Build Day 13- Rear Axle and Limited Slip Differential

Day 13- Rear Axle and LSD

Preping LSD

We had originally decided to fill the diff off of the car and this may seem like an odd idea when looking at the diff upon arrival due to the dirty great hubs that have to be removed before inserting the drive shafts. 

HOWEVER there is no need to fill the diff after it is fitted!!!
And the same goes for the Gearbox, fill both before getting them in the car... no faff required!!! 

This is because the filler plug is below if not in line with the bottom level of the hubs. This seems to cause people trouble if they have either forgotten to fill the diff after the boot is finished or don't have decent way to fill the diff due to the limited space and awkwardness of its position. 

May have to admit though that we did fill the diff along with the gearbox, so technically we didn't realise the lack of need to fill after installation.

On another note we have done some research on running in etc which currently is pointing towards carrying out a full wet pack replacement after 10 or so miles so as to replace diff and gearbox oil. This is in order to remove material present after the mechanical parts are seated and worn in properly. The problem however is that it is then very hard to remove the oil from the diff without either removing the back plate or pumping it out. We will however endeavour to keep the blog up to date with our research, or if anyone has a strong opinion on the matter, then please feel free to comment below.

The hubs came off pretty easily, just a crowbar with the right leverage and then pop out quite easily.

Seats well under the flange.

Dad applying copper slip to the ends of the drive shafts, gestures unintended... just a side effect of the missing index syndrome...

Rear Axle

After putting the shafts in we removed all of the parts from the end of the de dion in order to get it passed the diff, which, at the moment, looks like it will have little or no room. However care and two sets of hands made light work of the job, which was completed by reassembling  the ears and bearings.

Ears and bearings fitted, with bolts copper slipped and tightened, not torqued.

Just checking the accuracy of a couple of our mechanical torque wrenches using the electronic one. The smaller one was only a couple of Nm out, however the largest one was more than 10Nm out, more than enough to strip a thread, which could cause catastrophic in the wrong place.

Now our shelved have a couple of lovely ornaments...