Del Fuego's Lada

[SP450andLE]

Yeah, that's alg with me

Ladeda, do you have a spare seat? My mate could tag along with you if thats ok? Though I guess there will be someone else with a spare seat he can go with.

I'm only asking cos he'll be my ride out there

[Del Fuego]

Ok, I'm all good, have truck lined up to get lada out there haha,

Lemme know what the plan is

[SP450andLE]

Well me and my mate are set to go (turns out I'm driving anyway lol).

So we'll meet you guys at Ladeda's place at ...o'clock

[Del Fuego]

8.30... If you check this in the am lol

[Del Fuego]

I'm sure you all read this in "this weekends achievements" however I will stick it here too so I can find the pics easily


After months of faffing about I finally got her done... and took her on her maiden voyage. All was going swimmingly, well... moderately swimmingly anyhow... I choose to ignore horrendously rich tune (2smoke anyone?) and the fact that she wouldn't run sans choke... but all in all progress was dandy, up hills, down dales, through holes, over stumps... stupendous, look at that, TWO ladas functional on ONE day!!!















For approximately 23 minutes... after that a horrendous knocking noise surfaced... well, a knocking, grinding, shuddering "I'm not really happy about movement anymore" noise :/

Turns out quite a few bits of the driveline decided to stop being pals... this lead to some "unpleasantness" such as:











Which lead to this:





and then this:



And finally thanks to all you good bastards who towed/gave rides/parts/opened gates/leant trailers and generally saved my bacon I managed to get her home safe and sound on a trailer then deal with grindingclunkingbangingdoonkdoonkscreeeetch type noises till I managed to manhandle the b*tch into the driveway at home...


... where I will attempt repairs faster than the previous lot... aka less than a year or so

But honestly thanks all, you know who you are and you are fracking amazing!!

[Hoodoo]

Obviously a good day out, with proper people. One word though - TYRES! Bet that's what broke everything for you!!
Regards,

[Cameron]

traction's a component killer for sure!

[Del Fuego]

Yeah... and it looks like I had a rusted/broken/missing bolt somewhere which didn't help... combined with super dry woodhill meant not much slipping and sliding and much breaking.

Ladeda's lada blew the front dif even more impressively later in the day (he is rolling the Sat's I had on originally haha)

but yes, a solid group of fellas to be out with, made sure all trucks arrived back to their respective bases

[Cameron]

any vids form the day?

[Del Fuego]

I thought some people were taking some, saw some go pros strapped to some shit but they don't seem to have surfaced yet

[lincooln]

I will need to come out once yours is fixed, or before, need to give mine a run once its done, just imagine, 3 Lada's at Woodhill. Maybe this is the apocalypse.

[Ralfie]

I will need to come out once yours is fixed, or before, need to give mine a run once its done, just imagine, 3 Lada's at Woodhill. Maybe this is the apocalypse.

Don't get your hopes up too much. Those two didn't last very long and their problems could be infectious ........ and catching.

[lincooln]

thats what I am worried about too. especially with more power. Lucky we have basically two spare of everything.

[ladeda]

mine lasted plenty long thanks ralfie. it only broke due to my own lack of experience. but yes ultimatly the tyres can be blamed, but only for messing up the ability to crawl therefor the need for speed arises and nec minnit BANG POP FIZ. so you get an idea of how dum i was being i managed to blow the rear diff at exctly the same time. but I can say I have now learnt what not to do. it neva woulda gone if I hadent treated it the way I did.
when in doubt flat out, is NOT good advice

delfuego my mate will be giving me the footage eventually ill post it at the other social media site we use.
lincooln I look foward to seeing that fiva liveaction style bro. I had a nosey at it when i was last at urs steeling parts, I like the seats, it also looks like it has more clearance on the front with those springs than mine does with the wedges.
I look foward to having a few lada vs lada compititons with youz.

just a silly request guys and this is to you too sp450. I know its a bit late now, but please use my tag name only on ore as aposed to actual name thanks.

[Del Fuego]

edited my post for privacy

Yeah, there is a real lack of super slow crawl with mine too, much of that is due to having to run with choke due to lack of tuning haha but I would like a lower range... hmm, what's that? pondering more mods... surely not!? haha

[Nivapulledout]

I have a couple of alu front diffs lying around if you need them, but I recommend with tyres like that you are going to be needing to upgrade to a steel front diff with its own mounts!!!
I have the jig I used still if you want it....

As for woodhill I am dead keen to join you guys up there if my one survives the south Island trip in one piece ha ha. (and if it gets certified)

[Del Fuego]

Ok... finally had a look at replacing the buggered front diff today...

Both bolts snapped along with the support that the diff hangs off on the drivers side fortunately it doesn't look like anything unreplacable has been smashed which is nice... just need to find that bracket thing.

Also, I can't for the life of me figure out how to get the damned thing off...

Do I need to remove CV's or some part of the steering setup or what? I am well confused.

Main front driveshaft is out, all the bolts I can find are removed... feels and looks like it is just hanging off the front drive shafts(half shafts? that go to the wheels from the diff?)

Any advice greatly accepted, I'm a bit stuck and this is a first for me

Feels like it should be able to twist and pop the shafts out of the diff but that doesn't seem to want to happen...

[Cameron]

sounds like you need to do what you do when you remove the gearbox from an FWD car.
Drop one, or both of the lower balljoints (just do one. I usually get away with it like this on most things)
then use a prybar to pop the inner cv cups out of the diff housing. If it's anythign like 99% of FWD cars out there they should just be held in with a snap ring. piece of piss.

prybar may be able to be substituted with your biggest, uglist flat bladed screwdriver. I call mine 'big blue'

[ladeda]

easy as bro
loosen right front hub nut
remove 3 bolts from lower ball joint both sides
lift away hub and slide drive shaft out of right hub. can turn steering to make easier. also remove the right side botom shock bolt and push shock all the way up this will make room to get shaft out.
remove the 3x 13mm nuts that hold the shafts into diff housing and remove right shaft completly. just pull the left shaft out of diff only, or remove completly if you like.
your diff will then literaly fall out then

[ladeda]

WARNING! just remember you have a lot of spring load on the lower joint so put jack under lower spring plate to take load, then once bolts are out slowly lower jack down to remove spring load. do in reverse to put back together.

when doing up the hub nut, it doesent go very tight at all, taperd roller bearing in there. just a nip up and relock the bolt in place.

also remembr to check your new diff is same ratio as the old.

[Del Fuego]

Many thanks all got it sussed and out, will replace one of the CV's before reassembling so it can sit in bits for the next little while till that happens... and I start asking "How the #### does this CV come out/in??" lol

[Hoodoo]

Safe bet that it's all sorted and you're raring to go on the next outing??
Regards,
John

[Del Fuego]

Waiting on payday to get the CV bits needed then I will throw her back together haha, but yes can't wait to give her a proper trial

[Del Fuego]

went and looked at this sack yesterday afternoon... skinned knuckles, bruised hands... zero progress.

Turns out the bracket that the diff "hangs" off (drivers side of diff) has snapped a chunk out where it bolts on so I need a new one of those...

Also i can't get that thing off without stripping the CV's out, which I need to do but am failing to figure out... essentially I got annoyed and went out for dinner before I torched it/Zero patience at the moment

However I have to get it back together in the next few weeks as I am moving house... gah.

Pointless update is pointless.

[Hoodoo]

Not really pointless - we've all been there!! Though, to remove the front diff it really is better to remove the driveshafts and CV joints first. This is one of those areas where it's best to follow the manual! Can you not weld the bracket up after unbolting from the block? Or is it the one that fits onto the joint and bolts to the engine bracket?
Regards,
John.

[Del Fuego]

it is the one that bolts onto the side of the diff (3 bolts) and then up to the engine(I think) with one big bolt.

I can probably spin it and weld the piece that has broken off back on, just a bit awkward and doesn't look like it is really the correct shape any more... I need to get the CV off anyway to replace the boots however as you note, I have done it a bit backward by dropping the diff out from between the shafts.

I was going to just put it back together and drag it to someone to suss out the CV because I need to get it rolling again but don't want to bugger it by having it hanging off one side only... will have a go at welding the bracket back together and see if I can reassemble it for the time being... I was just getting frustrated by impossibly tight/rusty/bent nut that I really need to get out to reinstall the bracket after it is welded haha...

[lincooln]

have you used that freeze off stuff? Works magic on rusty bolts

[Del Fuego]

I think the main problem is that it is bent, and in a stupid location with a bunch of things getting in the way of a good swing lol... one click of the ratchet at a time haha

[Hoodoo]

And how's yours coming on?
Regards,
John

[Cameron]

I hope you're using this thing to pull out shitted trees/shrubs, and dig trenchs at your new pad hah