Just Drained The Diff Oil And The Drain Plug Looks Like This

[Blackkers]

I'm not sure how much detail you can see but there are large shavings of metal on the plug itself. I'm planning to pull the diff and throw a shim in there today. Looks like my diff centre has taken a beating.

I've got a single 0.8mm shim which I'm thinking won't be enough if the gears are quite worn.

any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks

[portaz]

How long since you last changed the oil? Pretty normal to have a bit on there from experience but I'm guessing something else is happening is you adding shims ?

[Blackkers]

never in my ownership but that's only since June.

The oil itself was okay, bit low maybe 1.2-1.4 liters in total (should be 1.7 according to the manual)

I'm throwing another shim in there, its possible that it has extra shims already which caused extra wear. I'll find out once the thing is apart.

on a side note; having a rattle gun saves a lot of swearing!

[portaz]

Some times the oil is very rarely changed in diffs and can still look ok but that mag plug did its job at least and yeah owning a skyline usually involves swearing so anything to reduce it is good, my latest anti swear device was a hoist almost too easy now

[GTSBoy]

THis is a graphic demonstration of why shimming a VLSD is a bad idea, mmkay.

[Blackkers]

Diff is 100% undisturbed, never opened and the shims are factory. I'm not worried if I have to bin this one after a year or 2.

anyway I'm going to grab a 2nd shim to throw in there seeing as the diff itself is quite worn. The gears in the diff center are visibly worn so I'm swapping out the factory 0.8mm shim with a 1.2mm + adding a fresh 0.8mm (increase of 1.2mm preloading)

[Simon-S14]

reasonably normal for a diff that hasn't been serviced regularly

[GTSBoy]

My point was that if you increase side loading on the cartridge, THAT is the sort of wear you get. So, shim away, wear away, throw away.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

0.8mm? Go moarrrr, like 3 times more haha

[Blackkers]

Diff is all back together, wasn't easy to reinstall on the ground. needed a mate to help move the jack around

It definitely has that new shim feeling. wheels hopping in tight corners etc. feels pretty well locked as far as I can tell