julians Posted December 16, 2004 Share Posted December 16, 2004 My passenger side driveshaft developed some play in the inner (diff end) tripod joint, I tried to find somewhere to refurb the old one, but everywhere told me it couldnt be done. So I ordered a new one from caterham. Just tried to fit it tonight, but it appears the splined end (at the diff end) is about half an inch too short, and doesent engage properly with the diff. If I shine a light down the hole in the diff I can see two sets of splines, it would appear my driveshaft is only engaging with the outer set and the shaft doesent reach the inner set because its too short. Can anyone shed any light on this? are there several types of driveshaft for the sierra diff? I didnt build the car, but I beleive it has a viscous 3.92 lsd from a sierra 4x4, does this use a different shaft to the rest of the sierra diff range. Compared to the old driveshaft the splined end is indeed half an inch shorter Or am I just doing something wrong? Edited by - julians on 16 Dec 2004 22:05:02 Edited by - julians on 16 Dec 2004 22:11:10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Walker Posted December 16, 2004 Share Posted December 16, 2004 Lay the new shaft next to the old one the splined end should be the same, if its not query it with caterham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julians Posted December 16, 2004 Author Share Posted December 16, 2004 Yep, I've done that, the new one is definately about half an inch shorter. Will ring caterham tomorrow, see what the score is, just thought I'd ask on here in case someone else has been here before me. I bet I have some wierd diff that was produced in small numbers by the ford pixies for a run of 3 units as some sort of strange experiment with time travel (or something similar). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julians Posted December 17, 2004 Author Share Posted December 17, 2004 hmmm, just spoken to caterham, apparently they should be backward compatible with the old ones, slightly longer in fact. My new one is definatley half an inch shorter that the old one. Just waiting for caterham tech to call me back to discuss what could be happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julians Posted December 17, 2004 Author Share Posted December 17, 2004 The plot thickens. Just been to have a look at a mates diff whilst its out of the car, his is a 3.62 sierra lsd. externally it looks the same as mine, but internally it only has one set of splines not too like mine. Does anyone know anywhere online that has schematics of the different sierra diffs, so I can identify what diff I have. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Dent Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 Julian ISTR that if these are the splines through the middle of the diff, it is an indication of your LSD type. 2 crossing at 90 deg is a ZF 1 on its own is AP sure track I have seen a web page covering this exactly, but cannot remember where. Hope this helps. Might be tosh as well Searching for the perfect pan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Walker Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 I exchanged the new Landrover driveshaft for one of the old sierra type on my previous caterham without a problem it was a straight fit. There must be something wrong with the new drive shaft that you have been supplied it certainley should not be shorter. If I were you I and in view of your problem I would ask Caterham nicely to refund you on the new shaft and ask them to send the old driveshaft back to the manufacturer GKN Driveline for a replacement joint to be fitted. It should save you a packet. GKN will not deal with direct be warned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Walker Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 Just a thought you have got the correct driveshaft for that side of the car. One side is shorter than the other, the driveshafts are specific LH or RH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julians Posted December 17, 2004 Author Share Posted December 17, 2004 I dont think this caterhams fault. I'm starting to think I have some sort of non standard (for a caterham) diff, even though externally it looks the same as any sierra diff I've seen.. I definatly have the correct side driveshaft (i can tell from the thread on the hub nut). Rather than continue to track down why the caterham shaft is different to mine, I've managed to find somewhere that says they can rebuild mine, So I'll send mine off to them for rebuild, and send caterhams back to them, hopefully this wont be a problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Bees Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 I vaguely remember some discussion a while back about what it to took to convert a viscous-type LSD Sierra diff to take push-in shafts... but don't remember any details. I wonder if there's a connection? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julians Posted December 17, 2004 Author Share Posted December 17, 2004 Thats what I'm thinking Mike. That my diff used to be the other type of diff , but was converted to use push in shafts, hence my problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul McKenzie Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 Julian, AFAIK the sierra viscous LSD was never a Caterham standard, and in it's original application it has Lobro joints rather then push-ins. Maybe the mod to push-ins entails using a different drive shaft to CC's standard Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julians Posted December 17, 2004 Author Share Posted December 17, 2004 I think you're right Paul. SO to save any more buggering about, I'm having the old shafts rebuilt , now that I've managed to find somewhere that can do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter T Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 Angus & Tessa's website has the details of which type of diff you have.This should help you recognise the driveshaft problem maybe. *thumbup* Support the 7 Society...... Ehhh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter T Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 http://www.mycaterham.com/ Support the 7 Society...... Ehhh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Perry Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 I am pretty sure it sounds like a viscous diff, and hence not a standard fitting. All the viscous ones I have looked in have double female splines on one side and single the other, the shaft splines iirc are longer on one side than the other, so they reach the second set of female splines. I think the very end of each driveshaft has a groove for a circlip that keeps the shaft in place although these were not always refitted after repair, in Sierra's Edited by - Graham Perry on 17 Dec 2004 16:26:59 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julians Posted December 17, 2004 Author Share Posted December 17, 2004 Graham, thats exactly the right description of my diff. The driveshaft does have a groove for a circlip, but that was not fitted on mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Perry Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 A few years ago I looked into fitting one on my seven, but the drive shaft issue was the problem. It was going to be more expensive then to have the shafts made than to fit a torque biasing diff fitted which used the standard shafts, so I went down that route. I believe others have done it since, sounds like your car might be one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julians Posted December 17, 2004 Author Share Posted December 17, 2004 certainly sounds that way. Well, hopefully reco-prop (www.reco-prop.com) can re build my existing shaft for me, and that will be the end of the problem. I'll update this thread when I've had mine fixed, so any others witha similar problem can find some answers using the search. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julians Posted December 17, 2004 Author Share Posted December 17, 2004 Angus and tessas site is pretty good, but I'm not sure my diff type is listed on there. Next time I'm at the car, I'll have a look down the diff and see if it looks the same as the list of diff types on his site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Simon Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 Julian, Just curious... Does your seven happen to be an HPC model circa 94-96? My car was shipped from CC with a viscious LSD and the proper drive shafts in the kit. It's a 95 HPC VX. -Bob 95 HPC VX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julians Posted December 17, 2004 Author Share Posted December 17, 2004 no, it was built from a starter kit in 1997. Its now got a zetec in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shn7 Posted December 18, 2004 Share Posted December 18, 2004 Rob, Caterham won't consider refurbs for these. I was lucky enough that a fellow BC'er took my shaft into GKN Drivelines only to be told they couldn't do it as production for these moved to Germany a few years back and they don't have any parts left. ☹️ As I think I said to Julians on a previous thread (sorry if it wasn't you julians) but I got mine refurbed by Redline for around £80. Excellent prompt service and much cheaper than the CC price for a new one . Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julians Posted December 18, 2004 Author Share Posted December 18, 2004 Steve, you did mention to me about Redline, however I rang them last week and they said they could no longer refurb driveshafts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shn7 Posted December 18, 2004 Share Posted December 18, 2004 Oooh, sorry to hear that. Didn't say anything to that effect when I spoke to Mick about mine. On that basis I shall shut up then 😳. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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