Differential Flange Machining
When you buy
your differential directly from
Goodparts, all the required "machine"
work has been done. But when you source one
on your own, there are certain things that
need to be done before it will all fit in
your car. I previously mentioned that the
tab on top of the differential needs to be
ground off. That's pretty easy to do as long
as you have an angle grinder. It's the other
"things" that really can't be done in the
home workshop. You may be tempted to tackle
the flange modifications on your own but a
look at the pictures below will probably
change you mind. If this work isn't done
perfectly, you might find
yourself with a pretty serious drive train
vibration.
The
first step in the Flange modifications
requires a metal lathe
Locked in chuck and aligned to
0.001" |
Cleaning face to remove surface
rust |
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Cut
depth set to 0.0055" |
Final
face cut at exactly 0.0055" |
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Boring bar cuts pilot access |
Recess is now complete |
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Reducing diameter matches TR6
drive shaft |
Done:
Faced, Bored and Reduced |
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OK.........so maybe you have a metal lathe
in your home work shop and can do the work
shown above but now you have to get the
holes drilled to perfectly match the drive
shaft flange. If you're even off by teeny
tiny bit, you've got problems.
So............do you have a.......
Bridgeport
Milling Machine?
Laser
aligned to index original holes |
Locating center of flange to
0.001" |
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Readout set to center of flange |
Drilling Pilot holes |
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Drilling new bolt holes |
Chamfering holes |
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When you see
the old flange and then look at the finished
product, it probably doesn't seem like a
whole lot of work was needed. But when you
look at the step by step pictures you can
see that it requires some very special
equipment to do the job right.
Before |
After |
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Many thanks to
my TBI friend Rick Patton who has a basement
workshop that most of us can only dream
about. If you want to see all the equipment
in his home, yes I said home, work shop
visit
his new web site. His shop is in the
"About Rick" section.
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