DaniC
Well-known member
I can't speak from experience because I've never ran a diff with no fluid, but I would say that does explain the increased noise...Just an update on this.
I have replaced my pinion with a brand new 12T one (I'm gearing down since it's summer and the grass gets long real quick ). I have finished changing my drive cups as suggested above (I've not bothered changing the driveshafts since I replaced the rear center one not long before, whilst it has a slight bend in it (again) - bought it to replace a bent one already ).
I have pulled the center diff apart, cleaned it up, nothing looked particular broken or badly worn so rebuilt it.
Since the noise is still occurring even with those new cups, I'm possibly thinking that I will replace the spur gear and may as well get new planetary gears and bearings too whilst I am at it. It looks like as soon as rear drive shaft has any load on it, the gearing slips at the minute.
Currently though, I have not refilled the diff with fluid. I have some, just not bothered refilling it since I didn't want to waste any if I was gonna replace the spur gear anyway.
Could this possibly be the whole issue all along? When I drained the diff in the first place, there wasn't particularly all that much liquid that drained off in the first place, just a small amount of gunge really.