Senton - Sandy sounding Diff...

[BennyMac]

I ran my Senton on some gravel last weekend and when cleaning down i noticed some stones and stuff that had got caught under the rear A Arms against the chassis. To get them out I unscrewed the housing off the chassis that exposes the external gears of the diff and cleaned it all away carefully but what I noticed was some of the fine dirt seems to have gotten into those gears during running. They make a kind of sandy sound when rotated. My questions are:

Should I take the diff out and clean it all down and re-grease (is that a silly question!)?

What sort of grease to use if I should?

Has anyone else had the same thing, or come up with a way to prevent fine dirt getting in there? (Sealing or greasing the diff housing/chassis contact points perhaps?)

Much Appreciated

 

[Zer0Fame]

Heya,

yes, take the diff out and clean everything, sand can kill gears pretty easily, it works like sanding paper (no pun intended) on high rpms.

I had sand and rocks getting caught under the A-Arms ... i use an Allen wrench to get them out and some compressed air to blow the sand out before taking the axle off.
Before remounting the axle, I clean the chassis plate very neatly to prevent dust coming in.

As grease I used Castrol Multipurpose Grease recently ... seems to be working very good, but I don't have any long term experience yet.

If you install the diff housing after cleaning everything, there shouldn't be any sand going in, except if it's not mounted correctly. No mods needed.

 

[BennyMac]

Cool, thanks for the heads up Zer0Fame

 

[vogtjg]

I use black RTV silicone to seal up my diffs. I put it everywhere that dirt could enter. Even where the bearings seat into the case and on the inner races of the bearings to the hard parts. Keeps grease from seeping out of the cracks and attracting dirt as well. I also put as much grease in the diff case as I can fit. Makes gears last a long time.

 

[pl9171]

As grease I used Castrol Multipurpose Grease recently ... seems to be working very good, but I don't have any long term experience yet.

Thanks for the info...
PL