WECoyote

I just installed a used TA differential girdle on my stock 10-bolt (to hold me over until the Dana 44 is installed) and there are some questions that came to mind while doing it. BTW....I did not get any instructions (like it is really complicated ) with it.

1) How much tightening torque should be applied to the two bearing cap preload 'studs' if any? I guesstimate I applied about 5 to 10 ft-lbs to them.

2) How much more gear oil will the differential hold with the TA girdle? I used 3 quarts to refill the differential and the level was still not up to the fill plug on the girdle. I did have the car raised in the back while performing the install so there is the factor of the angle. However I still could not feel the oil level with my finger tip through the fill hole after the 3 quarts!? I only had 3 quarts of synthetic oil with me at the time.....more than enough I thought. I beleive the standard amount of oil is 2 to 2.5 quarts.

Thanks for the help.

Mike


[This message has been edited by WECoyote (edited October 07, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by WECoyote (edited October 07, 2001).]

irocbsa

My Summitt Stud Girdle specifies 10 lb ft of torque on the bearing cap bolts. I used three quarts of fluid in mine and it was just about at the fill hole. Where did you find that Dana 44??
bsa

[This message has been edited by irocbsa (edited October 07, 2001).]

RB83L69

5-10 should be fine. Like bsa said, the destructions call for 10, so I think you're good to go.

Seems like my rear took about 3½ quarts... it varies somewhat according to which carrier you have in it, since they take up varying amounts of space... I have an Auburn Pro with 3.73s.

{edit}I just ran across the ones that came with mine... they call for 5 ft-lbs. still it doesn't seem it would be too critical as long as they're not so tight they distort the caps or the cover.

------------------
"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

[This message has been edited by RB83L69 (edited October 07, 2001).]

WECoyote

Thanks for the replies! Sorry for my delaying on responding back......gotta work to pay for the 'toys'!

irocbsa: I picked up the Dana 44 used from a fellow MFBA member. Perks of being in a F-body car club!

RB83L69: Good point about carrier size/brand and the 'volume' they occupy in the differential housing.

Got another question. After torqueing down the bearing cap preload studs, should they be periodically checked to see if they have 'relaxed' or let off due to the gasket setting, housing flex, etc. ? I ask this because when I installed the girdle and used synthetic gear oil (was conventional oil prior to that) the differential was silent. The gear whine I would hear under slight acceleration and de-accleration was gone. After the MFBA'a Fall Cruise (read: lot of hard acceleration, heavy braking, tight turns at speed, etc ) the gear whine returned albeit not as loud. I'm thinking I need to get back under the car and check all 10 girdle bolts and the bearing cap bolts to verify they are tight.

Anybody else experience this as I have described?

Thanks again!

Mike

onebad82z

iTrader: (7)

The bolts that hold the girdle on get torqued to 25 ft lbs,the bearing cap studs get torqued to 5 ft lbs or I beleive 55 in lbs.When you fill the rear you can fill it thru the girdle but you still fill it to the factory fill hole (on the side of the rear,the bottom of that hole) not the fill hole in the girdle.That would overfill the rear.I have rechecked them once and they stayed at the torque i set them at,i wouldnt worry about them.I have no noise out of my rear but then again i only have around 600 miles on it since i rebuilt it this summer.That noise you have could be noise from slightly worn bearings or gear whine,hopefully not a sign of bad things to come.

------------------
1982 Z28:355,4 Speed,Lots of bolt ons