Rear Differential

Papa Zook said:

One thing to take a look at is to check the bolts that affix the pulley to the differential housing and see if they are backing out, I've seen this before on the older models. You can grab the rear of the pulley itself and give it a firm back and forth shake and see if there is any play in it.

Click to expand...

FuzzyWuzHe said:

Maybe check the wheel bearings as well.

Click to expand...

irondog said:

It was an axle housing bearing between the belt sprocket and the differential . Ball bearings fell out on the floor it was so far gone. The clunk noise was the bolt heads holding the belt sprocket hitting the inner axle housing when turning. I now know EVERYTHING about my trike. Ken

Click to expand...

irondog said:

Just wanted to let everyone know my recent work on the trike has done well. Several thousand miles and operares perfectly. Fuzzy, you were correct on the bearings. Too bad they were such a hassle to get to, unlike car bearings. Both inner and outer were pressed on the axles up to an indent. So everything had to come apart. Suprisingly, trike

body removal/install was the easiest part...6 bolts/nuts. Found that the 2 allen head plugs on the differential are the fasteners for the internal spyder gears that the serated axle ends drive on. Shop press needed for removal and install of bearings.

Click to expand...

irondog said:

View attachment 90721

These are photos of the rear end on my 98 Ultra classic. Have no idea of the kit year. Am having something between a click and a clunk per revolution below 10 mph. Need to check grease. It has 2 opposing hex plugs, looks like 3/4" hex key size. Any info or advise greatly appreciated. Ken

Click to expand...

Street said:

Hey Ken,

Glad you were able to get your bearings replaced.

I'm new here and currently working on a new to us Champion unit on a Roadstar 1700 that has developed a bearing noise in the rear axle area. It sounds like one of the large inner bearings, but plan on replacing all of them while it is apart.

I'm having trouble getting the big 3/4" allen head plugs out of the differential. They seem very tight (as all bolts have been on this kit) and I don't want to damage anything in the process. Currently flexing the 6" extension while using a 1/2" drive breakover bar with an allen socket on it. Wondering if you had any similar issues and any advice you might offer would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

John

Click to expand...

Jack Klarich said:

John, if you can easily get to the area around the plug, rap it a few times with a punch and hammer, also rap in the center of the plug itself. This usually helps free up the threads

Click to expand...

Street said:

Thanks for replying!

I did tap on the plug while trying to loosen it but it didn't let go.

I'll try the punch method and see if it helps. Already broke an impact-grade extension on this.

Managed to get one of the bearing plates off using a slide hammer. That allowed me to get the bearing numbers and get them ordered. Once they arrive I'll take the whole thing to my mechanic to do on the press.

Thanks again as I'm always open to suggestions.

If anyone else has any ideas, feel free to chime in.

Click to expand...

irondog said:

Tinker. The hex plugs don't have to be taken out. They just hold the spyder gears in. Once everything is pulled, axles,etc,you will have full access to the differential. Clean out completely and pack the diff full of gear grease. Ask me how I know. Ken

Click to expand...

Street said:

Hey Ken,

Glad you were able to get your bearings replaced.

I'm new here and currently working on a new to us Champion unit on a Roadstar 1700 that has developed a bearing noise in the rear axle area. It sounds like one of the large inner bearings, but plan on replacing all of them while it is apart.

I'm having trouble getting the big 3/4" allen head plugs out of the differential. They seem very tight (as all bolts have been on this kit) and I don't want to damage anything in the process. Currently flexing the 6" extension while using a 1/2" drive breakover bar with an allen socket on it. Wondering if you had any similar issues and any advice you might offer would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

John

Click to expand...

Street said:

Good idea on the permanent backing wrench in the tunnels. I use either a ratchet and socket with another socket to hold the handle up, or a flat ratcheting wrench from HF just laying on the bolt. Just gotta go slow and it works great.

Got the bearings swapped in the pumpkin after some challenges getting them out. Then discovered one of the gears was out of round by .003". Doesn't sound like much but it's a precision ground part that's pressed into the bearing. I rigged it onto a bolt to spin it in a drill and took .001 off of it with Emory cloth. Put it all back together, dialed it all in and everything seems happy.

As promised, here's the bearing numbers for this SA unit from 2014. I used all Timken bearings.

Outer Axle Bearings. 6007

LG bearings connecting plates to pumpkin. 6209

Gear Bearings inside pumpkin. 6008

Thanks again for all of the input. Really appreciate this site.

Click to expand...