Bad clunking noise in diff

[Jestr75 41]

Hey guys, I just put a different borg warner diff under my XD. I pulled the cover off and everything inside looked ok, Cleaned it out and added fresh oil. It spun freely and no noise.  Put it in the XD and drove out the shed and has a god awful clicking/clunking sound as though its not meshing on the teeth properly. Only makes noise going forward not reverse. Jacked the car up and turning the tailshaft by hand there is NO noise. If i turn either of the wheels by hand the clunking sound can be heard. Its an LSD and all the teeth on crown and pinion wheel looked good, wear pattern looked ok. I don't know a much about diffs so anyone got a few suggestions as to what i should be checking first??

[steve mcqueen 1,796]

Spider gears in the LSD, I had one age's ago do the same thing, it wont last long, well mine didn't.

Same clunking noise you have described in the only forward gears. Find another diff 

Get one from a EA-EB-ED station wagon. 

[Jestr75 41]

Thanks mate, Looks like its time to start learning about diffs . Will have to put the 2.92 back in to keep it on the road. 

[CHESTNUTXE 7,300]

Let the games begin.

[MNTL.XD 3,831]

Banana peels should see another 10,000ks out of it yet! Hehe

[Jestr75 41]

Already marked out a bit of my wall to bang my head against.

[CHESTNUTXE 7,300]

just take the whole thing to the diff shop and pick it up fully fixed,they will check the LSD and have it done in no time.

[Jestr75 41]

Pulled the axles out and the diff centre today. Pretty ugly in the axle tubes with metal everywhere. Almost looks like it has had water in it at some stage. The axle splines were covered in it as well.  Took the LSD centre apart and the spider gears looked ok to me. No bits missing or obvious signs of wear (well to my untrained eye anyway), the cones look pretty worn out and the axle gears had a bit of wear on the bottom side of them. 

 

 

 

 

 

[gerg 10,871]

You can clean up the axles and housing yourself but basically throw everything else in the bin and start again. The cones have obviously copped some shavings between the spiral and the diff centre, which is not a good look. You say the spiders look ok but had clunking back and forth, it's because the cone wear has allowed the gears to come further out of mesh from each other, giving excess backlash.

 

In any case, once you're through the hardening on any component, it's toast. That goes for the pinion and crown gears too, any metal in the oil will wear away the hardening leaving the soft metal underneath to wear in no time. The hardening is generally only a couple of thou deep so doesn't take much.

 

Second hand centres can be had on ebay, etc for around the $250 mark and a full set of carrier, pinion and axle bearings and seals will be about $150. A set of gears if needed are pretty cheap, wouldn't pay more than $80 for a set, for regular ratios anyway. Start getting into drag type ones (ie 3.50 and up) and start saving.

 

If you really want to learn then go for it but finding a good second hand assembly will be cheaper and easier.

[Jestr75 41]

Thanks gerg. I am still deciding what i will do with it. I took an axle out my existing diff and its only a 25 spline. The 3.89 gear set looks a lot thicker than the 2.92 in there at the moment as well. Thought about swapping gear sets in it but not sure the gears will fit and i am still left with a 25 spline rear end.

[Jestr75 41]

Had another bit of a look at things today. The gear sets I have are the same width (must of been the beers lol)  so the 3.89's will fit into my 2.92 diff. It is only 25 spline though and has a different lsd set up. Not sure how it will handle the torque but i have been running this diff with the 2.92 ratio and the T5 behind my clevo for six months with out issue. 

 

Hey Gerg, I thought i read in another thread you had a 25 spline axle diff behind your clevo? How is that holding up??

[gerg 10,871]

 

Hey Gerg, I thought i read in another thread you had a 25 spline axle diff behind your clevo? How is that holding up??

 

Yeah mate your memory is very good! Mine's a one-legger for now, chucked it in after the LSD broke all the hemisphere bolts. It's a 3.27 but I want to go back to 2.92 or taller and when I do, I'll throw in a 28-spline lsd.

 

3.27s are too short, especially with the short 1st in the EA T5 I'm running. Pretty annoying when just cruising around, you're forever changing gears.

 

I figured an open diff will let the 25-spline axles live longer as you just spin a wheel when it lets go instead of making the axles fight each other.

[Jestr75 41]

I think i will put the 3.89 gears in the 25 spline and get it on the road. Will see how i like it with that ratio.

[gerg 10,871]

Lol I wanna see the carnage after that one pops

[Jestr75 41]

I will strap a Go-Pro under the car and get footage as well if you like!

[Jestr75 41]

Can't decide which way to go? Might just put the 2:92 diff i took out back under it and find a cheap 28 spline ine one to put the 3:89 gears into even if its just a single spinner.