Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Sorry I am being a bit busy today asking a few questions, but as I said focused on getting her rolling again by Easter.

I have never worked on a Diff before, fortunately I have never broken one yet so the need has not arised.

The car has been standing for the last 10 years. The diff turns ok, I can?t see any oil leaks (maybe there is no oil in it) yes there is some backlash but I don?t know if its too much.

I propose to pull the drive shafts and split the case, so this means replace the bearings, circlips and seals.

If the crown and pinion look OK and the backlash is acceptable, would you just put it all back ??? or am I going to regret not replacing the input bearing seal etc, although I know this would now mean a complete strip reassembly and the need to set the teeth mesh / backlash and preload, which all sound a bit scary.

Andrew,

If you have never taken a diff apart before, how would you know how much wear was acceptable on a cw&p? Do you have the tools to set it up correctly, would you know if the bearings were shot? etc, etc. Some will say if you do not give it a go yourself, you will never learn. But I disagree. Diffs are not the place to learn. Even the so called experts sometimes mess up. Ask Jimj on here.

Diffs are a pita to take in and out. Save yourself the grief and take it to a reputable transmission gaff near where you are, fit it and forget it.

And Andrew, why don't you start a restoration tread under LOTUS +2 DISCUSSIONS? Peeps like seeing what and how other enthusiasts go about their projects.

Best of luck with it.

Leslie

If there no obvious issues I'd either do it all or nothing (but change the oil). You know what will happen if you only do half of it....

If the diff is out of the car I'd be very tempted to do it all. I think Leslie makes a good point and I'd at least get a price for getting it rebuild by someone else so you can weigh up the cost v risk. Being in the UK and it being a basic ford diff in a fancy case it shouldn't be hard to find some local that can do it.

Hi Leslie,

You address my concern which is if it needs a rebuild send it to a specialist. but to comment further, the output seals and bearing are not complex unless I have really missed something. I do have dial gauge and base to measure backlash, the tolerance is in the Workshop manual so I can measure this, the manual also has a set of diagrams regarding wear pattern.

but beyond that if it needs work then a specialist it is. what I was looking for was to be told that it does not matter what the backlash and wear is that I should bite the bullet and get it rebuilt because there is no way to assess the bearing or seal other than to assume they are original.

I need to check the price but there is no short of companies local who should be able to do this work

When building my Plus 2 (our of boxes of bits ), I replaced the diff output bearings and seals as a matter of course.

I also replaced the pinion seal. Having watched Wheeler Dealers in my youth, I simply marked the nut and shaft, then counted the number of turns to remove the nut. I removed the flange and replaced the seal. Then I counted the turns as I wound the nut back on, and aligned the original marks I made. Not technically the right thing to do, but I took the risk that I might have to remove the diff later. Everything seems fine now that I'm driving the car.