Leaky differential

[Badger56]

I have a  Quaife ATB diff in a 7.5" sierra diff which apears to be leaking from the seal at the prop-shaft end, question is, do it my self? trusted local garage? or specialist?

What do you think?

Cheers

Dave 

[Thrustyjust]

Whichever way, I believe due to access the diffs got to come out. If your going that far, maybe wise to get all the seals done on the driveshafts too. Whether you do it yourself, depends on how confident with the spanners to remove and the diff will need pre loading to be correct and if wrong means fiddly work to do it again.

[Badger56]

1 hour ago, Thrustyjust said:

Whichever way, I believe due to access the diffs got to come out. If your going that far, maybe wise to get all the seals done on the driveshafts too. Whether you do it yourself, depends on how confident with the spanners to remove and the diff will need pre loading to be correct and if wrong means fiddly work to do it again.

Thanks, sounds like "trusted local garage" at least to me, I'll pop it into Andy's autos near to the factory, he's had plenty of experience with Westy's so hopefully he'll sort it out, if he can't Central Axles are the best local experts I know of.

Thanks Again.

Dave

[CosKev]

9 hours ago, Thrustyjust said:

Whichever way, I believe due to access the diffs got to come out. If your going that far, maybe wise to get all the seals done on the driveshafts too. Whether you do it yourself, depends on how confident with the spanners to remove and the diff will need pre loading to be correct and if wrong means fiddly work to do it again.

You don't need to alter the diff settings to change any oil seals.

The front flange can be removed and a new seal fitted without touching the inner nut that sets the preload.

Worth noting Sierra diffs have been known to let oil leak out along the shaft that the flange sits on,it then gets past the flange nut and leaks out between flange and propshaft.

[Thrustyjust]

35 minutes ago, CosKev said:

You don't need to alter the diff settings to change any oil seals.

The front flange can be removed and a new seal fitted without touching the inner nut that sets the preload.

Worth noting Sierra diffs have been known to let oil leak out along the shaft that the flange sits on,it then gets past the flange nut and leaks out between flange and propshaft.

I would have thought the lower chassis would have made it awkward to get to and in 6 years of owning my last car, I never had any leaks from my diff whatsoever.

[Steve (sdh2903)]

With diffs and gearboxes I always head for specialists rather than a generic garage. Most garages will just send it out to their preferred specialist anyway so your better cutting out the middle man.

[Badger56]

Cheers for all the replies, so Diff is in with Andy at Andy's autos and the bad news is that the case is cracked again! second time this has happened so I'm looking at replacing the whole thing just in case, the joys of Westfield ownership.

[CosKev]

11 hours ago, Thrustyjust said:

I would have thought the lower chassis would have made it awkward to get to and in 6 years of owning my last car, I never had any leaks from my diff whatsoever.

Yeah you won't do it in situ,where did I say you could?

I was referring to you stating 'the diff will need preloading'

[CosKev]

4 hours ago, Badger56 said:

Cheers for all the replies, so Diff is in with Andy at Andy's autos and the bad news is that the case is cracked again! second time this has happened so I'm looking at replacing the whole thing just in case, the joys of Westfield ownership.

 

Perhaps you have mounting point issues?

Can't remember reading about diff casing failures TBH on seven type cars,only mounting point failures

[CosKev]

4 hours ago, Badger56 said:

Cheers for all the replies, so Diff is in with Andy at Andy's autos and the bad news is that the case is cracked again! second time this has happened so I'm looking at replacing the whole thing just in case, the joys of Westfield ownership.

 

Perhaps you have mounting point issues?

Can't remember reading about diff casing failures TBH on seven type cars,only mounting point failures

[Badger56]

On 12/2/2016 at 19:03, CosKev said:

 

Perhaps you have mounting point issues?

Can't remember reading about diff casing failures TBH on seven type cars,only mounting point failures

Not sure whats going on, the first time a bolt let go (incorrectly tightened I guess, not by me) and cracked the back plate, all fixed by Tim at Central Axles. This time I'm told its cracked "at the bottom" so no idea whats going on until its off. Westfield, Tim & Andy all said they'd never know this happen before, trust me!

[Badger56]

On 12/4/2016 at 19:35, Badger56 said:

Not sure whats going on, the first time a bolt let go (incorrectly tightened I guess, not by me) and cracked the back plate, all fixed by Tim at Central Axles. This time I'm told its cracked "at the bottom" so no idea whats going on until its off. Westfield, Tim & Andy all said they'd never know this happen before, trust me!

Well, it looks as if the answer was that the loose bolt did more damage than at first thought, Tim at Central Axles sorted it all out and as "I should have spotted it first time" didn't charge me, which is very gentlemanly of him. Can highly recommend his services by the way, I know he does a lot of work for Westfield so I guess his talents are no secret.

[TAFKARM]

On 2 December 2016 at 07:49, Thrustyjust said:

I would have thought the lower chassis would have made it awkward to get to and in 6 years of owning my last car, I never had any leaks from my diff whatsoever.

Probably no oil in it