My friend has an 85 Xt. I think the front diff. is shot. Has grinding noise from diff. area. also the axles lock up. Still moves but bucks and grinds and slips at very slow speed on ice covered road. sounds like ring and pinion mesh problem.

 

anyone have experience changing or repair the front differential?

anyone know what years and models may interchange?

there is an 87 xt at the wrecking yard. Haven't seen it.

any advice on cost and time to replace, He is broke like most of us.

Thanks

My advice is don't bother trying to replace the ring and pinion. IIRC, you have to do a major amount of disassembly to remove the pinion. I might be confusing manual with auto, but I think that the pinion shaft goes all the way back to the rear transfer section.

 

My suggestion is to look for a replacement tranny. Any 3-speed from a turbo EA82 from 85-90 should work. Non-turbo tranny will work, too, but you would need to swap rear diff also. IIRC (not all that likely at the moment ) the axle splines should be the same on the turbo and NA 3AT trannies.

that's what I was wondering.. if the trans and front differential could easily be separated.

It is not too hard to take the bellhousing off to take a look at the ring and pinion. Hopefully, someone else will respond and either confirm or correct my statement about the pinion shaft being a major task to remove. (My manuals would have the info, but I am a little incapacitated at the moment.)

Turbo cv axles and NA axles are different.

Could I Ask if you're Completely Sure about the Noise's Origin to be at the Differential?

 

Any Background info about that Differential? ... did it Ran out of Oil?

 

I'm Asking that Because the Culprit could be the C.V. Joint's Couplers, at the Differential; Specially if the Car Still Moves.

 

Kind Regards.

I can't work on the car where it is. It needs to be towed to my house. The axles seem tight but I will fully inspect them. The noise seems to come from the front diff. I only moved the car 10 feet. that was enough. With the open diff. we were able to spin 1 wheel on the ice slowly without moving the car and my head 1 foot from the transmission. Horrible grinding. slipping, binding, bucking.

Edited January 8, 201115 yr by Tahoe Subaru

the car should have a 3at. if the car is turbo it has a 3at trans with 23 spline, same as a 5spd and n/a 3at. n/a has a 3.9 gear and a turbo has a 3.7 gear. If you find a donor car for a new trans, take the rear diff with it, if the final gear is different than what comes on your car.

 

The gear is identified by a plaque on the rear diff cover.

the car should have a 3at. if the car is turbo it has a 3at trans with 23 spline, same as a 5spd and n/a 3at. n/a has a 3.9 gear and a turbo has a 3.7 gear. If you find a donor car for a new trans, take the rear diff with it, if the final gear is different than what comes on your car.

 

The gear is identified by a plaque on the rear diff cover.

 

hi, turbo auto trans has 25 spline stubs

hi, turbo auto trans has 25 spline stubs

3AT turbo/NA both have 23 spline. 4EAT uses 25 spline, as does the turbo 5-speed.

i would just swap the trans, the front diff swap isn't exactly simple.

 

the main concern i'd have, and maybe someone more knowledgeable can comment on this. can the current failing diff can cause some kind of issues or wear that will in turn fail the "new" diff bits?

 

reason i ask is that the only guy i know that tried to fix a bad front diff ended up junking the car because the replacement diff failed very shortly after. he could have messed up but i was wondering if the failing front diff caused wear or something that could have failed the new parts too?

 

this was an automatic 4EAT XT6.