Landrover Diffs

[Ibex94]

Hi,

I'm in the process of rebuilding the axles for the Ibex both front and rear are the Land Rover type from '99 on. I aquired the rear one a couple of years ago and it appears to have done very little work. Have fully stripped it and am rebuilding it with a Detroit Truetrac diff, the original diff carrier appears to be in good condition with little backlash between sun and planet gears. Which gets me to my question - having stripped the front axle today it isn't quite as rosy as the rear, most the time having been spent trying to remove the offside drive flange which had successfully rusted with the half shaft to make normal efforts impossible and left me having to resort to 9" grinder in the end , diff now on the bench appears to have significantly more backlash than the the rear one and the L/R manual not particularly insightful, therefore can anybody tell me:

1. 
   

how much backlash is acceptable?

1. 
   

is the rear diff carrier interchangeable with the front - given the crown wheels will be changed over?

1. 
   

does the sun and plant gear L/R service kit successfully reduce the backlash or do you find the carrier casing also wears?

Any similar experience gratefully received.

Ta

Rob

[BogMonster]

At least half the failed diffs I have seen at work are due to the planet gears wearing into the cage so I would suggest changing the whole centre.

Front and rear 90/Discovery diffs are all interchangeable as a whole unit but there are differences between different ages of diff in terms of how the bearing adjusters lock, so you may not be able to swap the parts, depends on whether the two diffs use the same arrangement. I am not 100% sure how much of it is common between old and new.

[Ibex94]

At least half the failed diffs I have seen at work are due to the planet gears wearing into the cage so I would suggest changing the whole centre.

Front and rear 90/Discovery diffs are all interchangeable as a whole unit but there are differences between different ages of diff in terms of how the bearing adjusters lock, so you may not be able to swap the parts, depends on whether the two diffs use the same arrangement. I am not 100% sure how much of it is common between old and new.

Thanks Boggy, as luck would have it both axles are post '99 with the same locking arrangements. Front axle seems to have been unloved - no lube in swivel housing and unsurprisingly grey stodgey diff oil. So diff rebuild seems to be on for tomorrow assuming its going to keep raining