Offroad-Express

My 88 Hilux rear diff has gone on me, and I'm looking at what my options are for fixing/replacing.

I think the main problem is that the pinion rear bearing crapped out, and this has resulted in the pinion gear machining some new teeth into the carrier. Initially I had a bit of vibration in the drivetrain, and there was slop in the rear pinion bearing. I tightened the pinion nut a 1/4 turn to pinch up the slack and 2 weeks later it made a very nasty noise for the last 1km of my drive home. My first impression is throw it all away and start over as there is a fair amount of metal has been removed.

Can someone clarify what air lockers like the ones ARB do consist of? If I got an air locker, does that replace my carrier? If so, what else do I need to build a new diff head? Just the pinion and crown? do they come with carrier bearings etc?

Is this a reasonable idea for replacing my diff, or is this going to work out costing 5x the price of a reconditioned diff? I'm going to do a bit of calling around to see if I can get some prices on a rebuilt diff, but I did look into this a while back and couldn't find a 4.88 LSD.

A locker is a replacement carrier, you swap over the ringgear from your old diff, pays to throw 2 x new carrier bearings into the pot as well....

ARB are doing a free compressor with every locker ATM

Sounds like you'll be up for a replacement crown wheel and pinion as well, might be cheaper to find a second hand diff head and put the ARB in that with new bearings etc.

4WDbits wrote:Sounds like you'll be up for a replacement crown wheel and pinion as well, might be cheaper to find a second hand diff head and put the ARB in that with new bearings etc.

X 2

Cheers for the replies. If I can find a second hand 4.88 ratio, then that sounds like a good plan. Only trouble is they seem to be a hard ratio to find. I've seen you can get nitro gear replacement crown and pinions for about $400AUD, so if I can't use my current crown and pinion (I understand that they are probably rooted, but to be honest, they look near perfect to my untrained eyes).

Do I need to allow more than just a couple of hours labour to get someone to set it up for me? I'll try my hand at most things, but having not set up a diff before, I'm not too keen to do it myself without close supervision of an expert. I've got the head out obviously, so I assume I can take that and the locker and get someone to set it up ready for me to fit into the housing.

Actually, this may be less relevant than I thought. Just got a price on the locker, and it turns out I was a bit off the mark with my estimated pricing. At $1650+gst for the locker, then around $380 for getting it installed into the head, and that's before worrying about crown and pinion, and bearings etc.

On the flip side, I just spoke to someone at Diff and Axle Repairs in Otahuhu, and they reckon from my description, the carrier will be fine, and if not they can fix or replace parts cheaply. All in all, replacing bearings, crown and pinion, + labour, they reckon should be around $570+gst. I'll get a better idea of cost once they've seen it, but looking like a pretty good option at this point. He even said that included "freshening up" the LSD. Won't be able to get that in until Wednesday, but I'll follow up and let you know how it turns out. Unfortunately with a price difference like that, I just don't think I can justify the locker yet.

Steelie Gears is another good diff place.

Actually steelie gears is the same good diff place. Turns out they also trade as diff and rear axle repairs. Just gave them a call and Tony recognized me from our conversation this morning haha!

88lux wrote: I just don't think I can justify the locker yet.

What nows the best time to justify it. when you have a good working diff it will be infinitely more difficult to justify a change and you get a free compressor too!

Of course I am married so I have to be a lot more sneaky than a single chappie when it comes to "justifying" stuff.

I hear what you're saying, and fully agree. However I'm not married yet and if I blow an extra 2 grand over what I need to then there'll definitely be questions as to why I can afford that and not a ring! Plus it doesn't take much effort to slacken off the pinion nut if I need an excuse in the future haha!

88lux wrote:I hear what you're saying, and fully agree. However I'm not married yet and if I blow an extra 2 grand over what I need to then there'll definitely be questions as to why I can afford that and not a ring! Plus it doesn't take much effort to slacken off the pinion nut if I need an excuse in the future haha!

I'm hearing ya.

oh got my nissn locker as cheaper than a air locker then in aussie stated since we are here good time for afront air locker as it cheaper than in nz only by $300 buthave my lockers now

All sorted. Tony at Steelie Gears in Otahuhu rebuilt it for me. Did all the bearings, cleaned it up (acid dipped it or something) and tightened the crap out of the LSD. The LSD is infinitely better than it's ever been, and all is good. Not bad for less than half a grand!! Highly recommend steelie gears for anything diff related, and he recons he'll tighten up an LSD for my mate for about $90 (just dropping the head into him). Amazing the difference you get when you find someone who's been doing something for a few decades!

still going huh he did one of my mustang diff head gear swaps for me