A couple of years ago in the middle of nowhere in Northern Baja, Mexico I did something...foolish, we'll say...and broke a tooth or two on the ring gear on the front differential of my heavily-laden SIII 109.
Being the economically-minded (cheap), handy type, I got a new ring, pinion and bearings and installed them in accordance with the SIII workshop manual (or so I thought).
Six months later, as I'm driving home from work on the highway, I sense something...a hesitation...so I exit the highway to investigate. As I'm pulling off the street, the rover makes it MOSTLY off the pavement then locks up completely--I can't go forward or backward.
To make a long story short(er), I have finally gotten around to pulling the front differential to investigate the cause of the lock-up and found that the (new) inner pinion bearing (the one farthest away from the propeller shaft) has destroyed itself. The metal cage that retains the rollers had smeared between the rollers and race and had really wedged in and locked the whole bearing up.
I don't think I got a defective bearing, so I guess that I didn't shim correctly below this bearing race or the race was installed slightly out-of-kilter.
My question (finally): What are "Rationalised" and "Pre-Rationalised" Axles? The pinion height (shim thickness) is different for these 2 axles according to the repair manual. I researched it at the time and thought I knew the difference, but my seized differential suggests otherwise.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
--Mark
Being the economically-minded (cheap), handy type, I got a new ring, pinion and bearings and installed them in accordance with the SIII workshop manual (or so I thought).
Six months later, as I'm driving home from work on the highway, I sense something...a hesitation...so I exit the highway to investigate. As I'm pulling off the street, the rover makes it MOSTLY off the pavement then locks up completely--I can't go forward or backward.
To make a long story short(er), I have finally gotten around to pulling the front differential to investigate the cause of the lock-up and found that the (new) inner pinion bearing (the one farthest away from the propeller shaft) has destroyed itself. The metal cage that retains the rollers had smeared between the rollers and race and had really wedged in and locked the whole bearing up.
I don't think I got a defective bearing, so I guess that I didn't shim correctly below this bearing race or the race was installed slightly out-of-kilter.
My question (finally): What are "Rationalised" and "Pre-Rationalised" Axles? The pinion height (shim thickness) is different for these 2 axles according to the repair manual. I researched it at the time and thought I knew the difference, but my seized differential suggests otherwise.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
--Mark
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