rear actuator drift pin issues

[jes*b]

round two today - finally got drive shaft off to allow two bolts holding the actuator to pass out. ready to push drift pin out but it will not budge. any creative ideas for getting a decent whack on it? some sort of elongated homemade drift? tried one out of a small screwdriver filed down in the end of a 1/2" extension bar but the screwdriver disintegrated after a while and the drift pin stayed fast. Someone please remind me why I went to all the effort to get another 'project'.

[..lee..]

i use a pin punch with a hex shaft in a 3/8 socket and long extension. can be fiddly but works for me.

lee.

[lloydy]

Good news on the drive shaft
i used a screw driver like the ones in this set http://direct.tesco.com/product/images/?R=203-2310" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. and it came out ok. Nothing special i know, but it worked for me. It will be stiff, but once it starts moving it should be ok. Just give it a soaking tonight in plusgas or similar and chill out
click on the syncronauts tab right at top of page, there is a few bits in the technical section about diff locks

[rollercoaster]

Something I learnt as a kid getting very stuck cotter pins out on bicycle cranks:
its just as important to have something heavy on the opposite side of what you are hitting,
not obviously on the pin that would just stop it moving, but next to it so the pin can pass.
something at least as heavy as what you hit it with.
Newtons law of action-reaction.
This also prevents damage to the object you are hitting if you need to hit hard.
It also helps greatly to increase the shock factor at the precise point you want it,
so freeing up the pin, instead of bending the shaft or whatever else might happen.
For example imagine you are trying to bang a big nail into a fencepost,
it is made very easy if you get someone to hold a sledge hammer against the back of it,
saves the post coming loose in the ground too..
A good pin punch of the right size will be a good investment, not expensive,
and something that doesnt fit well wont be nearly as good.
Soak it in a release agent.
Its a small pin so if possible a punch and a small hammer, something behind, and a sharp tap.
Mine came out ok the other day, but the gearbox was removed and on the floor,
I could see it would have been a really awkward job otherwise..
Hope this helps anyway!

[jes*b]

I have run away, a beaten man. Long story short... broke parallel punch off in the hole. Drift Pin pushed out about 3mm then snap. Looking at corrosion on shaft into box and a quick call to Aiden probably something amis with the plunging rod on the actuator maybe coroded. Anyway toiled all day to pull broken bit out or somehow drive it through but now snapped off flush and bound up tight. Not budging, bkon hald a dozen homemade tools in the process.. So looks like im going to teach myself how to drop the box, will most probably use this as an excuse to fit the front diff , propshaft and box that i bought from Miiko. Happy Days. Spent the afternoon stripping engine protection.

[jes*b]

Whether is was the passing of time combined with the fact that I no longer really cared as I have taken a different course of action but the mangled roll pin is out. Reading what I said above there is a huge clue and it's a good lesson once again in that one should always try and factor in lots of chin scratching time into repairs. Things always look different in the morning, even if that morning is 6 months later.
Sage like advice from Obi Wan Aidan - pull roll pin out rather than trying to push. Thoughts of 'why didnt I think of that?' are irrelevant Grasshopper. Anyway now need to fashion a short home made drift to knock out , from the back, the broken fragments of WRONG sized , imperial drift which are very firmly holding on in the roll pin hole. On my job completion rate it may well be quicker to wait for the van to rust away around it. Spare g/box has been stood down...temporarily.

[jes*b]

3mm of boken drift removed from drift pin hole. Dissembled bracket etc. Shaft solid in sleeve, so the whole thing moving as one new circlip , clean up. Tapping, Gear oil in switch hole, (on gearbox, arm, face). Time/patience, Pin is now moving quite happily. Not quite passing the Aidan pinkie test yet.

Not quite sure why I am doing this job as gearbox will be swapped sooner or later. Trying to make up for earlier school boy error I guess.

[rollercoaster]

Well done!
The joys of DIY!
you get to revisit your own work regularly and improve it..

[jes*b]

The shaft is now sliding in and out as if it were new. The front diff shaft is sprung , so it slides back out, the rear does not appear to be so. Is it broken?/ does it need some more freeing up?/ or is it not a 'sprung' fitting. If not - why the difference between from diff and g box ?.

[Aidan]

should be a spring, but it's bellhousing off to get at the rollpin to remove the shaft to fit one if it's not there, as long as it is working freely it should be ok, the spring just means that the default position is OFF

[IdahoDoug]

Since I'm elbow deep in exactly this "free up the rear actuator rod" job, thought I'd chime in. Mine went from immobile except for tapping it in with a hammer, to me being able to move it with pliers though barely in 24 hours. I hope to have it moving correctly, which would mean its internal spring (in the diff) can move it easily back out after being pushed in by vacuum. So keep putting penetrating oil in from the switch (just learned this) and also on the shaft as it enters the gearbox.

Regards,
Doug

[jes*b]

Good luck! Mine is now free and moving well but no sprung return action, might just need a tad more loosening but I suspect spring failure as Aiden has said. Are you using a small screwdriver throug drift pin hole as you can then lever this in the early stages? ( you mention pliers?)

[Aidan]

use gear oil through the switch hole as lube/reaming agent rather than penetrating oil as there is a twin lip seal in there which may react badly with some components of freeing agents, but which is designed to withstand gear oil and it works pretty well in my experience, use a 3mm allen key or pin or screwdriver to w an k it in and out rather than pliers if you can, you'll get better purchase on it anyway
note if you have the very early 85 MY gearbox with the short difflock pin then you have to remove the box and strip out the difflock assembly and ream it up on the bench to get it free and easy, same with recalcitrant front diffs difflocks

[jes*b]

recalcitrant

[syncropaddy]

^^^^ yeah I had to look it up too!