Scotty, I just opened up the Differential on my '97 Mazda B-4000 pickup (6 cylinder) in order to change the oil and replace wheel bearings. Its that Ford open differential. I noticed there was a lot of play at the wheel hub when I was pulling the axle (about 5/16 of an inch at the lug nuts). Well, long story short I lost the carrier pin and wound up buying the pin with the four spider gears for $60. So now there is just a bit of backlash in the ring and pinion, no big deal and the clunk that I used to get starting out or sometimes when coasting around a corner is GONE. Woo-hoo what a bonus!
Here's my question: I've had this for 10 years. Bought it with 120,000 miles and it has always been hard to shift, like the synchronizers were worn out or something, but now I've driven without the CLUNK for three days and I notice that the shift is clean and easy. I'm loving it. But how can a lot of slop in the differential carrier cause hard shifting?
Thanks for reading,
nice work $60 is a bargain.
I'm not sure if you're talking about axle endplay, or backlash in the driveline.
Well, it was $70. Forgot about buying the gasket. Backlash is what I had and the new gears eliminated all but a tad in the ring/pinion.
driveline slop can cause all kinds of issues. Manual transmissions work better when input and output speeds are matched.
Imagine you're riding bikes with your buddy side by side, and you want to hand him a beer while moving. But he keeps speeding up and slowing down.