ORIGINAL: Johnboy Walton


Gary,

One guy at our track had the EXACT same problem with the rear diff in his on Friday.
He had asked a friend to rebuild it, and near as we can tell, he over-tightened it and
completely wiped out the thrust-bearing washers that take all of the load from the
diff spring.

He ended up getting a whole new rear diff assembly, since it seemed really beat-up.
Since the gentleman who runs our track hadn't been able to get parts, he took apart
his own car as a parts donor. Of course, the donor diff we got was siezed, so my
friend rebuilt his entire diff for him while I helped with track repairs.

Last I knew, Trinity was having trouble getting parts out to suppliers. If you can get
a replacement diff assembly, it's probably your best bet. Otherwise, see if you can
get the thrust-bearing washers and replace those. You probably want to replace the
diff balls and thrust balls while you're in there.

And yes, we're starting to look at what other diffs might fit. I just rebuilt mine last
week, and they were so fragged the chrome had completely worn off one side of the
diff plates.

When you do get your diff put back together, just tighten the diff down enough so that
it doesn't slip, give it a few good turns, and make sure it still doesn't slip. I haven't
had one of these diffs loosen up on me, so I'd say it's better to err on the side of loose.

Good luck, once you get 'em hooked up, these cars are a blast to drive.

Oh yeah, and if your shop lets you make any mods in your spec class (ours does),
change out the rear springs for some medium or medium-softs. The stock springs
are so hard it's almost impossible to get the rear to hook up with them. And also
change the steering bellcrank ball-studs to the inner ackerman positions. Finally,
get the rear swaybar out of there. These three things more than anything get
these cars hooked up solid on the track.

Mike