[QUOTE]Originally posted by The Reverend
I started doing assembly tonight, but I just broke my friend's hydrolic press trying to get the bearing onto the damn pinion.

 

The '04 pinion is not the same - but I'm using an 00-03 pinion. The bearings are the same for all years. The input/output flanges on the '04 are different and I didn't want to have to change my prop shaft and axles to mate up with the new flanges.

It was cold out, so I didn't try putting the pinion in the freezer, but I did put the bearing in the oven at 300 degrees and it still wouldn't go on.

The press is (or more accurately, "was") a Harbor Freight press. Dunno what load it was rated for. The jack on it said 12 ton, but I don't think I had 12 tons of pressure on it when the crosspiece bent and the positioning block broke.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by The Reverend
The '04 pinion is not the same - but I'm using an 00-03 pinion.

 

They probably changed the angle of the cut on the gears, is my guess. Maybe a little straighter cut for better strength - I dunno. Also, I think they changed the flanges for the prop shaft and axles.

I have pics of the '04 housing, I'll post them later today or tomorrow. I can't tell for sure what's changed
tho because I don't have my old housing to compare it to anymore.

I took the pinion and bearing to a shop today to have them press it and they couldn't get it on either. Either the bearing is defective or the pinion slick rick gave me is messed up. I've got a new bearing coming tomorrow, hopefully that will fix it.

 

Well man all I can say is that I'm on my original diff, changed the oil on it once to redline shockproof about 5K miles ago, has 56K miles on it and A LOT of track miles. I'm not saying it's you that's the problem just that it's unlikely the diff

 

hi folks, newcomer to S2ki. just picked up MY00 GPW tuesday, concerned about the amount of noise coming from rear of car when coasting down in 2nd or 3rd. loud, gear whine type of noise. especially alarmed after reading posts here. should i take it back?

 

Got everything back together and running today. I still need to get the rest of the pictures together and add a news entry to my website, but the diff seems all good now.

I realized while I was working on it that last time I build the rear end, I didn't have enough load on the pinion bearings and I had left too much backlash (accidentally read 0.0020" minimum backlash in the service manual as 0.020" last time). Also probably could have used more load on the carrier bearings. The new rear end is understandably quieter.

Anyway, I think it's all good this time although I don't see how you can possibly get only 3-6 lb of preload on the carrier because a properly loaded pinion is going to put more drag than that on the pinion. Maybe I just didn't understand the service manual's method for checking the preload on the carrier bearings...

Anyway, like I said, the diff is fine, BUT, now my transmission is grinding in 3rd and 4th gears! WTF?! All I can figure is maybe when the diff blew it put a lot of stress on the trans and something broke? Or maybe it's just grinding because it sat for a week and a half without moving? I did get some grinding before when I let the car sit for a while without getting driven. I think the redline MT90/MTL combo doesn't like sitting for long periods of time. Anyway, I'm going to try and run it a little harder tomorrow morning and see if that fixes the trans. That actually worked last time it was grinding.

Any other thoughts on the gear grinding???

 

Im my experience when I had a grind, changing the fluid helped alot, and also driving it nice seemed to cure it. I always envisioned it as some shavings or something that needed to be cleaned out, but I am sure I am wrong

Chris

 

correct me if I am wrong...
the mechanic who did my gear swap and KAAZ LSD told me..the gap between gear drive to pinion is originally too big...However, he said it could be adjust to be a smaller gap to make it harder to break.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by The Reverend
Anyway, I think it's all good this time although I don't see how you can possibly get only 3-6 lb of preload on the carrier because a properly loaded pinion is going to put more drag than that on the pinion.