An expensive sound comming from the rear end.....

[swift6]

Re: An expensive sound comming from the rear end..

While some of the mechanics went by the book, most guys simply replaced the gears with new parts never ever checking side play or backlash.


We did A LOT of rear ends in those days....

I can't help but wonder if those two comments are related in some fashion... /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

Also, in those days you were still using a lot of parts that were OEM. Unless your lucky enough to find NOS parts these days the accuarcy of tolerances should not be assumed anymore. IMHO

 

[RobT]

Re: An expensive sound comming from the rear end..

You could find a used one and buy yourself some time or buy a R&P and fix it yourself...not too difficult despite all of the horror stories you may here from guys who have never done it.

I think I'm going to leave this to the experts. I'll take on just about anything myself, including a manual transmission (the non-OD part anyway), but I think a differential is best left to someone who does it for a living. Since the parts alone are over $500, a mistake can be expensive. And a pro will warranty the work.

Rob.

 

[YankeeTR]

Re: An expensive sound comming from the rear end..

Yank,

Like you, I came up in the dealerships of the 60's through the 90's. I just wasn't as lucky (or maybe as good!) as you. I can't tell you the number of 442 and Cutlass rear ends that gave me and the other guys fits. Not for getting the gear cases out, once you cracked the factory thick shims with a punch, a pry bar handled the removal easily. The problem came in pinion depth and shimming the side play. Sometimes you'd hit it just right and it was back together in no time. With other instances, the result was just the opposite. I watched one guy who refused to use a micrometer to measure shims (he trusted factory labels) smoke a ring and pinion on a 5 mile road test.

I have never had a TR6 differential apart on my own. I did see several being torn down and the cases all needed spreaders. If these don't require any special consideration for a collapsible spacer in the front of the pinion, that helps as well.

But you are correct, there is a black magic to all of these repairs for each of us. I loved rebuilding Holley & Quadrajet carbs, other guys hated them and would do what I hated (upholstery & front suspension) as a swap.

My days of doing that heavy work are over now. Well, that is if I want to be able to drive the car in the next few weeks after working on it.

But I will be directly assisting on the tri-carb swap next week!

Q-jets were a real love/hate deal. I was at GM training school in '68 for a Pontiac dealer that I was going to work for.We had a brand new Gran Prix that we had to completely dis-assemble system by system and put it back together.

We needed more tha one carb to work on during our carb part of the course so I brought in my dad's '67 SS-396. The car ran good but my instructor, John Porter, told me it could be better. We rebuilt the Q-jet from my dad's car (12,000 miles on it) and, after setting all of the rods and levers to factory specs with those neat little GM tools, the car ran like a rocket! Ane we picked a couple mpg, too.

The amazing part of this course (18 weeks fulltime) was we actually got that Pontiac to run even after we took it all apart!!!

 

[Brosky]

Re: An expensive sound comming from the rear end..

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]The amazing part of this course (18 weeks fulltime) was we actually got that Pontiac to run even after we took it all apart!!! [/QUOTE]

I will not tell you some of the stupid things that I did along the way to prevent cars from running properly. Basil doesn't have a server big enough to handle the load!

BUT....I did learn from my mistakes. I learned to remember what worked and what didn't the hard way.

 

[RobT]

Re: An expensive sound comming from the rear end..

Update on the busted diff:

Its rebuilt, installed and working like it should!

And it was expensive!

Also replaced the u-joints, diff and T/A bushes, painted the brake drums and back plates and generally tidyed things up.

Went with rubber bushes on the diff and polyuretheane on the T/A's and all seems fine. I feel more bumps than before but the rear feels "tighter" too. The car seems quieter and smoother also, so perhaps it was telling me the diff was on the way out but I didn't take any notice.

And of course now the TR's back on the road, the weather here is lousy. Murphys Law kicking in I guess.

Rob.