[bandario]

Howdy folks. Almost 1 year of hassle-free operation down and I am having my first real mechanical issue with the gremlin (05 Manual Jimny, push button 4x4)

I was hearing a scraping noise when coasting to a stop and noticed a bit of a hot smell after driving so I took my car in a couple of weeks ago thinking my wheel bearings were stuffed. I expected to go through wheel bearings quite quickly given the size of the wheels/tyres on the car.


The shop did one bearing and temp-fitted the axle back to the diff to check it and noticed that even with the new bearing the noise was still present...they traced it to the rear diff centre.

Now at this point I should mention that the shop themselves have stated they are a brakes/ bearings kind of outfit and not diff specialists but I dropped in today and we chucked the diff in a vice, fitted up 1 axle and they demonstrated that they're able to get the diff to turn a bit by rotating the axle which apparently shouldn't happen.

The owner pointed out that he was able to rotate the lugs which go around the diff with a screwdriver which shouldn't happen, as they should be locked in with pins.

The diff bearings were done just before I bought the car and it's clear that it has been open and worked on at about that time period but I simply don't know enough about the problem to delve much further. I'm looking at $500 for a second hand diff from a local wreckers with no guarantee of condition or probably $1000 for a rebuild...neither of those options seem that great at this point because the pinion/ spider gears are all in very good condition...I would almost rather buy one of the 2nd hand diffs from this forum knowing the ratio is incorrect and sub in the gears from my current diff, but not sure if I could pull this job off at home.

I'm already up for about $500 in labour at this point to take it back as-is.

Any ideas, I am all ears!

Many thanks all.

EDIT: I'm an idiot.

[fordem]

That might not be the best choice of picture to use for this discussion as it shows an airlocker and not a differential, and those pins are not always "secured" - notice how the ring gear in that picture covers half the pins? They're not going anywhere.

Also - under normal circumstances, ie, vehicle being driven in a straight line, the entire differential assembly more or less rotates as a single unit - any noises would be coming from the either the ring, the pinion or the bearings - there will be very little movement of the differential pinions/side gears on those pins.

Now - what puzzles me is this - when you rotate the axle, how can the diff not rotate? Either the entire assembly will rotate, or the gears will rotate, depending on what the other axle is doing.

[alien]

My bet is that it's the bearings in the diff.

[tanshi]

there are two bits I don't understand.

we chucked the diff in a vice, fitted up 1 axle and they demonstrated that they're able to get the diff to turn a bit by rotating the axle which apparently shouldn't happen.

The owner pointed out that he was able to rotate the lugs which go around the diff with a screwdriver which shouldn't happen, as they should be locked in with pins

yes you should be able to rotate the diff a bit by turning the axle. just not a huge amount. its called back lash.

I also have no idea what Lugs your talking about

[mrw82]

To me it sounds like the carrier bearing retainer/tensioner that's loose Tanshi. If that is the case then at the very least it will need new carrier bearings and have the diff set up and R&P mesh pattern checked.

[bandario]

Thanks for the advice all, I am thinking at this point it is a trip to a diff specialist in Melbourne. As I said, the gears look spiffy as, would be a shame to waste.

Would I need the car/ axles or just the diff?

[J--A--C--K]

Just take the diff in , if your happy to fit it all back up when you get home, should be cheaper that way to .