I think John is a bit too "by the book" to cobble the diff back together knowing that since the mating faces on the teeth were damaged and dressed down, ergo their hardening would have been compromised, meaning the diff, if simply refurbed with bearings and refilled with oil, could theoretically be a ticking timebomb.
Yesterday I put an offer on a 54k miles diff from a 2013 Evoque, which is the same as that in my 2009MY FL2.
The offer of £250 was accepted, against a selling price of £300, so I've saved £50. I'll put this £50 saving towards a new front bearing for this new diff, then get it back together and in the car.
I figured it best to simply replace the diff, replacing the fragile bearing before I put it in.
I've decided to go this route, as it'll save money and my down the line.
The reasoning being, it'll cost £150 for decent bearings, seals, spacer and new nut. Coupled to this will be around, £50 for the Haldex service consumables.
This means it's going to cost over £200 to "bodge" repair the current diff. So say the bodged diff lasts 12 months, before I'd be buying another to replace it. At this point I'd need to find a suitable diff (for whatever it costs), replace the fragile bearing for £50, and spend another £50 on Haldex consumables, again, as the Haldex needs draining to remove it from the diff.
The option I've gone for, will initially be more expensive, but will save me money and time later on.
Here's why. The diff is £250, add to this the £50 bearing kit (for the single fragile bearing) plus £50 for the Haldex consumables, plus diff oil, so it'll cost around £360 done and forgotten. Also I'm going to add a drain plug while the diff is apart, as this makes sense to me.
Long term, this is the way that makes most sense, even though it'll cost me an extra £150 now. And besides, Nodge don't bodge!!
