Early or Late rear Diff (& IRD)?

Going to need to replace the rear diff on my 1999 1.8 - big bang, lots of oil everywhere, don't ask... :5bbanghead:

Anyway, had a search, understand that all ratios are the same, is it worth searching out a later TVK000180 diff with the bigger bearings? Car's mainly used for pootling about the city and then some weekend laning. Running 235/70 16s and a 2" lift.

If I do find a later model breaker, is it worth grabbing the IRD too?

Reason the diff has gone would probably be stiff vcu. If not now or before. If it's siezed enough to blow a diff I wouldn't think the ird is very good either.
I would get the bigger bearings.....and a recon vcu

I got stuck in the middle of nowhere with a flat tyre on a Sunday and the spare was the wrong size. Won't be doing that again!

It lasted surprisingly long tbh...

No thoughts on bigger bearings v. thinner casting? Are they much of a muchness?

I don't know, but, will you be doing another 100,000 miles in the car? If the answer's no, then there's probably no need to consider which is best because the differences 'should' only show up well in the future - assuming the replacement's a low milage.

Having said that, if its not much more, I'd have a look at the gears in your diff and if they're OK buy replacement bearings for it. You never know what you're getting from a breakers!

If the damage was due to wrong size tyres, I agree with Kizzeh - check your IRD. Change the oil and see what colour the oil is. If its grey then it could do with new bearings as well! I got a replacement bearing/cooler/seals kit for about £125 - but the fitting of the bits may come in at twice that much.

Coming back to later diffs etc. The later cars did have a 1:1 ratio of drive to front & back wheels as opposed to the earlier 1.006 (or what ever it was). That's more friendly to the mechanicals and shouldn't stress them so much - probably a better reason than the bearings to consider change - but the likelyhood of it saving anyone trouble in the future is probably very low.

Rather than spending extra money on 'upgrading' to later mechanicals, I think you'd probably get better value/reliability by pumping that money into changing the tyres a bit more frequently.

The Docmeister said:

No thoughts on bigger bearings v. thinner casting? Are they much of a muchness?

Click to expand...

This^^^^
I've read that the larger bearings last longer than the small bearings. However the casing is thinner and more likely to break.

VCU condition is more important than the type of diff installed.

Thanks for the advice, got a replacement diff today - hopefully back up and running at the weekend!