Play in prop shaft (diff end)

[phill 92]

I just got my clutch done! turned out I had a paddle clutch with a standard clutch cover, apparently you get no benefits if you use a paddle clutch with the standard cover, has anyone ever heard this before?

Anyway whilst the car was in the air I was trying to find the source of some knocking I've been hearing lately, I checked the exhaust as it sounded like the exhaust wasn't hung properly and it was banging about but it was rock solid. So I asked my mate who's workshop I was at and he went straight over to my diff where the end of the prop was still attached and wriggled it about with a quite a lot of play, he said the diff is really worn!

So now I'm saving for another LSD, I was told by the person I bought it off of that its a TRD 2 way however I have no evidence of this! its definitely a handful in the wet and locks really well! I've got a few hundred quid saved away as I think you should when having a car of this age! so now I'm looking at my options? I was thinking of taking it off the road and getting the diff out to try identify it and then decide whether a rebuild is on the cards or a whole new diff, what's your thoughts? any idea's?

Cheers.

[zenki]

If the diff is a 2 way trd, i would definitly rebuild it. I have the same problem with mine, it's extremely worn. I can turn my propshaft around by hand.

[jondee86]

Re-building a diff usually involves replacing bearings and clutch plates.
These parts don't contribute much to rotational slop. A lot of freeplay
when you twist the input flange will be down to metal to metal wear on
the CW&P, spider gears and splines.

I'd suggest pulling the axles and getting the diff head out on the bench
for inspection. That's the only way to see what needs to be replaced to
re-build back to original specs.

Cheers... jondee86

[Ivan141]

Last time I felt rotational slop it turned out to be a shattered clutch plate inside an OEM diff. I doubt the R&P could develop such slop and still be driveable.

[jondee86]

Yes... there are people who have broken gears and shafts and carriers
and plates. And as you say, you would be thru the hardening and halfway
thru the teeth to get big backlash out of the CW&P alone. But since the
diff appears to be working OK and not making any bad noises, you will
have to go inside to find out why it is sloppy.

Cheers... jondee886

[Ivan141]

My experience was with mux213's old diff.. I distinctly remember him saying it did lock up nicely Probably just the fragments of the diff locking together under the forces exerted on them.

[phill 92]

Thanks for your input everyone,

The way I see it now is either way I've got to get it out and have a look at somepoint, the whining hasn't got worse however there is the occasional grinding noise. Also about 3 months ago (around 3000Km ago) I changed the diff oil and found 1 tiny little shaving in the oil so it doesn't seem to be shredding itself apart.

To identify my diff what would I need to do, I believe I have to get the rear axle off the car as the diff doesn't have its own assembly correct?

I'm clueless when it comes to the workings of the diff what are wear parts and what aren't? I'm assuming if something is worn or broken that isn't a wear parts its going to cost me a lot? Ideally I wouldn't want to have to touch this part of the car again so whilst I'm at it is there anything that is good practice to replace?

Oh and also is this something I can tackle on my own in my garage and gain a lot of knowledge or is this something that I'm going need to have set up professionally?

[fax0815]

Doing work on the diff, apart from taking it out of the housing (sledgehammer required) will need a professional workshop.
You need special tools to set up a diff, I´m not saying it cant be done, but by the time you´ve bought all the required tools, which will cost a lot of money, you might just give it to a gearbox/ diff shop.

http://imageshack.us/clip/my-videos/9/214.mp4/

I was driving around like this for a while, everything was set up to factory specs with my overhauled TRD 2 way / new bearings and solid spacer in it, it was just a worn final drive. I tried to break it but it just whouldn´t. I eventually got so annoyed by the noise that I changed the final drive.

Iirc: new bearings 150GBP, solid spacer 30GBP, used final drive 4,3:1 70GBP and around 200-250 in labour.

If you want to overhaul your LSD while you´re at it, it gets even more expensive.

[phill 92]

Ahhh right I'm starting to understand this better now,

My problems are not necessarily due to the diff itself? My diff sounds very similar to the video although I don't think its at that volume yet! I also have a knock from the rear after engaging drive after gear changes every so often.

I'm tempted now to just continue to use my car as I do until the diff gets bad enough to the point where its un-drivable(diffs dont tend to die suddenly do they?), whilst saving a few £'s, send it away to a specialist and replace any parts they believe need changing.

My only problem with this is I hate not knowing anything about what I want to fixed as I could send it to someone to get told it needs this, this and this and get my trousers pulled down when I only needed something simple!

[fax0815]

You didn´t mention anything about whining before...

From far away diagnosis:

If it sort of sounds like mine, I suspect the knocking beeing more like a "clonk" noise during load changes (i.e. suddenly getting on/off throttle)? In that case it will be caused by the excessive backlash on the inputshaft you described earlier. Excessive backlash = worn/ badly set up final drive

I recon your diff, might be fine, cause you said it still locks allright, but I´m just guessing here! OEM final drives take a lot of abuse on standardish power and it will make a lot more noises before it starts breaking teeth. I was going to drive mine to the end, but I could bare the noise!!!


BUT again get a 2nd opinion!!! I might be 100% wrong and you have a broken spider gear or broken clutch plates, could be anything unless I´ve seen it in person.

Just saying, if you get it to our shop I´m sure we can sort something out...