diff servicing

[kniever]

im gonna pull my diff apart for a general service and new oil, just wondering whats the best way for doing it and what oil should i use and how do i refill with oil without getting it everywhere, is there a bolt hole you fill it thru?

also if anyone has a scanner could you just scan the page/s from a gregorys about pulling diff apart and back together?

its just a single spinner live axle and my local autobarn and repco dont have a gregory's in till next week and i want to do this now as im on holidays and start back at work next week.

any help is much appreciated

ive also done a search in the how too's and there's nothing about diff's

[bradcad]

There isnt much to it at all

You dont even have to take the backing plate off (I am assuming its the berlina) 2 bolts- one for in, one for out. Make sure its hot- as in do highway speeds for 15 minutes. Dump the oil out of the bottom hole, leave it for an hour. I like pumping a couple of ml through to pick up anything loose.

refilling- i went to a local marine/ outboard shop. for about $10 they have nice spring loaded oil pumps perfect for refilling in tight spots.

look for some decent EP (extreme pressure) oil, PM is the highest there is, but any EP will do better than the stock crap, and you should see big temperature decrease from the old oil to the new (old will be too hot to hold, new should be warm but able to hold the diff after the same run)

And dont get diff oil everywhere, especially on your hands. Otherwise all you will smell is rank oil for about 2 weeks

[kniever]

i'm doing the vn calais but it shouldn't be much differant yeh?

[bradcad]

Should be the same story- the only diff i havent seen (not that I have looked at that many) with a drain bolt was a mk1 escort, meaning the backing plate had to come off. Added 20 minutes to the job.

[kniever]

i want to take the backing plate off anyway so i can check for wear and give it a real good clean out so its like new, i dont think i will be satisfied with just changing oil

[bradcad]

Fair enough- have fun!

[kniever]

ive only had a quick look but does a single spinner have an oil filler hole in the side like the lsd diff's? and it looks like a rubber plug(pretty sure its rubber anyway) on the backing plate which is about the size of a 20 cent piece, could that be the filler plug?

[Morton]

That's the ticket, mate Phat rubber plug on the back plate. Slightly off center if I remember. When you're refilling with oil, fill until the new oil is level with the filler plug. When you're on level ground, ofc haha

[kniever]

i have the diff centre out and undone the left hand crown wheel bolts but the 2 half's wont come apart, whats the trick to getting them apart?

[immortality]

i have the diff centre out and undone the left hand crown wheel bolts but the 2 half's wont come apart, whats the trick to getting them apart?

honestly, there's no reason to pull it apart if it wasn't noisy. i hope you have kept the shims seperate so they can go back where they came from. it should seperate with a quick tap with a hammer but i wouldn't bother.

if you really want to give it a good service then drop the old oil, refill with some 80w90 gear oil and repeat the process again in 2 weeks. their really is nothing else to service on a standard open center diff.

pulling out the axles disturbes the seals, if they have been in there for a couple of hundred thousand k's then they might leak when you put em back because they don't like being disturbed

[kniever]

i actually got given a mini spool today so im putting it in and also the car has only done 130,000km and everything is in good condition, ive gotten this far so i may aswell put the mini spool in now.

so it should just come apart just by tapping it with a hammer?