The ute is now fixed and back on the road! Big thanks to my mate Cameron for helping me put it back together.
Because my 10-spline banjo had broken an axle, I decided that I wanted to upgrade to a 23-spline banjo diff. Luckily, I found one complete, and in good condition at a local wreckers for $120. This diff was out of a HZ Kingswood sedan, which means that the housing has the wrong brackets to be used on a ute. However, the axle length is the same, so I took the diff centre and axles out of the sedan housing and reassembled them into my existing housing in the ute. This way, I never even had to unbolt the springs.
However, we didn't do it the easy way! At first, I wanted to try and re-use the rare LSD centre which I already had. I knew that it was possible to interchange fine-spline side gears with the coarse-spline centres, so Cameron and I took both diff centres completely apart. It was only after doing this, that we realised that we needed fine-spline LSD cones as well! At this point, I gave up on the LSD and decided to re-assemble the open fine-spline centre as it was. It's worth noting that the new fine-spline diff has a 3.36:1 ratio, compared to the old 3.55:1. Surprisingly, this has made quite a big difference to the way the car drives and the cruising rpm. Much better for highway work than before!
The plastic carrier of my clutch throwout bearing had also disintegrated in only a few months of driving, which was giving me insufficient clutch disengagement. I have replaced it with a steel one, which I got with my Bedford purchase. The steel bearing carriers are no longer available on new clutch bearings.
So, having successfully re-assembled my new diff into the old housing, we moved on to the clutch and gearbox. The clutch and flywheel were de-glazed with 120 grit sandpaper and we put the clutch in. As I didn't have a clutch alignment tool, I tried to align the clutch friction plate by eye. However, no matter how much we tried, we couldn't get the gearbox to go on! Eventually, we gave up and left it until this morning. This time, I borrowed a clutch alignment tool from my mate Rex. The difference was like night and day! With the clutch aligned properly, the gearbox slid in with a minimum of hassle. I'm never going to attempt another clutch without an alignment tool again!
With the car fully reassembled, it was essential to test-drive it. Tonight, we went for a run through the hills to Strathalbyn and back. It feels very good to have a running car again! The engine rumbles and pulls the car along effortlessly, as before. It's not perfectly sorted, but more than good enough to drive to work on Monday. A very satisfying job done!
Because my 10-spline banjo had broken an axle, I decided that I wanted to upgrade to a 23-spline banjo diff. Luckily, I found one complete, and in good condition at a local wreckers for $120. This diff was out of a HZ Kingswood sedan, which means that the housing has the wrong brackets to be used on a ute. However, the axle length is the same, so I took the diff centre and axles out of the sedan housing and reassembled them into my existing housing in the ute. This way, I never even had to unbolt the springs.
However, we didn't do it the easy way! At first, I wanted to try and re-use the rare LSD centre which I already had. I knew that it was possible to interchange fine-spline side gears with the coarse-spline centres, so Cameron and I took both diff centres completely apart. It was only after doing this, that we realised that we needed fine-spline LSD cones as well! At this point, I gave up on the LSD and decided to re-assemble the open fine-spline centre as it was. It's worth noting that the new fine-spline diff has a 3.36:1 ratio, compared to the old 3.55:1. Surprisingly, this has made quite a big difference to the way the car drives and the cruising rpm. Much better for highway work than before!
The plastic carrier of my clutch throwout bearing had also disintegrated in only a few months of driving, which was giving me insufficient clutch disengagement. I have replaced it with a steel one, which I got with my Bedford purchase. The steel bearing carriers are no longer available on new clutch bearings.
So, having successfully re-assembled my new diff into the old housing, we moved on to the clutch and gearbox. The clutch and flywheel were de-glazed with 120 grit sandpaper and we put the clutch in. As I didn't have a clutch alignment tool, I tried to align the clutch friction plate by eye. However, no matter how much we tried, we couldn't get the gearbox to go on! Eventually, we gave up and left it until this morning. This time, I borrowed a clutch alignment tool from my mate Rex. The difference was like night and day! With the clutch aligned properly, the gearbox slid in with a minimum of hassle. I'm never going to attempt another clutch without an alignment tool again!
With the car fully reassembled, it was essential to test-drive it. Tonight, we went for a run through the hills to Strathalbyn and back. It feels very good to have a running car again! The engine rumbles and pulls the car along effortlessly, as before. It's not perfectly sorted, but more than good enough to drive to work on Monday. A very satisfying job done!