I need differential help! anyone that knows anything about diffs that means you!

[redsx13]

I recentaly purchased a kaaz differential, i installed it and took it for a test drive. I know 2 way clutch types are known to be noisy but theres seems to be an exesssive amount of play between the driveshaft and the rear wheels. every time i switch gears a loud "clunk" is herd from the rear. is that just the diff locking up? cus it sounds like there is improper mesh between the ring gear on the kaaz and the gear that bolts to the driveshaft. there where two spaceres that went between the bearings on the diff and the diff housing. one of the spacers was bigger than the other and i think i may have mixed them up.

any help is greatly appraciated thanks

[funigui]

u took the pinion out? why? and if you did then yes u need a new crush sleeve....

[redsx13]

no i did not take the pinion out. there are bering spacers on either side of the diff bearings they change the gear mesh.

[PaddyOneThree]

go re shim it. NOW. or you will destroy your gears. always check you lash and backlash whne you do a diff swap

[Hijacker]

Those spacers are the shims. There are many many different thickness shims out there, and each diff needs different thickness shims. So the shims you had on your old diff won't neccessarily work on your new diff. The really thick one stays where it is and doesn't need to be messed with.

There's also the amount of backlash between the pinion gear and the ring gear. I've gotten lucky on my last few diff rebuilds and haven't had to reset the pinion height.

The spacers aren't cheap, btw. Nissan wants I think 12 per spacer, and you have no clue what spacers you'll need before hand. And you need these spacers because they're precision machined for thickness. I also have never seen a spacer kit produced for nissan diffs, but maybe someone on the boards has.

Also, and it has been my experience with most people, if they have never had someone teach them how to set up a diff, its tough to get the concept down from writing. I had to be visually taught how to do one, especially with how to read the gear mesh test (putting prussian blue on the gears and watching how the teeth interact). The manual states how it should look, but real world mechanics who have been working on diffs for decades tell me differently. I listened to the mechanics and have never had any issues of clunking and chunking in my rear end.

[redsx13]

ok, its out of my car again cant i just bring it to a shop or nissan to reshim it? `i dont want risk somthing so important.

[Fla240sx]

thats your best bet