Strip down all the suspension components off the knuckle / wheel hub as the half shafts will remain attached .

The shafts pop out ever so easy from the diff with a pry bar I was super suprised actually .

In regards to rpm I'm at approx 1850 6th gear @100km/h (62mph) with the 3.58 gearing

 

So, spent the past week or so on staycation building a retaining wall and fence in front of my house while putting off tackling my leaking differential. My reward for procrastinating was a trainwreck of a day. Removed the exhaust, drive shaft coupling and even got the yoke off without too much drama once I made a puller on the mill. Then things went South. I found pits in the rollers on the outer bearing so I decided against my better judgement ot bite the bullet and see just how ugly ugly really is. The list of what didn't want to come apart was longer than the list of what did. HIghlights being a stripped wheel spacer nut keeping the passenger side brake on which kept the bottom A arm bolt from coming out. No biggy, popped the top A arm nut off and the stud is corroded into the arm... The LH side came right apart. So, dropped the K member support structure and flopped the housing off the passenger side half shaft. That was most of the day.

Once the alcohol kicked in and the pain was tolerable I popped the back cover off to see what was to be seen. Really didn't notice anything except a couple chipped ring teeth until I noticed the cross shaft slid when I spun the carrier. Ah crap... I assume the roll pin worked its way out and the cross pin has been floating for the past 30k miles or so. Funny I never felt anything rough from it, just a little lash whine.



So, the ring gear didn't look horrible but man that cross bolt was mangled. Popped the axle seals out to dig the carries out and found piles of metal sediment that had worked through the bearings.



Liquid metal...


So, the pinion gears nose is pretty beat up but overall not hateful. The crush washer was beat up and the pinion shim had spun. Not clearance issues or seal looseness which is pretty crazy. It had to have been jumping when the gear chewed on the cross pin.



Finally a pic of the retaining wall, fence and gate / arbor I built. I still need to trim the top of the fence, finish the steps and sidewalk but it's a start. Pity there's a Quaif posi unit sitting there...


So, moving forward I need another carrier and maybe a gearset along with a pile of bearings and seals. I have off tomorrow yet and then back to work. So junkyard for a LS carrier and 3.58's or something else? Looking online most of the S types and XJ's had 3.07 or lower gears. Another interesting bit, the pinion was marked 3.07 and the ring 3.11... I have no desire to crawl under cars tomorrow...

 

Well, at least the fence looks super! As before, keeps us up on rear end adventure too.

 

Doing the eBay thing now...

 

This is a very nice fence (and sorry to hear about your differential).

 

You're gonna need a vacation from your vacation!

 

Perfect excuse for a Quaife LSD, if it wasn't so expensive ...

 

So, excellent progress. Browsing eBay this morning for LS chunks and found this guy locally already pulled. $132 OTD was a great price. I popped the back off before leaving and it looks like new inside.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2004-Lincol...oAAOSwB51c31Dl

NOT super excited for 3.58's but I'll get over it.

Off to get the axle seals, some RTV and borrow a lug nut remover. Rear brakes are about due but the budget is officially too far blown for this week.

 

The ebay link is to Miata carrier assembly. Are you sure it can take XKR torque? Without looking up specs, I would suspect that that it tops at 300~ while your XKR pushes about 500. Are you sure it will survive past the first time you stomp on accelerator? (obviously I am missing something)

 

Ya missed the "HAS ENDED" and "SOMETHING SIMILAR"...

 

Funny that LKQ listed about a dozen 8" carriers and a ton of cheaper newer ones and the one I ended up getting was both cheap, local and had low miles. It's in, filled the oil through the half shaft hole in the diff. Hoping to have it back together by dark and maybe even have the oil changed.

Going to need a vacation from my vacation indeed. Three days of work and then a trip to the WWII weekend in Reading PA this coming Saturday.

 

So, post test drive I have to say that this is a very highly recommended modification. On mine it allows the engine to make gobs of power and put it to the ground. I'm close to the traction limit, close enough that the engine will surge as the tires dig in. I'm up over 3k at 90 mph cruise speed but it feels comfortable there. The old low RPM lugging at 50 mph is gone. First is slightly less useful in manual but doesn't hold it back in auto. Sport is now Super Sport with the needle on the far side of the tach more than I'd like. No codes, noises or vibrations.

So, it's a good day.

 

Good stuff !!!

 

And post commute to work this AM, this thing is a blast. 3500 rpm at 100 mph (by accident).

Sadly from the steam coming from under the hood once I shut it down I split a throttle body coolant hose...

Shakes fist in rage....

 

Well, you stomped on the cat's tail too many times in a row and it pissed on your driveway in retaliation.

 

:-)

 

Driveway would be OK. Instead it's at work, 25 miles away... Thinking about vise gripping the hoses or just leaving the cap loose. PITA either way.

 

Choosing between those two options.
Leaving cap loose is what i pick.

 

oops...

Once cut off the hose wall was less than 1/16" thick. Looks like it was a result of how it was molded. Used a pair of needle nosed vise grips as hemostats to keep most of the coolant in the engine.

 

When ya gotta go, ya gotta go!