TR3 RECON BACK AXLE

[simon russell]

HELLO TR FOLK I AM NEW TO THE FORUM BUT HAVE VIEWED THE TOPICS FOR A WHILE ,MY CAR IS A REIMPORTED TR3 IN WINCHESTER BLUE AND I AM TR NUTS ,I PARTLY REBUILT A TR2 OVER TWENTY YEARS AND NEARLY GOT THERE BUT LOST HEART AND BOUGHT THIS ONE . tHE CAR WAS BOUGHT KNOWING IT WAS NOT PERFECT ,BUT I FELL IN LOVE ,I HAVE SPENT THE LAST EIGTEEN MONTHS RESTOREING AND it passed its mot first time ,tere are afew teething problems that have got me foxed . THE BACK AXLE IS A GIRLING RECONDITIONED UNIT AND IN MY WISDOM i was trying to unfree a stuck clutch with the back wheels off the ground when I HEARD A STRANGE NOISE FROM THE DIFF AND i did not realise the handbrake was partly on either ,so calamity ! I TOOK THE AXLE COVER OFF AND ONLY FOUND SOME GOLD COLOURED SPECKS IN THE OIL ,BUT WHEN I LOOKED AT THE CAGE IN THE CENTER IT LOOKS AS THOUGH THE PINION GEAR HAS BEEN HITTING IT ON BOTH SIDES AND YET THER ARE NO MARKS ON THE PINION GEAR END ,HOW CAN THIS BE ?

[88V8]

HELLO TR FOLK....... WHEN I LOOKED AT THE CAGE IN THE CENTER IT LOOKS AS THOUGH THE PINION GEAR HAS BEEN HITTING IT ON BOTH SIDES AND YET THERE ARE NO MARKS ON THE PINION GEAR END, HOW CAN THIS BE ?

 

Hello and welcome.

 

The axle should be able to take a lot more load than you can apply with the wheels off the ground, so would be surprised if your clutch declutching had any influence.

What noises did it make? If you were applying load with the wheels pretty much free to wobble about, the backlash in the axle would make clonking noises as the wheels move to and fro, but no harm done.

 

Perhaps no marks because the gear is hardened, the cage isn't.

Or then again perhaps you are looking at historic marks on the cage that preceded a subsequent rebuild of the axle, another reason you would see no marks on the gear.

 

If the pinion is moving, how come, is the flange nut loose? Can't believe anyone would set up the diff with the gear hitting the cage.

 

Ivor

[NickKerfoot]

Hi Simon - welcom to the Forum

I concur with Ivor on this - the internal damage to the cage is more than likely due to a previous disintergration. I had a pinion shed a couple of teeth a while back and did get a few marks internally! A hand turn of the diff watching through the cover will soon show you if anything is touching. You would not expect to see any end float on the pinion itself, but some backlash between the pinion and the crown wheel is both normal and required.

Debris in the oil, particularly in a new build is also normal - gears and bearings always show a high initial wear pattern which should quickly reduce after a few hundred miles and then remain low until the componenet is close to wearing out/failure. A previos job had me doing this sort of trending work on the debris produced by jet engines; where component condition is an airworthyness issue.

 

Regards

Nick

[simon russell]

Thanks guys for your input ,I have driven the car today aprox fifty miles and the only noise it makes is a whiring noise as I slow down ,but sometimes it seems worse if I am brakeing ,other than this the car goes like a train ie ; it corners like its on rails .I am hopefull that the noise will subside with use ,but I will take the diff cover off in a week or so to check that there is no further damage