T series rear end diff centre change guide (warning, pics!)

[roadsailing]

On the topic of pulling axles out, i plan on buying a slide hammer to do this next time.

lying on your side balancing a metre long bit of 2 by 4 on your foot and bashing it with a sledgehammer isn't too much fun.

also, jack the car up high so you can bench press the centre in and out of the housing, and have a look in the bottom of it so you can pick out the metal slush and mig sticks.

[takai]

shinybluesteel: dont you have a welder. If you do, then simply get a piece of steel rod about 8mm OD and whack a weight over the end. Then just weld the end of the rod to the knob on a pair of multigrips, and block off the other end (or put a nice handle on it) and voila one homemade slide hammer.

[roadsailing]

thats a frigging good idea, better yet, i'll make it at work with the lathe and gear, then i'll be getting paid to make some crap.

actually, i dont really uderstand what you wrote, but i have interpreted it as "make a slide hammer"

[takai]

Lol, maybe ill make one up tomorrow. Hell, its hot now, ill draw one up in paint.

[takai]

Muahaha, paint was crap. So i pulled out the good favourite combo: Google Images, and Photoshop CS:



Edit: should have explained it.
The part in silver would be some 8mm or similar dia steel bar which you bend to get the triangular thing on the end (some people call these handles or something ). The blue oval thing is a steel weight with a hole drilled through the center so it slides over the steel bar. And the end of the steel bar is welded to the adjustment screw on the locking pliers/multigrips.

[Bananaman]

Why not just put the wheel back on with nuts just slightly done up, and get it off that way? It was really easy, and if you're worried about your rims, just use your spare or a steelie.. Not like there was much bashing involved, only took a couple of good goes at it and out it came.

Witzl - I'll resize my pics to be a similar size to your own (tonight, i'm at work atm!), and then put them among the text. Do you mind if i add yours into the initial post also?

Cheers for all the extra info - i'll go through and modify the post further tonight sometime.

[takai]

Ah, because you can often get the problem where the axle is actually stuck. Sounds like yours came off quite easily. But personally ive had one where one axle came out fine, but the other took forever and a day to get out. Tried with a large sledge hammer and no luck, ended up using a slide hammer and pop, out it came.
If you think about it, its a much more concentrated force, on a smaller area. So not as much distribution.

[Bananaman]

Ahh fair enough. I'm surprised mine didn't do this then, it seems everything i do with a car, what can go wrong will, thats the rule isn't it?



I'd never actually seen one one looked like until just then, i love google images If someone else didn't either, theres one above

What exactly do you fix the vice grips to on your ghetto slide hammer?


ed: That said, using the wheel is a slide hammer, just on a smaller scale... You only have the slide length of the thread of the axle, and i guess putting load on the thread like that probably isn't ideal either. I'd certainly do this first before getting into it with sledge hammers etc, its seriously very easy, and seemed pretty effective

[takai]

Last time i did it we just MIGed the bar onto the end of the vice/multi/locking grips. With a good enough weld it will hold, and the bonus is that you can use it for much more than just removing axles. Stuck suspension parts, etc.

[Bananaman]

Sorry, didn't explain myself real well - what i meant was, the slide hammer is held on to the axle with just the clamping force of the vice grips? They'd want to be a pretty bloody good set of vice grips!

[takai]

Yeah, if you notice in the end of your axles there are a pair of holes which you put a socket through to undo the axle locking bolts, you basically just clamp it around the part of the axle protruding from the top. Bit hard to explain.

[Bananaman]

Apologies for the lack of updates, been busy and completely forgot. I'll try and update / polish this tonight. Thanks for everyone's input

[RobertoX]

I've found it easier to pull off the drums when you loosen off the handbrake tensioner inside the drum. There is a small access hole in the drum backing plate covered by a rubber grommet where you can get to the ratchet mechanism. You will need to use a small screwdriver to poke through the hole to release the ratchet stopper Its a bit fiddly but a couple of turns is usually enough.
This works particularly if your drums haven't been off in a while and the pads have worn into them making a small ridge which prevents the drum from slipping over the pad.

Also if you arent changing the diff and just doing the seals or bearings and your oil is good. Do one side at a time and jack that side up so the oil doesn't pour out then you don't need to fill the oil up at the end. (for example if you get the wrong oil seal in a bearing kit and it starts to leak a few days later, grrr....).

Also if you do find yourslf in the situation where you have drained all the oil out and the filler wont come open I rekon you could probably take out the small breather from the top and fill from there (might be a bit slow though), you would need to know the volume of oil to fill...

[Hen]

If the filler is stuck, you can also jack up one side with the axle out and pour oil down the end of the axle housing. It is much easier to just make sure the filler plug can be removed though.

Hen

[Bananaman]

Main post has now been updated a bit, with pictures inserted throughout (thanks for the extras Karl) - let me know what you think..