How Easy Is It To Rebuild A Diff??

[Pal318is]

Is it a difficult task, relatively in-expensive or something else??
I've got a diff sitting in my garden for my 318is and am seriously thinking of getting it rebuilt. I've made some enquires and am waiting on a few phone numbers which will hopefully put me in the right direction....But what am I looking at in terms of expense?? Also if I do get it re-built, what percentage lock should I get??????

Cheers Peeps

[Templ8e30]

First off is it definately a LSD ?, not all is's had them.

Fairly hard to rebuild, the bearings are imperial sizes and can be an arse to get hold of. The inner pinion bearing has to be heated and the pinion frozen to get the new bearing on, the old one has to be carefully ground off.

Also the new bearings require shimming properly to ensure correct bearing seating and correct gear mesh otherwise it will make a right noise and won't last long.

I rebuilt one and it cost me Ԛ£80 trade for the bearings + seals, Ԛ£40 for the shim kits and about 15 hours to do the job. I guess it would cost about Ԛ£250 for a bearing change and Ԛ£400+ to have bearings and the LSD clutch pack rebuilt.

Expensive task

Cheers,

Iain T

[Pal318is]

Thanks for the reply mate...Sounds expensive