Diffy Rebuild kit

[752dbl02]

I posted a once beofre that my diff had seized on me, and i talked to my mechanic buddy and he said that i could just have him rebuild it for less money than actually buying a new one.

We still havent put the car up on a lift and started taking shit apart, but i thoght i would ask you guys first. The tranny engages fine and the driveshaft spins, but the diff doesnt spin at all.

does this sound like it could be rebuilt???

and if it can, does anyone know of a source for the innards to rebuild it with??

[Kidasters]

That's a good question. Really, there isn't much to the diff. Unless he has parts hanging around, or knows where to get cheap parts, I don't know how it is cheaper. If it's the crown gear set, that's about $500 bucks. I know you can get a regular diff (used) for less than that. He must think it's just a bearing problem. That might be pretty cheap.

I don't know how he could diagnose the problem (and make the "I'm cheaper" statement) without taking the cover off and looking.

Ken

[SOUTHBAYeric]

Is it an open or limited slip diff?

[Guest]

The spider gears are the weak link at this stage in its life. I had the same problem but I got a whole diff for $50. And it cost $80 to reseal it.

[752dbl02]

Its a limited slip. Im not sure of the ratio, its prob. a 3.91, but thats one thing that i will, of course, have to determine before i go and start buyin things.

I have checked with Dave Varco from aardvarc racing and he said it will be $450 at the minimum to refurb it, but if all he is gonna do is replace bearings, seals, and totally inspect the thing. He said that pinion or ring gears are like $25 for a 3.91, and $225 for a 4.10, which puzzles me.

So i just thought, hey instead of paying labor for Varco (no offense) to do it when my buddy told me he would help me rebuild it for free, aside from the cost of parts.

[752dbl02]

The spider gears are the weak link at this stage in its life. I had the same problem but I got a whole diff for $50. And it cost $80 to reseal it.

Was yours an LSD??

[ifayeoh]

Unless your partner does diffs for a living i would take the deal dave. a diff set up is not as Easy as your buddy makes it out to be, he should know the torque specs and other specs that go along with a differential rebuild.

[Guest Anonymous]

Its a limited slip. Im not sure of the ratio, its prob. a 3.91, but thats one thing that i will, of course, have to determine before i go and start buyin things.

I have checked with Dave Varco from aardvarc racing and he said it will be $450 at the minimum to refurb it, but if all he is gonna do is replace bearings, seals, and totally inspect the thing. He said that pinion or ring gears are like $25 for a 3.91, and $225 for a 4.10, which puzzles me.

So i just thought, hey instead of paying labor for Varco (no offense) to do it when my buddy told me he would help me rebuild it for free, aside from the cost of parts.

Chances are good, if it's a lsd, that the clutches are worn out. If you can find the clutch disks (NLA from BMW, but ZF used to still supply them), it's not terribly difficult to replace them. If it wasn't making ugly gear whine type noises before it stopped working you probably won't need to replace the ring and pinion or spider gears. Try to avoid removing or replacing the pinion if at all possible because once it's removed you then have to reset it's depth and the contact pattern with the ring gear, which is a PITA and involves hard-to-get shims.

The reason 3.91 gears are so much cheaper than the 4.10's is that they are so much more common, at those prices they must be good used sets as new ones were over $500 before the dollar took a crap relative to the Euro dollar.

[jimk]

You'll have over $90 in bearings and seals alone, not to mention labor cost + any other new parts in a rebuild. Did one.

[TobyB]

Yup, I figure it's over $100 in seals, bearings, crush sleeve, etc.

The 4.10 r&p is not common, thus the increased cost.

3.9's and 3.6's are very common.

4.27's and 4.44's are even more.

Then it gets expensive after that.

t