East bay shop for rear diff inspection/rebuild?
 

I need a shop to do an inspection of my R160 rear diff that had a Cusco 1.5 way lsd installed. It sustained some sort of damage the other day, metal shavings showed up on the drain plug yet the ring & pinion gears looked perfect still after opening it up.

I'd like to find out if the lsd is damaged beyond repair or not. If not then I'd want to have it professionally assembled for me by a shop.

Tried to call GST & RBMS to find out what rebuild shop they use but can't get a hold of them.

I recommend Rear End Specialties in Santa Clara
[url=http://www.rearendspecialties.com/]Home[/url]

GSt is doing my rear end..... Lol...I mean they are putting an LSD in my diff, and have experience in custom set ups on diffs so they could probably sort it...

And...being that as it may, anything GST can do, Mert at RBMS can do!

Great thanks! I was also referred to Gear Works in San Leandro after I finally got GST on the phone.

[QUOTE=stg2lgcy00;3632515]I need a shop to do an inspection of my R160 rear diff that had a Cusco 1.5 way lsd installed. It sustained some sort of damage the other day, metal shavings showed up on the drain plug yet the ring & pinion gears looked perfect still after opening it up.

I'd like to find out if the lsd is damaged beyond repair or not. If not then I'd want to have it professionally assembled for me by a shop.

Tried to call GST & RBMS to find out what rebuild shop they use but can't get a hold of them.[/QUOTE]

More likely the shaving are from the carrier parts and not the Cusco pumpkin. How much metal are we talking?

I had a growing bad pinion and ring issue, got worse and worse and dropped the car to RBMS. Mert called saying no way we can reuse this carrier and got a used one (Thanks GST!) to move the Cusco pumpkin into. He showed me pictures, the ring teeth were def damaged. Said there was metal at the bottom of the carrier.

Your could be minimal, and not require any service. Does the car drive okay?

I looked at the carrier too and didn't see anything wrong but who knows.

When you saw my car last time I had the Cusco pumpkin in a 96L case. After that I put in an entire rear diff assembly from a 2001 Legacy L 5spd that was completely stock w/ open diff.

The car drove perfectly fine with the Legacy diff assembly... [I]but[/I] after swapping the open diff out to the Cusco one, then the car started clunking/banging really bad when taking off from a dead stop.

I dropped all the parts off today to get inspected and will hopefully find out whats going on next week.

Here's how much metal was on the drain plug:

[ATTACH]97100[/ATTACH]

Did you do the installs of the LSD etc in the different diffs? Did you check lash etc etc etc? Or did you just throw it it?
Reason being, if the gears were offset, it could put some serious flex on everything in there when you accelerate from a stop and that would cause some noises and wear.

When the lsd was in the 96L diff, that install had been done some time ago before I picked up the donor car it came out of.

However when puttin the lsd into the Legacy diff I did that install myself. I checked the lash and it was within spec (around .005"), torqued the side bearing holders to spec and painted white lithium grease on the ring gear to check the wear pattern and all looked good.

I followed this guide here when I did it:
[url]http://www.scoobymods.com/showthread.php/diy-upgrading-replacing-rear-differential-14270.html?[/url]

[QUOTE=stg2lgcy00;3632674]When the lsd was in the 96L diff, that install had been done some time ago before I picked up the donor car it came out of.

However when puttin the lsd into the Legacy diff I did that install myself. I checked the lash and it was within spec (around .005"), torqued the side bearing holders to spec and painted white lithium grease on the ring gear to check the wear pattern and all looked good.

I followed this guide here when I did it:
[url]http://www.scoobymods.com/showthread.php/diy-upgrading-replacing-rear-differential-14270.html?[/url][/QUOTE]

Did you swap the ring gear, or keep it on the pumpkin?

There are 3.90 diffs with different widths of gears. Like mine is 39:10, and I've seen a 39:11. So it may not have been all hunky dory if you didnt the ring gear with it's appropriate carrier.

I think the lash much be off. Have you taken the cover off to see if the teeth show signs of wear?

I don't see any reason to suspect the cusco diff as failed just being swapped into another carrier.

Buuuuut it could be messed up due to the small metal in the fluid :/

Yup, I pulled off the 96L ring gear and swapped on the matching ring gear from the Legacy diff. The ring gear from the Legacy diff is a 39:10

I took everything apart the same day after the problem occurred and couldn't see any damage on the ring or pinion etc... here's what it looked like after cracking it open:

(keep in mind the scrapes on the cusco pumpkin were from the 96L pinion... [I]no[/I]t from the Legacy diff)

[ATTACH]97089[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]97090[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]97091[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]97092[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]97093[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]97094[/ATTACH]

Hmmm... I dunno! Those do looks good!