Trying to sort my long list of faults I decided to investigate the cause of backlash in my 97 110 CSW (150k on the clock) rear drivetrain resulting in a pronounced clonk in rear axle on taking up drive.

I've replaced worn A frame bushes which had crept to one side of both arms, the ball joint seems ok, checked halfshafts, drive flanges & checked propshaft for wear or play, some but not much.

The backlash or play amounts to about 30-40 degrees on propshaft flange or about 15-20 degrees with one rear wheel off the ground with handbrake on.

I've measured the crown wheel backlash with a DTI and it is between 0.011 and 0.013 inch i.e. just outside spec, however there's 3 or 4 times more slop in the sun/planet gear inside the diff.

Also checked run out on the rear crown wheel is almost imperceptible at +/- 0.002.

Levering the diff towards, then and away from pinion with tyre levers results in 2-3 thou at max movement on the crown wheel so not much play there.

I painted engineers blue on the crown wheel and took the some pics of drive & coast side of teeth, didn't look to bad to me, wide ovalish pattern across middle.

I already have a new set of sun gear thrust washers, Timken pinion & carrier bearings and have been offered a used set of spider gears by a generous forum member.

I've had a search around and it seems quite a common problem but have been unable to find much information to learn from experienced & those who have gone there before on the pitfalls for home mechanics with garage but no specialist tools.

I'm now looking for a Salisbury 4 pin diff pinion shaft part 90607170 however the genuine ones are £-hundreds, seems to be no OEM quality available, and I'm not sure if the Bearmach pattern ones are actually any better than Britpart.

I don't want to fit a Britpart 4 pin because if it breaks up & destroys my rear diff, genuine are very expensive.
Has anyone on here fitted Bearmach 90607170 aka BR2342, or can direct me towards a source of quality Salisbury diff parts new or used at sensible prices?


Mingdiesel

This was mine....



It was reported by those in the know on here not to be an excessive amount.....

After refitting the cover and filling up with the correct fluid, the clonk has gone, so was either filled with incorrect fluid previously or was running low....

Yeah, I watched that video on Youtube however mine is worse and most of the play is actually in the spider gears so am looking to replace those in order of preference (easiest cheapest first): the thrust washers, sun/planet gears and probably the cross pin.
Once it is built up on bench I can compare play/slop before/after before refitting to axle.

My crown wheel backlash is just outside spec so may introduce a shim on that side to reduce it from say 12 thou to nearer 6, would that require a 3 or 5 thou shim?
Not sure how easy it is to remove the carrier bearing without damaging it using a bearing separator & puller, re-fitting I was going to try heating the bearing & cooling the diff centre in the freezer.

I've ordered a genuine cross pin & gear set , lets hope they do not turn out to be blue box at many times the price!

Hopefully there's no damage to the carrier, hard to see anything until I separate it & examine the wear.

Once I get parts, pull the halfshafts & remove the diff I'll update this topic with what I find.

Still not sure if I should put a 3 thou shim under carrier bearing to get crown wheel backlash within spec, tempting but it's not far out at 13 thou max on my tests around crown wheel if DTI is correct.
Land rover don't appear to have a backlash measurement vs required shim table and I don't want to have to remove bearing more than necessary as I don't have specialist tools & equipment.

Will examine all bearings & races for signs of wear, that could well be the next job as pinion drive flange initially turns very easily by hand, will check pre-load with spring balance before removal & check again when re-installing pinion.

Mingdiesel

That there @jamesmartin knows his stuff, not sure about his Salisbury knowledge though.

mingdiesel said:

I've ordered a genuine cross pin & gear set , lets hope they do not turn out to be blue box at many times the price!

Hopefully there's no damage to the carrier, hard to see anything until I separate it & examine the wear.

Once I get parts, pull the halfshafts & remove the diff I'll update this topic with what I find.

Still not sure if I should put a 3 thou shim under carrier bearing to get crown wheel backlash within spec, tempting but it's not far out at 13 thou max on my tests around crown wheel if DTI is correct.
Land rover don't appear to have a backlash measurement vs required shim table and I don't want to have to remove bearing more than necessary as I don't have specialist tools & equipment.

Will examine all bearings & races for signs of wear, that could well be the next job as pinion drive flange initially turns very easily by hand, will check pre-load with spring balance before removal & check again when re-installing pinion.

Mingdiesel

Click to expand...

carrier has a preload of 5 thou if you just add a shim you alter the preload, i have a set of bearings that have had the center diameter enlarged so that the bearings can be fitted removed by hand whilst setting the preload and then the swapping of shims side to side to get backlash,obviously after checking pinion preload and hieght,you do well if you remove a carrier bearing without damaging it or the shims, run in bearings wont have new bearing preload the main thing is they have no free play

I have a set of genuine Timken bearings 607180/60781/60787, crush tube & shims, pinion seal etc to re-bearing the Salisbury if necessary however most of the wear actually appears to be between the planet sun & gears so I think it should be fixed first otherwise I think the knock will remain.
Have checked halfshafts & drive flanges, the A frame balljoint feels ok and I have replaced A frame bushes which appeared to have crept to one side somehow.
I can turn pinion to feel backlash on crown wheel then have to turn it further to overcome backlash from sun & planet gears.
Hope to pull shafts, remove diff, separate it and fit new cross pin, thrusts & sun/planet gears hopefully that will remove the largest amount of slop.
After removal of diff carrier I intend to look at carrier bearings, then remove pinion & examine inner & outer bearings too while I'm in there.

If I decide to attempt reduction in crown wheel backlash will have to pull the bearing off that side, not sure if I can do this without damaging bearing or shims using a 75-105mm bearing splitter & puller. Was intending to fit a 3 or 5 thou shim to take backlash down from 13 to nearer 6 thou.

Propshaft currently disconnected & diff pan removed however drive flange feels very free to rotate using one hand and pinion nut looks new. I think PO mentioned his garage had changed seal & indicated wear was inside the diff, that would tally with new nut & possibly incorrect pinion pre-load.
If pinion bearings worn not sure how easy the bearings & runners are to remove and re-fit without specialist tools, I can make a tubular drift and use old runner to spread load, not sure if that will work ok and not damage new runner.