Ok boys and girls....Found a stupid design flaw in the 3R center diff....No its not the bearing issue....
When I rebuilt my diff yesterday I ran into a problem...The 2mm nut used for thrustbolt to tighten down the diff was stripped....WHY...Because its a freakin soft aluminum nut with a steel threaded thrustbolt stripping it out....
Why not just use a normal damn steel nut....Is it that cost prohibitive....
Whatever....I came up with a Modification that makes this diff a much more reliable diff....No loss of adjustment as well as a more precise adjustment in the tuning of the diff....
Its actually very simple....
1) Buy one of THESE... The Associated T-nut/Thrustbolt...Even know its not a metric screw it still fits into the diff just fine....
2) U must either bore the washers that come with the 3R diff out a bit or just use normal 2mm screw washers...
3) You will need a third washer for the spring to set on at the hex end of the thrust bolt....
4) Trim the AE thurust bolt to the same size as the 3R diff bolt....
5) Remove and throw away the cheap aluminum nut 3R provides with the diff and replace it by sliding in the T-Nut....You will need to press it in with a flat head driver as it is a hair bigger then the inner diameter of the outdrive...
Press it in so that the T wings of the nut are .5mm from hitting bottom....
6) Assemble the thrustbolt just like stock 3R but first be sure to slide on that 3rd washer i told you about(you will see why its needed when you assemble it)....
7) Assemble the diff...You will quickly find out how mush easier it is to assemble with this Mod...
AE has been doing it this way for over 16 years with no design change in thier diffs....The only thing AE does differently is the placment of the spring...AE's design has the Thrustbolt Spring under the T-Nut instead of on top of the bearings....
Now your diff will not unadjust itself so easily....In fact it will be time to rebuild the diff before the adjustment slips.....
NOTE: MAKE SURE THE HEX SIDE OF THE THRUST BOLT TURNS CLOCKWISE WHEN YOU PUT YOUR DIFF BACK IN THE IN REGARDS TO THE FORWARD ROTATION OF THE BUGGY OR ST.....this is the most common error when using ball diffs of this design
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