Torsen Disassembly/Help!

[MacK42]

Hey all

So I was taking apart the diff assembly today, had one of the element gears on our T1 fall out accidentally, and put it back in the wrong way (lesson now thoroughly learned, won't make the same mistake again).

However, now I have a locked diff, and I have no idea how to start getting the element gear pins out so I can reassemble the thing the right way. The spirol retaining pins came out just fine, but the element gears' axial pins are quite stuck. Any ideas/insight on how I might save this poor T1?

Thanks a bunch!

[Paul Achard]

Magnet on a stick?

[MacK42]

Hmm, we got a pretty decently strong 'bolt fisher'. I can give that a go next time I'm in the shop.

It seems like it's jammed in there pretty tight though. A little more on what happened for clarity: I was only disassembling our custom sleeve/sprocket adapters, not the diff itself. This involved heating the interference-fit bearing spacers to slip them off, so that the bolts holding the sprocket and brake adapters on could be fully removed. While the assembly was still warm, I got the adapters and sleeve loose, and as I pulled the diff out of the sleeve, one of the element pins (and corresponding element) fell off the assembly. (On closer inspection, I saw one of the spirol retaining pins had slid partway out, leaving the guilty element pin free).

I was unaware of the specifics of the alignment procedure when this happened, and believed that it only consisted of each element 'belonging' to a single 'slot' (not involving any sort of rotary alignment, which I now know the details of). I placed the element in the case window, and then inserted the pin, which required a bit of light tapping with a hammer to get in (I figure now that this is because the element was misaligned >.< ).

Other than trying the magnet out, maybe if I warm up the diff again, that might loosen up some of the binding in the pin (if there is any)? Or am I doomed?

[dmacke]

We build a custom aluminum housing with small holes to fit a small pin or welding rod to tap out the element gear pins. Maybe you could drill one of those in your housing?

[MacK42]

Originally posted by dmacke:
We build a custom aluminum housing with small holes to fit a small pin or welding rod to tap out the element gear pins. Maybe you could drill one of those in your housing?

Hmm, potentially, but it would be difficult. It's the original housing (so it's pretty tough), the surface we'd be drilling through is curved, and we wouldn't be drilling normal to the it. That, plus we'd have to figure out a way to locate the right point to drill at fairly accurately.

Probably good for a last resort, but hopefully we can find another way...