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Rear Diff bushes and seals - L series

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 8:14 pm
by El_Freddo
Hey all,

Well, with all the wet weather we've just had in vic i couldn't pass the oppotunity to whip out a few circles in the paddock... i love 4wd circle work, its so unique.

Anyway, on my drive back to bendigo i noticed a vibration, nothing out of the ordinary. But once i got into benders and slowed down at the traffic lights between the speed of 40 km - 20km the car shakes from left to right. Same when moving off from the lights. Above 40kmph the car runs as normal with no problems.

I thought its the bush on the front of the rear diff above the pinion shaft. This has looked like its flogged out for some time and i think the paddock was the last straw. I've got the diff out, but the right hand side CV shaft is stuck on as i cannot get the pin out (half is stuck in the centre of the pin track), dunno what i'm going to do here, might be trying a tight fit drill bit tomorrow.

I also want to change the side diff seals. How do i get the diff output shafts off to remove the seals? Is that little bolt inside the output shaft the key here?

The bush that's shagged out on top of the diff above the pinion shaft: does this come out of the bracket or is the bush and the whole bracket a replacement part - am i wasting my time trying to get this bush out of the bracket?

For now i'll be driving around without the rear diff as i get everything together. Lucky the tail shaft unbolts just after the centre bearing with the cv joint on the part of the shaft i'm removing... fingers crossed it will work but i'm confident that it will without any problems.

Any info here would be valuable.

Other things i'm looking at doing while the diff is out:
- Replace diff hanger bushes
- extend the diff breather with a clamp and length of hose.

Anything else i should be looking at doing (apart from putting an LSD in?)

Cheers

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 8:29 pm
by Matatak
driving without the diff should be fine as long as the front part of Propeller shaft (Tail Shaft) is still in the extension housing or you'll most likely lose almost all of your g.box oil
maybe do your Diff Pinion seal aswell as the side ones (Pinion seal beign the one at the front)

wityh the car shaking on braking usually tends to mean that the discs are warped and need machining but i cant see that beign the problem on accelaration

and thats bout all i got

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 8:56 pm
by El_Freddo
Thanks Matatak,

I realise if i didn't have half the prob shaft coming out the back of the gearbox i'd be loosing oil, kinda handy having a two piece tail shaft.

With the shaking and braking thought, this shaking is nothing like warped discs. The whole car physically shakes like its shivering, even a bystander would beable to see it shaking.

Taking it for a drive without the diff in it tomorrow will confirm that the problem is with the rear diff otherwise i'm back to the drawing board...

To change the pinion shaft seal: Is this difficult? I've only got access to a few basic tools and won't beable to tension anything back up until saturday when i'm back down at my pero's joint.

Thanks again for your input.

Cheers

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:03 pm
by Matatak
not sure about the pinion seal as ive never actually done one..or seen one of these diffs but they should have one in. basically behind the flange that the tailshaft will bolt onto might be a nut on it or something aswell which may need to be done up tight
im not sure but..someone else might say

and if the shaking is so bad then how could just the diff hanger bushes be doing this, unless your driving in 4wd on the road in which the tail shaft would be turning

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:11 pm
by El_Freddo
Matatak wrote:if the shaking is so bad then how could just the diff hanger bushes be doing this, unless your driving in 4wd on the road in which the tail shaft would be turning
The tail shaft would be turning anyway, but the diff would be driving the tail shaft, not the gearbox...

My theory is that the tailshaft between 20 -40 kmph off balances and shakes the diff which is heavy enough to shake the whole car. Above 40 kmph the tailshaft and diff balance out and the tailshaft spins as a balanced shaft.

The bushes on the diff hangers (particularly the one above the pinion shaft) look tired. When i was undoing the bolts on the diff the amount of movement that was present and the ease that it could be done all fits in with what i'm thinking is causing the shaking...

Wasn't looking at doing the pinion seal as this seems to be fine, the output shaft seals have some discoloured dirt around them which would suggest some leaking even if only a small amount.

Cheers

still got the shake...

Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 1:03 pm
by El_Freddo
Well, with all the diff out and other parts not required to run the car and that would get in the way of driving without the diff, i still have the shake, but no where near as bad as before.

I did notice that my rear left tyre is a little flat, i'll be putting air in this on the way home to see what difference it will do and if its still there i may have bent something in the rear suspension, but i can't see what it is...

Any help would be greatly appreciated as i need this car with 4wd for my 25th in a week and a half :D

Cheers

problem solved.

Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2007 2:41 pm
by El_Freddo
Well, found the problem when at the servo yesterday, got a tyre with a buldge in it... changed the tyre, and problem solved!

I put the diff back in this morning, took an hour and a half. Now i got squeeking noises from the CV shafts, dunno what that's all about.

I didn't bother replacing any of the bushes, i figured i'd do them when they're really shagged out properly (plus $$$ don't allow atm). but i did spend 8 bucks and extended my diff breather, its now above the rear right hand wheel arch in the cargo area, just near the clip that the rear seat clips into...

Anyway, happy that's solved now.

Cheers