Diff failed and estimate from "local" garage
Discussion
Horrible 
sounding noise from rear of car on Friday last week has led my local (non-TVR) garage to diagnose a problem with the Diff "problem with the gearing in the diff casing". I've been quoted some £360 labour (plus VAT) for the work and £800 (plus VAT) to have the diff reconditioned. I'm not sure where the garage would be planning to send it for recon but I'm sure that there must be cheaper options. It sounds like taking out and re-fitting it is a job that I wouldn't need a TVR garage to do as a trawl through old posts show that a number of you have carried out the process yourselves Any thoughts or recommendatations? Should I get other things changed / replaced whilst it's in bits?
As ever - thanks. J.
sounding noise from rear of car on Friday last week has led my local (non-TVR) garage to diagnose a problem with the Diff "problem with the gearing in the diff casing". I've been quoted some £360 labour (plus VAT) for the work and £800 (plus VAT) to have the diff reconditioned. I'm not sure where the garage would be planning to send it for recon but I'm sure that there must be cheaper options. It sounds like taking out and re-fitting it is a job that I wouldn't need a TVR garage to do as a trawl through old posts show that a number of you have carried out the process yourselves Any thoughts or recommendatations? Should I get other things changed / replaced whilst it's in bits? As ever - thanks. J.
ginganinga said:...and, I suspect, if it's the GKN one he can quote a marginally better price than you were expecting?
I'm not sure which one I've got but it's a 1996 model (the year they changed) and apparently David Batty's not heard of the BTR one failing so as I'm early 1996 and it's failed I'm guessing (but awaiting confirmation from the garage) that it's the GKN one.
He did mine last year - IIRC my original lasted 75,000 miles.
Err, some of the GKN parts are rarer than RHS and will get even harder to come by - so you may not be able to get them at any price! I had a bearing failure and Bernie said I was with 10 miles of scrap due to crown kissing casing.... Clunks - couple hundred rebuild, crown & pinion which are no longer available name your price (IIRC factory had a few to recycle at the magic £800 rebuild cost) - but these will get fewer & fewer.....
There was a 20k mile GKN diff on the classifieds £600!
If I trashed mine in the winter - I would seriously consider the hassle of converting to a BTR unit.
Dave
There was a 20k mile GKN diff on the classifieds £600!
If I trashed mine in the winter - I would seriously consider the hassle of converting to a BTR unit.
Dave
I'm thinking doing that now too. Bernie suggested TowerView as they may have already done a BTR conversion. Hopefully new driveshaft isn't needed and a new BTR unit is £800 +vat which is what a reconditioned GKN one is worth. Bernie also confirmed that the parts are getting rarer. Yikes...
Anyone on here had a BTR conversion done?
Anyone on here had a BTR conversion done?
Go for it, if Bernie said it was a feasible option he's probably got good reasons. I reckon breakers wouldnt charge much more if you took drive shafts, mounts.... along with a BTR diff.
I had a quick nosey in case my diff was trashed, got as far as -
The rear diff mount looks the same, dont know about the side plates - but should be able to fabricate if neccessary. Powerflex, sharpe knife and bench grinder seems to sort most bushing!
Prop shaft, make sure you get the rear flange that fits the diff if thats different - I'd be surprised if the UJ was different...
A few templates of the diff flanges + the brackets and a visit to scrap yard would clarify a lot of the possible problems.
Just remember the speedo sensor configs... AFIK, LT77 speedo drive -ecu & toothed adapter at rear of prop shaft for speedo (magnetic sensor); BTR rings on drive shaft flanges. Best to try & keep your existing speedo system....
HTH, Dave
I had a quick nosey in case my diff was trashed, got as far as -
The rear diff mount looks the same, dont know about the side plates - but should be able to fabricate if neccessary. Powerflex, sharpe knife and bench grinder seems to sort most bushing!
Prop shaft, make sure you get the rear flange that fits the diff if thats different - I'd be surprised if the UJ was different...
A few templates of the diff flanges + the brackets and a visit to scrap yard would clarify a lot of the possible problems.
Just remember the speedo sensor configs... AFIK, LT77 speedo drive -ecu & toothed adapter at rear of prop shaft for speedo (magnetic sensor); BTR rings on drive shaft flanges. Best to try & keep your existing speedo system....
HTH, Dave
beano500 said:
He did mine last year - IIRC my original lasted 75,000 miles.
Mine too (GKN - 94 Chim 400) - sadly it's done 75k and starting to whine on over run plus it now leaks. I have a 40000 miler lined up for £300 though which should last a few years.
Incidentally, I spoke to Joospeed about changing to BTR a couple of weeks ago. From what he says I think it might involve a bit of welding to fabricate brackets to make the thing fit in. CVs should be OK as both GKN and BTR use Lobro CVs.
If you do upgrade can you take lots of pix please so we can all see whatthe job entails. Bell Hill and Douglas Valley breakers have loads of BTR diffs in stock for not too silly money BTW.
Plipton
plipton said:
If you do upgrade can you take lots of pix please so we can all see whatthe job entails. Bell Hill and Douglas Valley breakers have loads of BTR diffs in stock for not too silly money BTW.
Plipton
To be honest there's no chance of me doing this myself so the photos etc would have to be done by the garage, I can ask though....
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