back when I lived in Alabama and they told me to come and get it from their depot in Chickasaw.

The box was completely missing and it looked like the bike frame had been dragged behind a truck. They had wrapped it in saran wrap and stapled the shipping label to it. And it was wet from sitting outside and starting to rust.

 

Unloaded lots of trucks. That is a two-person expectation.

 

Can relate

 

All the bulk oversized gets thrown down a slide to the bulk belt, loaded on carts wheeled to the door then dumped on the floor again, and then finally loaded into trailer.

 

Shoulda just thrown it in the Dryer but it would likely keep the kids up.

 

Inappropriate packaging 100% but in all reality it's probably just fine. Good(?) news is it's at least documented there was some questionable shipping prep and they told you in writing to send it anyway. Now, if there is an issue, you'll be dealing with ECGS rather than UPS, which is actually most likely the better scenario (not that you'll feel that way dropping that pig again if you have to).

The days of expecting any carrier to handle anything with any degree of care is long gone, and insurance is a gamble at best. My USPS mutilates stuff to fit it in the mailbox and will occasionally leave parcels just sitting on top of the box by the street (also did gravel burnouts in my driveway, that has stopped though; new carrer? Driver monitoring? Who knows). FedEx will leave stuff in my drive in the rain. UPS does best for me here relative to final delivery, but everything is beat to hell. DHL has actually been ok but I've only had a small handful of international deliveries at this address so that's hard to judge..le sigh..

 

TL : DR

Best way to ship a differential is in a plastic tote. Get a garbage bag, fill with a can of spray foam. As it's setting, place the differential into it to create a mold. Once it hardens, place the diff into it, then spray into another bag and do the same for the top. Close the box so the foam expands all around. Even a good cardboard box with spray foam/garbage bags will take a serious beating. I've shipped a few that way via UPS and never had an issue.

Edit: I see OP definitely packed properly, ECGS should have used that packing to return the diff.

 

Sorry OP, these things can be frustrating and always hoping others take reasonable care of our items.

Having worked at 2 places where we shipped things out of, one woodworking equipment and one airplane parts, I don’t think it’s possible to ever pack things well enough, I can only imagine what some of these packages endure on the way to there destinations. When you think you’ve packed it good enough, always add additional layers of protection!

 

Like, what’s a warning when a shipping label will do.

 

The local UPS warehouse managed to lose a lot of people foot long trailer axle I ordered. Luckily my UPS guy at the time was not only a great one but also a friend of a friend. He went into the warehouse and found it laying in a corner and dropped it off on his way home from work.

 

I get FedEx, UPS & DHL all twice a day bc of the Accounting Lady down the street. Can almost set your watch to ‘em. That part they got down right.

 

Both my diffs from ECGS arrived just fine in similar packaging. I reused it to send my cores back in. Each one was a thick box within a thick box, stapled, and a bunch of sturdy shredded cardboard filler. No room for anything to move around in there. That box must have been dropped from a shoulder-level height to get that damage. Maybe it could have been packaged better, but I'd put this on the shipping company.

As others have said, it is likely just fine. Those things are pretty sturdy. Unless it hit directly on the pinion flange at an angle, there's not much that could be damaged. It doesn't look like it hit on anything that could cause an issue. Any debris will get washed out with the first oil change at 500 miles. But, ECGS will likely take care of you, whatever you decide to do.