80 Series rear diff rebuild advice.

[colinwhirlpool]

Hi Guys,

My 80 series has had a rumbling coming from the rear of the car for a while now. Only noticable with a neutral load. ie not accelerating, not engine braking. It has got a bit worse of late.

I though it was uni joints. But today, while under the car, I noticed the diff flange was a bit wobbly. Actually, you can rock it and get about 1-2mm movement.

So, todays job has been to pull it out.

Looks like the collapsible spacer has squashed a bit extra removing the bearing preload. From what I can see, there is no obvious gear damage.

Now, when my front diff got destroyed years ago, I put in a ARB air locker in and a solid spacer. It has been great since.

So, this time, I dont think I want another dif lock as I'm not using the car as roughly as I have in the past.

Any advice? Just a solid spacer? OR put it back to standard? Really, it did last 342000k's.

What is a fair price to pay for a rebuild?

Cheers,

Colin,

[CRUZAAMAD]

youve got your answer in your post.
solid spacer.
as for a good price recoed......
my experience was 1200 ish dollars got me a new rear diff, i handed the housing with all the gears inside untouched. to them.
18mnths later i blew the diff up again.
they never set the spider gears up properly for full contact!
i saw the teeth marks on the spider gear bloody pissed off.
they were only getting half contact no wonder it broke!
make sure they who do the work set the gears up for full contact!!
it wont break again !!

[91Mav]

youve got your answer in your post.
solid spacer.
as for a good price recoed......
my experience was 1200 ish dollars got me a new rear diff, i handed the housing with all the gears inside untouched. to them.
18mnths later i blew the diff up again.
they never set the spider gears up properly for full contact!
i saw the teeth marks on the spider gear bloody pissed off.
they were only getting half contact no wonder it broke!
make sure they who do the work set the gears up for full contact!!
it wont break again !!

The spider gear mesh is set by the thrust washers inside the hemisphere. The 80 series rear has an average LSD with 4 spider/sun gear + the side gears so that should be fine. It's the ring an pinion mesh that really matters. There's no such thing as a full contact either - just aim for the middle of the heel and toe and slightly favor the root of the tooth if u set it up.

If you're not driving too hard and have 33's or smaller, a collapsible spacer will be fine - and quicker to set up. I'd personally spend a little extra and use a solid collar. $400 for new gears (if needed), $229 for the install kit from Locktup4x4.com.au and $300 for a shop to set it up.

You'll have to set up your gears again to see if u can reuse them. I'm guessing the face will be a bit worn which will show up as favoring the heel on the rear of the teeth.

Hope this helps.

[evanstaniland]

Solid pinion spacer from locktup4x4 is the way to go!