Just pulled the diff out of my car. Typical snowball of a project.

Set out to adjust the driveshaft joint angles. Notice the diff is leaking from the pinion seal. Decide to pull the diff. Notice the camber rod bushings are shot, decide to replace those while I've got everything out. I wonder what else I'll find.

Anyhow, the diff obviously needs a new pinion seal, but I'd like to have someone go through it and set everything up. It whines a little and it'd be nice to stop that. I tried to set it up myself many years ago, but it whined before and after. Be nice to have someone experienced do it.

What should I be looking at $$$-wise? Anyone have it done recently?

Also...I can't recall the specs for play on the side yokes. 20 thousandths total? or +20 thou? or something else?

 

I agree let the pro do he did mine and it the best.....

 

Gary's top notch!!!

 

Or Mike, Tracdogg2.

But be warned: Once a set of gears have been run adjusted improperly they will often never be quiet as they have established a bad pattern. You might have to get a new ring & pinion.

 

Lookin for prices, not suggestions on where to send it.


(Yes, I know Gary does good work, but he's also not a supporting vendor and considering that we do have supporting vendors that do the same work, we shouldn't be promoting someone else.)

 

No question there. Getting rid of the noise isn't my tip priority. The leak is the only problem I have, and everything looked ok when I had it apart several years ago. Yokes weren't mushroomed and came right out. The play does have me wondering though. I can't find my good feeler gauges, but it looks like I have less than 1/2mm of total movement on one side and closer to 1mm on the other (1mm = about 0.040")

I only need to swap the seal but since the diff is out, it seems like a good time to have a pro look things over and make sure it's set-up decenty enough.

 

Okay here you go and it is all from the supporting vendors.

http://www.vansteel.com/index.cfm?fu...p=1819&ID=1913

http://www.ecklers.com/product.asp?p...dept%5Fid=1858

http://www.madvet.com/shop?frame=4.1443

http://www.zip-products.com/Zip/dept...24BBD577ECE5B2

The one that rings a bell would be Vansteel as you could talk with them and only have them replace what is needed. And as you know they are good people to work with.

 

Had my '81 done for $450 last summer. I paid for shipping from LA to Tx $70-80. I like talking to "the man" not a csr who couldn't id my diff if his life depended on it. My biggest fear in sending it to the big boys is getting that call saying it was not a good core etc., when I knew it was.

 

There seems to be a significant variation on price, depending on who is doing the work and the supplies used.

 

Hi Dave,

Kind of strange for a moderator to ask the members for supporting vendor prices.
I'd go with someone you can actually talk to in person ... and visit.
That said, Gary is closest to me.

As far as side yoke play, if you have less than 1/8" on either side, you are OK.
Yours are ... well .... replaced already ?? They sound too good to be original.

Good Luck

 

My plan is to take it to a local shop, not ship it somewhere. If I had a vendor close that could do just what I need, then I'd probably take it to them. We've got a good local transmission shop here that's done very well by me in the past.

I'm certain that my diff/yokes aren't original. Not sure if ANY of it is original to my car or not. I suspect not. I'll have to find a place to run the casting numbers and decode the date code (if there is one...)

 

Corvette by the numbers would have casting #'s.
My diff wines also at highway speeds, but no leaks. I thought that was normal. No? It goes away when I let off the gas and comes back when I give it gas again. I haven't checked if mine is original so have no clue if ever rebuilt.
I'm interested to see your end result.
Glenn

 

Just buttoned mine up after doing everything from the tailshaft back. Took the diff in had it inspected and re-sealed $200.00. As for the whine? Mine too, but only in first. Sounds are hard to locate in these cars. So I figured it is the trans. The whine was there before I started the project. I did such a nice job with POR-15 and Eastwood. I was so please with myself I counldn't wait to show my wife.....like she cares. Now the car is off the jackstands.....now I can't see it. Damn shame.

 

The diff should not make any noise.

Many 4-speeds will whine in 1st gear. It should go away as soon as you're out of 1st.

 

with Zwede, no noise from rear end, letting off gas takes load of rear thus no whine, get it fixed before you "have to"

 

I think it sort of depends on what all you have done to the rearend. $150-$200 sounds about right for a dissassemble and seals. But if you get into a gearset etc. adjust accordingly. I'm very fortunate that I know some people near me that do it on the side and have hooked me up in the past. I had my 12 bolt in the '69 Camaro set up for $100 excluding the parts. I had new axles,seals,bearings, posi,and a gearset installed on that one.

 

I should have stated this earlier. I had a complete rebuild; bearings, seals, posi clutches/set up, rebuilt stubs for my $450

 

The guy you want is on the forum his avatar is A pic of A rear end gear some where in tech its A killer Post it will tell ya everything you need he even re-build them for people .

 

Found the Guy GTR1999 look for his big post in tech . he seems to have it DOWN.

 

If you have a whine then you have a problem. Whether it be bearings or gears. Regardless of which one you now have a load of metal shavings that have been deposited in the cavity between the pinion bearings. It will only get worse.
I don't know how long Gary has been building diffs but everyone knows the quality of his work and mine. I have been building them over thirty years. We are not supporting vendors, just hardcore vette guys, but how many vendors actually build the diffs themselves? Just for laughs I timed myself. After all the clearances were set and machining done it took 11 hours to assemble it. There is huge difference between 4-5 thousands allowed range and actually setting it correctly.
In very rare cases you may have a noisy new gear set. It happens. The common saying "Do not use Richmond or Yukon gears because they will howl" is just not true. Setting the gears up correctly takes a lot of time and requires complete disassembly each time.
These differentials have many flaws. The posi case has two casting defects which have to be machined out. Carrier bearing saddles can vary as much as .020. Posi clutch set up determines internal gear backlash. Ring gear runout, bearing cap preload, and rough castings are all items that have to be addressed.
I'm sure there many rebuilders doing fine stock rebuilds, flaws and all. But who wants a stock rebuild? It took Chevy 33 years to fix the valve cover oil leak problem.
Gary has done an excellent job making people aware of problems and what needs to be done to correct them. I don't know of anyone other than Gary and myself that go to these extremes for quality work. We have both been thru the headaches of poor quality parts. Powdered steel gears, import bearings, carbon fibre clutches. New doesn't mean good, only quality does. And quality isn't cheap.
ddecart, if you want to shoot me a pm I'll throw some numbers to you.
Mike