Anther diff question.. if I replace the entire unit, won't the shafts be unbalanced

Hi all, me again, when I was removing the diff I was careful to mark the relative positions of the flanges on the propshaft and half shafts so that they could be returned to the correct positions when the diff went back in. I understand if they were not then they would end up unbalanced and that would be ungood.

It looks like I can get an entire used replacement diff ok for a 3 or 4 hundred $ (NZ $ that is), but my question is, I obviously can't align the shafts to the diff in the same way because they have never been connected togethor before.

I can't find any mention of this in the books or on the web, so maybe it's not an issue, or do I have to get the shafts rebalanced or something after I install it all?. Perhaps I have to replace an entire "set" of diff, propshaft and the half shafts at once (that sounds decidedly expensive)? Or can I get the flanges removed from the old broken diff and put onto the new diff so the mating can be aligned correctly again ?

Whats the usual process for that?

Reply to
James Sleeman
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Wouldn't the half shafts be balanced individually and OK in any different differential? I am not sure as to the answer by any means, but in this day and age of the assembly line I can't imagine setting each car off to the side to "tune" a balance shaft of any sort. What do the rest of you think?

Reply to
Mike

Yea I was thinking about it last night and thought it sounded silly, I realised that I must have been thinking about it all wrong.

I don't think (and I don't really know what I'm talking about so take it with a grain of salt) the shafts are balanced with respect to the diff, but with respect to each other. The reason for taking care to bolt the flanges togethor (between diff and shafts) in the same orientation must be so the shafts will remain at the same orientation with respect to each other, the marks on the diff are just a way of realigning them correctly.

So I figure that what I should do is transpose the marks I made on the old diff to the new diff so I can correctly realign the shafts relative to each other again.

Mechanics in the group, am I right ?

Reply to
James Sleeman

I'd like to know the answer to this. The manual I've got also says to mark the differential and drive axle shaft flanges for installation reference. I don't know why. Could they mean left and right? The shafts are not balanced (not usually, as far as I know) and they do not remain in the same position relative to each other anyway, every time you go around a curve or turn they turn at different speeds and the relationship between them changes.

John

Reply to
John

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