Hi can anyone tell me if i turn the big castle nuts at the end of the drive shafts on the diff will it tighten the cogs and take the slack out in the diff

My diff has quite a lot of play in it Any help is appreciated
Also has anyone got a photo of the spanner i will need to tighten the nuts
Jacko

U2U me an email address and I can send a pdf on sierra diff overhaul, it may help, the file is on the web but may save some time.

The tool, try this type of thing on the bay
eBay Item

Adrian
I will remember the code?

[Edited on 29-5-12 by AdrianH]

Yes this will take out the backlash between the crown wheel and pinion.

I removed my crown wheel and tightened the pinion to remove any float in the pinion bearings, then refitted the crown wheel with a lot of backlash between the gears and twiddled either end to remove any float in the crown wheel bearings, now marched the crown wheel into mesh with the pinion, turning both ends evenly until the point that the gears started to bind then back out a tad.

It's not to the book spec, but I figured with 100k miles under its belt I just want to remove all the slack I could.

When I raced landrovers we used to wind the gears until they bound up to stop the cogs chipping when you landed

The only thing you will struggle with is taking the lash out the planet gears, I never bothered.

Car is a lot less clonky now.

I did not use a spanner, just a rod across the castle points, had to clean as much rubbish away as possible, soak in WD40 and gently heat the outside case to get things moving.



And purchased a short 'cheap' impact socket for the pinion nut under the flange, just cut this in half and welded a bit of scaffold tube in to make long enough.



Regards Mark


[Edited on 29/5/12 by mark chandler]

Thankyou for all the help i have made a C spanner today with 8 teeth that fit the castle nut so i don't have to remove the drive shafts .
I will put a photo in my archives when i get time
Jacko