Removing diff. from rusty Mk2 2000

[Mjit]

So finally gotten around to the job of stripping the diff. out of my terminally rusty parts big saloon and with the car on stands under the sub frame arms/drive shafts disconnected and free/4x diff. to nose piece bolts/2x rear mounting nuts and rubbers removed I can only get a bit of downwards action before a combination of the rear catching on the 2x long studs and the car body lifting up.

I've tried moving the stands to the outside ends of the sub frame arms which got a bit more drop (but still only about half way down the studs) before I was again lifting the body.

I'm not keen on putting the stands anywhere else (or at least not on going under it when it is - the sills and floor stopped being structural members many years ago!) but not sure what else do.

The seal between the diff. and nose piece doesn't seem to have broken yet - does that need to split so the diff. will wiggle back to reposition the studs in the holes as it comes down?

[Pete Lewis]

was a job i wondered why i started the mk2 saloon makes removal a pain  i removed the 4 long bolts through the quill shaft carrier and the 4 setscrews holding the quill shaft carrier to the diff case  this gave enough wiggle to drop the tail off the studs and withdraw the diff assy.   

releasing one side of the xmember should allow the quill to drop out ,  its how to support the car is the......... what if !!!

axle stand at the extremes of the main crossmembers  as whilst sills look very sound i didnt want to invite disaster

stag  mk1 and estate are easy as the rear support can be removed the Mk2 saloon  had a heavy cast rear case  all in one   ...why  ....

i know you wont be but getting the 4 long bolts aligned on a refit was a bit of a faf.

Pete

 

[thescrapman]

You have to put stands under the sills, subframes wont move enough if there is any support under them.

other way is to unbolt whole rear suspension and lift body up leaving subframe and diff on floor.

[Pete Lewis]

its the lack of sills under the paint thats the concern 

mine is all metal but the jack location pins are missing  ..is the reinforcement inside  ???       ... im not going to investigate why or chance using the sills as a jack zone 

yes its only a couple of bolts to let the frame shift but ......ive a nice car but wont be lifting on the sills ....if theres a next time  maybe elsewhere 

like large wooden packers and the floor  theres not lots or Heavy at the back end 

Pete

[Mjit]

1 hour ago, Pete Lewis said:

its the lack of sills under the paint thats the concern

In my case this car became my parts car when my friendly MOT guy gave me a call and asked me to pop down as "I've left her up on the ramp so you can see"...  Even then there were more gaps then connected metal between the floor and sills - and it's sat a couple of years since then through the "I can save it!" phase and in to the "Or I can buy a better one for a fraction of what fixing it will cost and use it for spares" phase.  Hence why I'd rather not trust the weight of the car to them before crawling underneath and starting to man-handle the diff...

Oddly when jacked up it's the doors on the 'good' one that don't quite open/close smoothly while they remain perfect on the 'colander'!😩

[Mjit]

So a couple of holes in the wood blocks I use on top my axel stands and support via the sub frame outer attachment bolts (so bolt heads in the hole so load spread across the large washers) and the diff came off quite easilly...even if I was rather nervous reaching under the cat at some of the noises/rush showers.

Of course the problem is with no diff. I can't drop the car back off the stands.  Not looking forward to refitting the diff. from the other car at the far end of the swap...

[Pete Lewis]

just fit a quill shaft case , dont need the whole diff to tie the frames together especially as its not going anywhere

 

[thescrapman]

9 hours ago, Pete Lewis said:

just fit a quill shaft case , dont need the whole diff to tie the frames together especially as its not going anywhere

 

Not quite right.

I thought the same, just take diff out and it will be fine.

arear wheels tuck right under arches and tyres jam against the dampers.

Bother I thought.

Solved issue by jacking back up, putting a loop of wire down through the 2 inner seat belt mount holes which line up exactly with the quill extension.

pull tight round ex,tension and suspension sorts itself out.