Differential - fitting problems

[tyasman]

I have just taken the diff. out of my '70 Elan S4.We followed the workshop manual instructions. It took 3 solid hours of pushing and pulling, including a considerable amount of time bending back a piece of chassis and unbolting the piece of angle iron that stretches across the top of the housing and is secured by a central bolt. This bolt seemed to be a lot longer than it needed to be(40mm). I understand it was a standard fitting on Sprints, but what does it DO, and is it really necessary? If I have to re-it it I'm going to chamfer off the corners so that it goes in easier, but I can't see that it serves any purpose. Thanks for any answers.

[john.p.clegg]

Stops the fragile "ears" being broken off the rear diff housing when you give it some "wellie"....keep it there...Colin didn't add anything that wasn't necessary...

John

[bcmc33]

From memory the manual is quite clear ? the diff cannot be removed or replaced with the brace fitted.

The real problem I found when removing the diff was that the lower end of the casting near the input flange fouled the chassis ? and only cleared with a bit of ?controlled? brute force. To aid refitting I ground off the protrusion level with the rest if the casting and it went back with minimal effort.

The other aid was to cut a slot in the brace tube so that with the bolt partly pre-assembled the brace can be easily fitted when the diff is in position. Do not reduce the length of the bolt.

[Briggs1]

The manual also properly states to install from the lefts side.

This is important - I just refitted mine and fought like crazy from the right side - there was NO way it was going in. So I read the manual and it says slide in from the left.

Guess what - it WAS that easy - slide it in from the left (drivers side for us in the US / passenger side for the UK crowd). It went right in.

Good Luck

[Elanintheforest]

Briggs, you're absolutely right. It's a little like one of those Chinese puzzles...at a certain strange twisty angle from the correct side, it pops in and out with ease. It took me a while to figure...and having to resort to reading the manual!

Mark

[Lincoln62]

The diff in my S2 won't come out without the help of a big bar and some prying. I tried it every which way and it needs to be squeezed out and back in again. It could be that someone has put a jack under the chassis at some time and put a slight bend in it but my friend's Plus 2 was exactly the same when we did the diff on that.

Peter
66S2

[cabc26b]

On a car that has had a donut failures the diffs go in an out quite easily....

Kidding aside I have never had a problem removing one. If I recall the process - I rotate the nose to about 2 o'clock ( using drive shaft flange as hand and as if you were looking down) Then pull the left lower ear clear of the platform on the Left side . nose goes up and then the unit slides out..

George