Post by
evildky »
https://forums.nicoclub.com/evildky-u13100.html
Tue Jan 12, 2016 11:37 am
Welcome to Nico!
It sounds like the issue is the circlip that retains the axle shaft. On each output flange shaft there is a grove and a circlip rides inside that groove to retain the shaft in the differential housing. You stated you weren't sure if you had the stock differential and that introduces another variable.
The base model received an open differential with equal length output shafts, all other modes received the viscous lsd which uses different length output shafts to drive the viscous coupler inside the differential. The shafts will slide into the wrong housings just fine but the circlips will not engage at the right spot.
Replacing the seal and popping the output shaft back in is a simple job and can easily be done with the diff in the car. You however might want to pop the diff out completely so you can look inside for the groves that the circlip engages, on one side it's fairly shallow on the other side it's quite deep, and the shafts are obviously different lengths, and this is what you should find on a touring model. On an open diff the groves are the same depth on both sides and the shafts are the same length. In either case the shafts should have a circlip in the drove and if not look inside the diff as they sometimes stick in there, if you have one missing altogether then you simply need to replace that circlip. if however you find that you have an open carrier and viscous shaft or vise versa you'll need to get the corresponding components to keep the shafts from walking out again.