Backlash in the Transaxle?

[venetrex]

I have the exact same problem. I gt about one inch of backlash from the transaxle to the rear end and get a clunk unless I'm real careful about throttle transition. I changed the rear end to a different one to no avail. My carrier bearings seem okay. The slack seems to come from the transaxle. I have not pulled out the vcu yet. I believe I have a 25 spline shaft though. The 25 spline transfer gas has the sight plug, right? My production date is 02/1992. Which I thought would make me 18 spline. I am going to have to count now when I do the rear main. I am interested to hear the solution to this. The slop is unacceptable. Feels like a bad ujoint, but it is not.

[DoctorDex]

Plan is to tear it down later this afternoon (with the tranny still in the car) and hopefully get the parts to the machinist before they close. Then I'll know whether or not this is going to work (with the machined pins), otherwise I'm just going to weld everything together. Will keep you guys posted and will try and take pics.

[KORMEX]

Originally Posted by DoctorDex

Plan is to tear it down later this afternoon (with the tranny still in the car) and hopefully get the parts to the machinist before they close. Then I'll know whether or not this is going to work (with the machined pins), otherwise I'm just going to weld everything together. Will keep you guys posted and will try and take pics.

Welding the coupling is not a good idea at all . when you have yours, off you should consider making sense of my previous post

[DoctorDex]

I have the differential apart now. I took the parts to the machine shop and the plan is to have some round pins made. The pins will be made from 4340 steel and they will be ~ 1/16 of an inch bigger in diameter on the VCU end. This way they'll be press fit into the VCU slots and there will be no slop.

I checked the rest of my assembly for play and there is none. So, if this doesn't fix my clunk, it has to be something else in the tranny itself.

Is there any part in particular you guys want pics of? To get the dif. out, it took me 2 hours (using on hand tools & a slide hammer) and I just followed the instructions here: Output shaft replacement without tranny pull: EASY
and here: http://www.3si.org/wiki/index.php/Ch...e_transmission

For the disssembly I didn't even need to remove my downpipe/transfer case. I was able to just pull everything out from the passenger side wheel well. However, I will need to remove my transfer case when reassembling so I can properly lube the end of my 300m shaft (it was a bit rusty).

Originally Posted by KORMEX

Welding the coupling is not a good idea at all . when you have yours, off you should consider making sense of my previous post

If you are referring to the part about punching the pins out and then putting them in backwards it doesn't seem to make a difference. The VCU slots are at least 1/16 of an inch bigger than either end of the pins.

[KORMEX]

Put them back in on the Inner satelite gear.

[DoctorDex]

Is anybody else interested in some new press fit pins? The shortest rod of 4340 I can buy is 3 feet. I only need about a foot, so I have enough left over for an additional 2 sets.

Kormex: I'll try that out and let you know how I make out.

[keithmac]

How much are you looking to sell a set of machined pins for and would you post to the UK?.

[DoctorDex]

I'm pretty sure the price will be under $100 CDN (shipping not included), but I won't know the final price until I pick the first set up tomorrow. I am willing to ship to the UK. If you are interested PM me and I'll send you my payment details.

Edit: Just so you know, the pins are not the original oblong shaped pins I'd originally thought of. I decided to go with round pins, with the VCU end of the pin being ~ 1/16 larger than the planetary end. This will keep the cost down and they should work just as well as they will be press fit.

[Davey07]

question, i performed a clutch job on my car and the only thing i notticed was a clunk, or what i call a clutch kick... I didn't touch my rear diff..wondering if this may be my performance clutch or something may be wrong.reason that i think it may be just the clutch becuase my friends evo did that. like a clunk between shifting gears.or a thud as you release the clutch...another question is the rear diff in my car a spanner nut type to adjust backlash or a shim gayass type??

thanks dave

[DoctorDex]

Bad news. I was only able to have one set of pins made, reason being the company who I ordered the 4340 HTSR steel from sent me tool steel instead (the wrong stuff). I phoned around desperately trying to find some 4340, but nobody had the right size. In the end, the machine shop ended up having to fab the pins from much larger chunks of 4340 steel they had lying around and as a result the price came up significantly ($145).

The good news is that the pins fit like a glove. The aren't press fit, but they are the closest thing to press fit. I figured this would make the install easier. They take up all of the slop and now my VCU/planetary combo is solid and has no play.

I'll post pics once I find my camera sync cable and I'll let you guys know if they actually fix my clunk if I ever get my transaxle together again.... as I suffered a bit of a minor set back this evening. When I went to put the transaxle end cover back on, I snapped the plastic "appendage" of the oil guide on the end cover. I guess this is what happens with 17 year old plastic. Now I'm going to have wait 2-3 weeks until I can get a new one. Anybody know where I can find an oil guide that can be couriered here ASAP?

Davey07: Its a spanner type.