Does the DTE trans/rear brace help prevent leaks?
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 10,233
Likes: 21
From: Baltimore suburbs Maryland
Does the DTE trans/rear brace help prevent leaks?
...I rebuilt 3rd gear in my trans almost two years ago. It was completely leak free for nearly 1.5 years with 30K miles on it. Now the damn thing is leaking. It is leaking from the seam in the front of the trans casing to its front bell housing where it mates to the torque tube. Surprisingly I've not had a probably with my rear end leaking from the CV shafts.
I think it has to do with tiny flexing in the driveline especially from my occasional burnout or drag strip launch eventually causing the RTV seal to take a dump. I am wondering if the DTE brace helps prevent this? Anybody have any experience?
I gotta start gathering my parts to stop the leak. I *really* don't feel like dropping that driveline again... ugh what a pain!
I think it has to do with tiny flexing in the driveline especially from my occasional burnout or drag strip launch eventually causing the RTV seal to take a dump. I am wondering if the DTE brace helps prevent this? Anybody have any experience?
I gotta start gathering my parts to stop the leak. I *really* don't feel like dropping that driveline again... ugh what a pain!
Safety Car
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 3,558
Likes: 2
From: Cape Coral FL
I have a DTE brace. It didn't come with any instructions, so I installed it according to the pics on the website. I didn't have a leak before, but do now. I set the bolts to the torque specs I had for the transmission with no brace. I din't know if DTE has altered torque specs. But I'm looking at a couple of days work at least, pulling the brace off, seperating that stuff if I can, and doing what I can to stop the leak. Oh, btw, I had to drop my rear cradle a bit to get to the top diff heim joint bolts.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 755
Likes: 0
From: Portland Oregon
if you dont have directions for the DTE dont install it. Some of the polts need to be put in before the others. If you tighten the wrong shaft in the wrong order it will cause the rear end to "pull itself apart". The margin for error when it comes to the dte brace is very very small.
Pro
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 607
Likes: 0
From: Olympia Washington
I don't know if this will help but I installed my brace when I did the clutch. When I was installing the diff. side cover brackets I was tightening to torque spec. but some of them didn't feel right. to make a longer story short, in the blind holes the end of the bolts were bottoming out so the covers never would be torqued correctly. The bolts from the factory are too long, easy fix I used 2 thicker washers retorqued and it felt better, I have no leaks but if you didn't catch it I think you would. I e-mailed DTE and they responded that they would update all the future kits.
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Collections Hold
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,899
Likes: 6
From: Fort Wayne Indiana
Originally Posted by pro1955
I e-mailed DTE and they responded that they would update all the future kits.
We changed the overall length of our fasteners to work properly in *ALL* differential cases, regardless of model year, ratio, production tolerances of hole depth or differential series type and those changes have been in production for quite sometime now..
Best Regards,
DTE
Le Mans Master
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 8,004
Likes: 250
From: Tampa Fl
St. Jude Donor '12-'13-'14
Originally Posted by DynoTech Engineering
Correct and the differential bracket fasteners were immediatly revised a few months back now as a direct response after one of our customers, pro1955 suggested it. It seems that some differential cases don't have the main case mounting holes drilled as deep as some others~ which is common production tolerances for permanant mold sand castings like these differential cases are.
We changed the overall length of our fasteners to work properly in *ALL* differential cases, regardless of model year, ratio, production tolerances of hole depth or differential series type and those changes have been in production for quite sometime now..
Best Regards,
DTE
We changed the overall length of our fasteners to work properly in *ALL* differential cases, regardless of model year, ratio, production tolerances of hole depth or differential series type and those changes have been in production for quite sometime now..
Best Regards,
DTE
Collections Hold
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,899
Likes: 6
From: Fort Wayne Indiana
The revised fasteners will be 40mm long.
.....if you even need them depending on the depth of the drilled holes in the differential case you have.
.....if you even need them depending on the depth of the drilled holes in the differential case you have.
Last edited by DTE Powertrain; Jul 11, 2006 at 10:08 PM.
