Differential for Disaster

[eth]

Hi all,
I went away camping in the traveler two weekends ago, upon unloading all the weight i felt something very wrong with the handling. Upon investigation i found a flattened leaf spring of which i have replaced both this morning. Having now taken her for a test spin it seems it was only half the issue. I'm baffled, It seems "like" half my differential has partially seized although both drums turn freely, the brakes aren't binding and the suspension is better than its ever been.
Turning left she spins up the left hand wheel extremely easy. Ok, nothing too unusual there. Now here's the fun/disaster part, turning right she flings the ass end out in the most exuberant fashion from as little as walking pace! Needless to say i have spent all afternoon driving from roundabout to roundabout at full opposite lock Great fun until i remembered this is my only transport.
Any ideas are welcome, if i don't reply I'm stuck in a hedge having gone through it sideways.

[bmcecosse]

Is the axle firmly and squarely secured in the springs - and are the perches good? I assume the spring mounts front and rear are good..... Other possibility is that a half shaft has broken -and the broken part has 'wedged' the differential.....so you have drive in one wheel only. This happened to me - snapped the shaft and was able to drive home. So I suggest you pull out both shafts for inspection - BEFORE you drive the car again......

[eth]

Surely if I had broken a half shaft all the power would go to the broken side rather than the good side?

[welshrat]

Was also gonna go for broken half shaft, not too much work to check them out and if they are good drop the diff and check that out. Like most things on the minor its a process of elimination.

[bmcecosse]

Yes that's right - all the power has gone to the broken side - I'm completely wrong again....... geeeeeeez

[kennatt]

If it wasn't doing it before ,why would spring change cause a sudden problem with the diff or half shafts,more likely a problem with the axle alignment, Measure the wheel centres each side to see if they are the same,before pulling the diff or shafts.

[eth]

Sorry bmc I really don't mean to doubt you, your advice is always greatly appreciated. I was hoping for an insight into how were you still getting drive to a wheel. I thought the diff would send all the power to the side with least resistance which I would have thought to be the side of the broken half shaft. Could a broken part of the shaft lock half the diff?

[bmcecosse]

That was what I indicated may have happened - it happened to me many many moons ago now - bang followed by drive to the left wheel causing wheelspin.... I drove cautiously home and on stripping - the RH half shaft had broken, and the broken part had wedged itself in to the diff so it drove the left wheel - which was handy for getting home...... It's very easy to pull the RH shaft (you know it's still driving to the LH side) to see if the shaft is ok..... if it's ok - then there is still a possibility that something has broken inside the differential - but much more likely is axle location problems -as I first suggested.

[eth]

I have managed a few quick checks this evening. I measured approximately 5mm difference between wheel centres but not the way I expected to find given the symptoms. The right side is longer, I imagine that would drive the rear end out to the right rather than left.

This lead me back to the diff so I put the back up on axle stands, turned each wheel and checked the other went the other way all ok there. Next I started her up and into gear then checked both wheels were being driven evenly and that each wheel could be stopped, again no obvious problems there.

My thinking is now that I have broken my poor little cars spine and my freshly hotted up engine is showing up all the flaws in the handling. She's not the most sturdy of cars and has been begging for restoration of recent with multiple failures within a month (#1 cracked cylinder head #2 collapsed leaf spring #3 broken speedo cable #4 core plug fell out #5 rear hub oil seal failed). I just need her to cling on until my other project is done