R200 Differential Removal Help

[NewZed]

5 hours ago, Jlhalsey3 said:

Another wrinkle I have noticed which may cause a problem is that the axles that came out of my car have a rectangular cross section circlip groove. The replacements I have purchased have a more of a V shaped groove. The circlips I bought have a round cross section which would appear to fit the V cross section axle grooves and not my original axles with the rectangular cross section grooves. Perhaps why my axles had no clips at all. Does anyone know if there is a different clip for rectangular groove axles and the part number for same?

 

By the way, fyi, I have now bought two pairs of 1981-1983 280ZX Turbo remanufactured axles from different eBay vendors, both based in China I believe. Both sets contained equal length axles, the shorter ones for the drivers side. They seem to believe the axles are the same part and part #. On my R200, the passenger side depth from the outer seal to the circlip groove is 5/16” greater than the driver’s side. Appears using a short driver side axle in the passenger side will prevent the clip from reaching and engaging the groove. 

 

 

That's the basic problem, I think, the groove shapes are different.  Nissan changed the location of the clips around the time that they introduced the VLSD diffs.  If you get a VLSD diff, like from a 90's Nissan, the clips will come out with the axle.  If you have an early open or CLSD diff the clips stay inside.

 

I think that if you get two square grooves combined you could end up with a stuck axle.  Better inspect things closely.  Your shop is probably use to looking at VLSD's like on the 240SX.

 

 

There is a lot of confusion on the CV axles.  Some places even show the 240Z's used CV axles.  There's bad data out there.

[NewZed]

You should find a shop that knows Z cars and Quaifes.  The wrong shop could waste a lot of your time.  There are many people out there that are happy to guess, on your time and money.

 

The "clip" problem is pretty well known by people that have worked on the Datsun diffs.  A 510 shop would probably know also.

[Jlhalsey3]

Well, if I was still in LA finding a specialist Datsun differential shop would be no biggie. Unfortunately, I am now in a lovely rural area which has tons of marina’s but very few automotive specialist shops.

[Jlhalsey3]

Progress, took the axles, circlips and differential back to the shop that rebuilt the differential. They were able to insert the circlips into the differential thru the axle openings and slide them down until they engaged the retaining groove. Didn’t take them long. I wasn’t able to watch this part but they said they used a screw driver to get them started and then a socket to push them down the splined part. This is exactly what I was trying to do but couldn’t. Then they inserted the drivers side (shorter) axle and with a mild tap with a mallet, it seated fully. Then using two screw drivers, one prying on each side of the axle, they were able to pop the axle back out again. All good.

 

Then came the passenger side (longer) axle with the rectangular cross section circlip groove. They were worried the circular cross section circlip would either not engage this axle or if it did engage that it wouldn’t come out. This axle went in and out just like the other, to my great relief. At some point, I may attempt to disassemble the inner CV joint on my sole “long” axle, and transfer the stub axle to one of the “short” remanufactured CV axles I have so many of so both axles will be fresh.

 

So I will now see if I can rent a transmission jack and install the diff, cut the Technoversions/RT poly mount to the correct size and hope the new OEM lower mount fits and see what the pinion / driveshaft angle delta looks like.

 

Thanks again for all the help I have received here.

[jhm]

Glad you got it worked out.

 

Is the car on a lift, that you need a transmission jack?  If the car's on the ground, a car jack will work fine to lift the differential....just use ratchet straps to hold the diff in place while you're jacking it.

[Jlhalsey3]

Yes, car is on a 4 post lift. I have ordered a transmission jack from Harbor Freight but I may try  moving the car forward on the lift and using my floor jack while I wait.

[Jlhalsey3]

Well, its been many months and I have continued to make progress with my V10 Z. Car is back on the road after months of rewiring under the dash and drives nicely. There is still some driveline vibration at higher speeds but much improved after i had the drive shaft and rear wheels rebalanced. The u joint working angles are still not under 2 degrees after much fiddling with the trans rear mount and the differential mounting. But the current focus is the differential, after rebuilding with new bearings it still whines on deceleration and has more backlash than I would like. I need to find a nice long nose ring and pinion in excellent condition, preferably 3.91 or thereabouts, to cure the whine. Something in the low 4's would also work as the T56 is double overdrive in 5th and 6th. If anyone has one they would like to sell or can lead me to someone, that would be awesome. I just missed one on ebay today that would have filled the bill.

[Jlhalsey3]

Further update. Took the car on a 100 mile trip with expressway speeds. Once speed reaches 65 mph, a strong high frequency vibration is felt, causing the rear view mirror to be blurry. So doing some further trouble shooting. It appears the culprit is the forward U joint operating angle which is 3.4 degrees and does not match the rear U joint angle. I re-drilled the transmission rear mounting bracket to lower the rear of the trans 3/8”. Little change in the angle and I can not go lower at the tail shaft. I think probably spacers under the motor mounts would need to be considered but not sure there is clearance under the hood to move the engine up. That the driveshaft is so short (16 1/4”) also contributes to the bad geometry.

 

So after some research, I am having a custom driveshaft fabricated with a non-plunging CV joint at the front and conventional U joint at the rear. In theory, this will eliminate the vibration due to the excessive operating angle of the front U joint. Quite expensive but seems to be the best way forward. Also found another R200 differential with hopefully a noise free ring and pinion, will have my Quaife transferred over. It’s a 3.70:1 ratio, not a 3.91 but close as I could find. Car is now apart for driveshaft and diff swap, hopefully for the last time.

 

Will post an update when it is back on the road.