Hi,
I hope someone can help with some advise regarding my Ford diff in my Fireblade engined Locost.
I've been on the road for about 5 years, but don't do that many miles. This summer, the diff started making a funny noise and I've finally got around to stripping the axle to examine the problem.
It seems the pinion shaft bearings have disintegrated (there were taper rollers all over the place!).

The questions are:
How common is this?

What caused it (maybe not enough movement in the prop shaft which stressed the diff?)

How easy is it to replace the bearings myself?

If not possible, does any one know good companies that can repair it?

It's a 3.54 one (live axle) which wasn't easy to find during the build so I guess will be even harder to replace now.

Thanks, and have a good new year.

Richard

[Edited on 30/12/07 by richmars]

See if these guys can help you with the bits:

http://www.burtonpower.com/Default.aspx

It shouldn't be too hard to find someone to put the thing back together.

May even be cheaper to keep your eye out for full rusty Escorts on ebay.

Pat...

Might be worth trying A1 gearboxes in St Neots, they may be able to rebuild your present unit?

Is there any other damage?

Set of bearings will be £60 and upwards.

Setting it up yourself is easy enough if you have a couple of DTI's and a bit of patience.

I've got a rebuilt diff for sale just now drop me U2U if you want details.

Regards
Davie

Good time to take the plunge and stick a Quaff ATB in it?

Thanks for the comments.

Daviep, I'm tempted to fix it myself. Do you know any info online that details how to do it? My Haynes manual has a nice exploded view but no details on repair.
I haven't taken it apart yet so don't know if there's any other damage.

Coozer, yes, just put off by the cost at the moment.

Regards,
Richard

If you have been runing it the pinnion shaft bearings broken up the crown wheel and pinnion are likely to be completely goosed.

You don't say if it is an english banjo or a salsbury pattern axle or a Sierra diif unit.

In any event as failure of these bearings is very rare the most likely cause is human error.



[Edited on 30/12/07 by britishtrident]

If pinion bearing pre-load is too tight the bearings will burn out, if its too loose they will clunk. If you see signs of heat on the races/rollers the preload was likely too tight. And sometimes bearings do just fail.

Another thing to look for is that your driveshaft is not too long and impacting every time you hit a bump. Usually the transmission breaks before the diff though.
Cheers.

Thanks for the comments.
Looking like a professional re-build and careful checking of the driveshaft length.

(It's an english diff by the way.)

Regards,

Richard