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Trying to track some rear-end noise and vibration last week (SEE: Parts rant! Part II), I’d discovered that three of the four nuts and bolts holding the LH driveshaft flange to the differential flange on my '62 Herald were slightly loose. At the time, I simply tightened the three (the fourth didn’t seem to need tightening) and made a mental note to pick up some new nyloc nuts. I did that today and set about replacing all four nylocs. In process of doing so, I spotted what looked like a hairline crack on the differential flange, borne out by the fact that the flange actually wiggled a bit as I touched it. I knew this was NOT a good thing, and it was likely the reason that some vibration had returned. I also knew that there was probably no option but to replace the inner axle/flange assembly complete.
I undid all four bolts, the rear radius rod bolt, and I started to remove the big nyloc on the lower shock mount. For some reason, it was being very difficult…right up to the moment that the threaded stud snapped off. (Of course, that’s an integral part of the vertical link, so now I’ve no choice but to replace the vertical link. That will prove to be a challenge, since the bolt seems rather nicely seized, and the link doesn’t seem to want to pivot much. Oh boy.)
At least the top bolt through the spring eye came out without drama, and I got the drive axle out of the way enough to remove the inner axle, revealing the picture you see here:
It’s hard to say for sure, but I suspect that the strain of the three loose bolts was enough to stress-crack the flange around the one bolt that had still held tight. It’s a moot point, though, since the damage is done and bits need to be replaced. There’s just one slight problem: the differential currently in the Herald is from a 1970 Spitfire, which means it has the small flange but the thicker stub axle. Naturally, it wouldn’t have been a typical earlier Herald/Spitfire differential with the smaller stub axles; I’ve plenty of those. Somewhere in the barn is – or should be – one other small flange/thick stub axle differential. All I need to do is find it. It’s either that, or I grab one of the earlier differentials, pull this one out, pull off the front mount that I’d put on it to mount to the early-style chassis, bolt it all back up and hope that whatever diff. I choose is a decent one!
Oh, and this is the only car I have running at the moment, so I hope I can somehow get this all done tomorrow…if it doesn’t rain too much. Figuring it would be a quick job – I should know better after over 40 years of playing with these cars – I didn’t bother to drive it into the barn to work on it. Instead, it’s sitting in the middle of my driveway....
I undid all four bolts, the rear radius rod bolt, and I started to remove the big nyloc on the lower shock mount. For some reason, it was being very difficult…right up to the moment that the threaded stud snapped off. (Of course, that’s an integral part of the vertical link, so now I’ve no choice but to replace the vertical link. That will prove to be a challenge, since the bolt seems rather nicely seized, and the link doesn’t seem to want to pivot much. Oh boy.)
At least the top bolt through the spring eye came out without drama, and I got the drive axle out of the way enough to remove the inner axle, revealing the picture you see here:
It’s hard to say for sure, but I suspect that the strain of the three loose bolts was enough to stress-crack the flange around the one bolt that had still held tight. It’s a moot point, though, since the damage is done and bits need to be replaced. There’s just one slight problem: the differential currently in the Herald is from a 1970 Spitfire, which means it has the small flange but the thicker stub axle. Naturally, it wouldn’t have been a typical earlier Herald/Spitfire differential with the smaller stub axles; I’ve plenty of those. Somewhere in the barn is – or should be – one other small flange/thick stub axle differential. All I need to do is find it. It’s either that, or I grab one of the earlier differentials, pull this one out, pull off the front mount that I’d put on it to mount to the early-style chassis, bolt it all back up and hope that whatever diff. I choose is a decent one!
Oh, and this is the only car I have running at the moment, so I hope I can somehow get this all done tomorrow…if it doesn’t rain too much. Figuring it would be a quick job – I should know better after over 40 years of playing with these cars – I didn’t bother to drive it into the barn to work on it. Instead, it’s sitting in the middle of my driveway....