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Rear Axle Restoration

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robolab

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Hello friends,

at the moment I have the rear axle of my BJ8 on the workbench and want to check its condition. The half-axles are already removed.
On my TR3 I had the Differential completely restored, ie. replacement of all bearings and re-adjustment including inspection of the teeth-meshing with marking paint.

Now I am not sure if everything is always necessary. In addition, I cannot get the service tool 18G191B which is required for the exact positioning of the pinion. Or are there other ways to check and adjust . Which parts are most subject to wear.
I am grateful for all comments.

Gerd
 
When I did mine, I replaced the seals and wheel bearings. I left the differential alone, except for changing the oil. Unless it's making noise, I would leave it alone.
 
Unless they're making "crunchy" sounds, I would leave the pinion bearings and carrier bearings alone. IF the parts are available again__they weren't last time I checked__one of the areas that you can restore to good effect, are to replace the four (4) thrust washers within the carrier for the "spider" gears (these are cupped) and the pair of gears that the axle shafts are inserted into.

As an example, (in the old days...) EVERY TIME I'd buy another MGB, I would replace those four (4) thrust washers and the pin the spiders ride on. It would remove a substantial amount of back-lash from the driveline. I started doing this after having one of the spiders break (on impact...) leaving you with goes innas, but no goes outas!

Put a nice coat of paint on the housing, in you're so inclined (I prefer leaving the aluminum carrier section bare) and do the wheel seals__bearings if it needs them, though they too are quite robust__and call it a day.
 
If it doesnt have it already I would spring for the 3.54 ratio gear set instead of the 3.9 .it makes the gearbox much more suited to highway driving , lowers rpm at cruise by about 1000rpm .
Not difficult to do with some basic tools , dial indicator and some engineers blue .

If it already has the 3.54 ratio in it then if if its quiet leave it be .
 
Healey Nut said:
If it doesnt have it already I would spring for the 3.54 ratio gear set instead of the 3.9 .it makes the gearbox much more suited to highway driving , lowers rpm at cruise by about 1000rpm ....
Click to expand...

Agree wholeheartedly; over a few hours at highway speeds it reduces fatigue appreciably. Also makes second gear more usable and makes first gear occasionally usable. Does cut acceleration a bit, though. You'd need a ratio adapter or speedo mods.
 
I have checked the spare parts availability for rear axle parts at various suppliers. I am surprised that delivery is very poor. Bearings are usually available, but shims are only available in very few dimensions. Is this just a temporary delivery bottleneck, or does that mean the need is missing and rear axles are rarely restored?
 
I dismantled the differential. All gears and bearings are in good condition. After cleaning all parts I measured the backlash. It is 0.0102 inches. Stamped on the ring gear is 0.007. Is the deviation tolerable, or should the backlash be adjusted?
 
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