3rd member talk (ring&pinion setup etc.)

[Ivan141]

Just ranting on a bit, we can sort through all the stuff people posted (thanks firehawk) later.

So far I have gathered the following stuff:

4x 3rd member housing:

4 sets of ring&pinions:
-one 4.3 off my own car, made lots of noise, doesnt look too badly worn.
-two 4.1 ratio sets, one good, the other has been outside for years and was rusted, dont know if it can be fixed.
-one brand spanking new 4.5 ratio set from toyota (about 450 euro's)

3 OEM zenki LSD's:
-old one off my car, state of insides unknown, probably OK.
-one out of the rusted axle, looks OK
-one with broken clutchmembers/planetary gears...useless unless I find some clutchmembers.

I have a few complete sets of new bearings.

My plan is to get all the necessary tools and start rebuilding some diffs myself. The only things I cant get my hands on are a press and maybe some special tools. AFAIK, the press can be found at many shops, I'm lucky to have some connections at a volvo dealership that probably have one. I have seen plenty of 4x4 guys with toyota diffs do all the work without any special tools, those diffs share the same design, just a bit bigger.

Here's a list of tools
I'm sure are necessary:

-Bearing puller/separator: needed to remove bearings from carrier/pinion.
-a press to remove the bearings with.
-Dial indicator (micrometer) with magnetic base, necessary to measure backlash/runout of the ringgear
-Small torquewrench, Inch-Lbs model with beam or dial indicator to measure rotational torque (to check pinion bearing preload).
-Big torquewrench, up to 240Nm, needed to squash the crush collar down and put the correct amount of torque into the pinion bearings. Also to tighten the various bolts around and on the differential.
-Gear marking compound, so you can check the contact pattern of the gears.
-some general tools, including brass/softmetal drifts to remove outer bearing shells from the 3rd member.

The parts needed depend on what your installing (used/new gear).
The new toyota gearset comes with most of the mounting hardware included. If you install a used set you'll need:

-Crush collar (buy this from toyota, aftermarket types are usually inferior welded tube's).
-Pinion seal
-new pinion stake nut
-locking tabs for the ringgear bolts
-adjusting shims to set the pinion depth with.


The procedure for setting a differential up can be found in many places, the guide in the toyota manual is pretty comprehensive and contains all the torque settings etc. you'll be needing. If you go to http://www.ringpinion.com there is some usefull guides in the tech.section there, especially the Yukon gear setup manual has some usefull picture guides on proper gear contact patterns.

Some interesting things I have picked up:

-when using used gearset it is better to concentrate on a good contact pattern on the coast side of the gear flanks than on the drive side

-the best starting place for pinion depth is to use the washer of your original pinion gear.

-for quick pinion depth setting you could sacrifice a new bearing, if you widen the inside mating surface a little so it doesnt need pressing on anymore you can just slip it on and off while your fiddling with the contact pattern. As long as you dont damage the bearings too much by pressing them on and off this isnt necessary though.


I'm currently on the lookout for the tools I'm still missing, after that it will be a case of starting with some used gearsets and learning by practice untill I get things right.
As Tsuchiya said: it is easy to make plans, to carry them out is more difficult. Nothing is more true when your busy with these old cars.