the diff fairy must have been when i wasnt looking.

Hello all,

this is a strange one, about 4 or 5 months ago my rear diff pinion bearing gave up the ghost and shredded itself into lots of lovely little bits, I replaced said bearing following Treweys guide and all seemed well. It drove ok and no longer had the grinding sounds or the over run rumble i had prior to the swap.

Now the rear diff in my disco 1 95 plate 300tdi flavour looked to me like a 4 pin from a Rangey, have a look and see what you think





it certainly isnt the same as the standard 2 pin that is in the front that I replaced about a year ago, some of you may even remember the bitchin and moaning i did about the weather then (-25 most days)


Now since I have replaced the rear pinion bearing i have been damn near unstoppable off road, I somewhat big headedly put it down to knowing the terrain i drive very well and improving my technique, but on sunday i was out with a few friends in our usual play pit and it turns out my rear diff is now locked when its off road, but strangely its fine on road and seems to turn without issues on tight turns or roundabouts, to put it mildly I am confused.

What could i have done or what could have happened, have the locker fairies been out to me and given me the gift or more likely as i think is it due to go bang soon? or do i have some sort of LSD? I am not really up on diffs so I am hoping somebody who is might give me some info here.

I am not complaining as i said i am pretty much unstoppable at the moment and its only really a toy and severe winter landy so its not required to be ultra reliable(thankfully as its a landy)

All comments welcome :doh: what am i saying thats like the kiss of death:lol:

hope you set carrier and pinion bearings correctly ,4 pin from a p38 wouldnt fit as neat ,but military defenders had 4 pins that fit perfect ,but looks like this Google Image Result for http://www.expeditionexchange.com/tractech/DCP_1276.jpg

jamesmartin said:

hope you set carrier and pinion bearings correctly ,4 pin from a p38 wouldnt fit as neat ,but military defenders had 4 pins that fit perfect ,but looks like this Google Image Result for http://www.expeditionexchange.com/tractech/DCP_1276.jpg

Click to expand...

Well stone me, that does indeed look like the little beauty, check me out I have a detroit locker in, how good is that for free

Thanks James, that answers a lot of questions but also raises another one or two, like how important is it that i set the bearings right? because i followed Trweyeys guide to the letter re marking the locking caps up and counting the turns but Im sure thats not the most accurate method of setting one back up, and if im absolutely honest i may have added one extra locking tooth position when i nipped it back up as it seemed a bit sloppy, you know what i mean one more on one side and one less on the other to move the crown wheel that extra 0.000000 whatever mm it is

looks like you might be a lucky bastid

its quite important ,as long as pinion is smooth not stiff or loose but has preload it should be okay carrier bearings ,you start with both loose then wind crownwheel side up till backlash has just been removed from cw/p then wind other side up till backlash come back 4-6 thou .1 -.17mm a piece of std printer paper is similar

had a good read through` expeditions website about diffs.
very good reading indeed..

""have the locker fairies been out to me and given me the gift ""
Oh discopol - as it was said once on monty python,
you lucky lucky lucky bastid!


back in the days of my banger & hot rod racing,
I used "welded" diffs mostly,
welded planetary gears solid = NO differentiating (in english, both wheels gripped with no slippage)
but tried a diff built by a mate that had the conical thrust bearings doubled ???
on the planetary gears giving it a semi locked use.
was told tho` it was a real pig to assemble the planetary gears into the cage,
so left it to `ol matey

I raced on oval tracks, but some were no more than potato fields fenced off, with plenty mud usually wet bloody mud & puddles, but enjoyed it at the time with full on sideways racing showering the crowds with mud from my hakkerplettas. (ex rally chunky tread tyres)

now 36 years later, never been to a pay & play yet....

just so you all know, im chuffed as a puff with two arse'oles about my new found locker

Do all military defenders have an LSD in the rear ?

If so I might have to try and find one nearby

Dr_evil said:

Do all military defenders have an LSD in the rear ?

If so I might have to try and find one nearby

Click to expand...

they dont have lsd they have a 4 pin diff which is just stronger diff ,the only lsd i know about was center diff in very early lt95s

Dr_evil said:

Do all military defenders have an LSD in the rear ?

If so I might have to try and find one nearby

Click to expand...

No need for it now, it needs to be running first

jamesmartin said:

they dont have lsd they have a 4 pin diff which is just stronger diff ,the only lsd i know about was center diff in very early lt95s

Click to expand...

Bugger so he was just extremely lucky then the bastid

It's always to find out you have a bit of decent kit without even knowing about it
Lucky sod

Nick