Center diff rebuild grinding gears

[Chozwoz]

OK! It's not as bad as it sounds but I just rebuilt the center diff on my EB48.4 and after tightening the screws the diff is pretty stiff and I can literally feel ever tooth as you spin it. I loosened up the screws to relieve the tension and barely tightened them again. It's a lot easier to spin the outdrives but you can still feel the gears meshing. Is this normal? My rebuilt rear does this ever so slightly and my front diff not at all. And those screws are tight, I know it. Should I try two gaskets or would that create too much space inside the diff case and invite the gears to eat themselves. Whose got the knowledge on this one??? Thanks again!

 

[Billl DeLong]

It's not uncommon to over tighten the screws and cause binding... you can even crush the gasket as well, it might be worth replacing the old gasket with a new one and that might do the trick. Sometimes just loosening each screw 1/4 turn is all it takes to get the gears to spin free. If you start to get leaks then it may be time to replace the plastic diff case and be careful not to over tighten the screws going forward.

Good Luck!

 

[Chozwoz]

I went ahead and stuck another gasket in there. Screws are tight (not too tight) and no more feeling the gears. Well you can just a wee bit but it's much better than before. Was thinking about metal (aluminum) diff cases would prolly eliminate the over-tightening stripping threads in plastic issue but at what gain to rotating mass...