Tagged: diff

killin it

This last weekend was an awesome trip up to the Bay Area for Hellaflush/Word Up drifting at the Vallejo Fairgrounds. I went up with a good friend from San Diego, and we met the rest of our WFC friends there in Norcal. The weekend went very good, but there was a little mishap. I happened to fold my wheel over and pop the tire while drifting. I hit this one in a million little pothole while completely sideways and mid-corner. I had my helmet on so I thought my car just bottomed out and spun. I kept on drifting and felt that something was really off about the feel of the car. I get back to the pits and see that my wheel and tire are toast. Luckily my 21 year old spare still holds air so I was able to throw that on and get back on the road the next day to Los Angeles. I thought everything was going nicely until I was about 45 minutes from home. There was some strange rotational noise that started, and then a loud thud and bang. The car was still driving ok after that so I figured getting back home was better than pulling over and risk getting hit or something at night on the busy highway. Turns out one of my axles blew and my rear diff took a dump.

Yeah that’s me drifting on no tire haha!

Not bad for hitting a pothole and getting slid on around the rest of the track.

The leaking diff, blown axle, and blown mount which you can’t really see.

diff swap

I swapped out the old leaky/loud 4.10 for a new fresh 4.27. I really like this thing!



For those interested I used this link to help with the install. It is a very straight forward swap, but at the same time can be a real pain. The top bolts are in a pretty tight space, and they require a good bit of TQ to break loose even after soaking in WD40 multiple times. A socket wrench doesn’t have enough room to fit in there. A spanner has to be used, but only a standard length will fit which leaves you with a little less pressure than it may take. I eventually used my feet to push on it from the back of the car while holding on to the underside of the car. The other issue is getting all the bolt holes to match up when you install the new one. They are all alligned very well and leave little room for movement. So it’s a balancing act to get the Diff to match up perfectly while you try to thread the bolts in. You’ll eventually get it, but do not be surprised if you are working on that part for longer than you would think.