Need Help with 1985 big red 250es rear end (differential)!!!

[Bigbadred]

Hey everyone, I'm new to working on big reds (as I just purchased my first one) and it appears there is so serious grinding n such going on in my differential. I drained the diff oil and sure enough it was pouring out metal shavings. I even put the trike in neutral and felt the diff gear as a rolled it backwards and it felt chipped.

Now I started the surgery and can't seem to remove the axle from the diff. I've taken apart the casing and I cannot slide the axle through. May sound dumb but like I said in a newb to repairing trikes and I would really appreciate some help. Thanks and hope to get some insight!

[Larry T Moore]

get ahold of FlyingW..he got that stuff in his head like a library..set ya right up

[Flyingw]

You have to get the left hub off. Unbolt the left axle tube and remove it. The axle is retained in the left and right axle tubes with a collar on each end of the axle. Remove the brake panel on the right. Its retained by four nuts. Now the axle should slide out the right side. If metal shavings are coming out of the diff drain, chances are the pinion gear needle bearing failed causing the pinion gear to wobble on the ring gear. The bottom line is.....the diff is toast. Look in the fill hole at the ring gear teeth. They should be smooth with square teeth edges. Bet they are chewed up. Scope it out and report back.

[Bigbadred]

Hey thanks for the reply! So your saying the axle slides out the right side? Like toward the rear brake? I've always been trying to slide it through the left side

[GunsShooting]

Hey thanks for the reply! So your saying the axle slides out the right side? Like toward the rear brake? I've always been trying to slide it through the left side

That's the norm. Check out this page which has instructions that are generic but apparently sorta-kinda universal.

http://www.bluetraxx.com/tech/axle_bearing_pg2.htm

[ericmreimer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSEvHQIPhcg

this is a 4 part, check it out. This really is pretty much exactly how it's done.

[Bigbadred]

Hey guys thanks so much! Helped a lot. Finally got to the bottom of the issue, now just need to find the part and slap it in. Looks like I need some kind of special tool tho

[Flyingw]

Which part?

[Bigbadred]

I need both gears. The small one is like chewed right up and the big gear has some chips n stuff so I'll get both. But I need some kind of tool to get the small gear off

[Flyingw]

Here's your problem. The ring gear (big one) and the pinion gear (small one) are match ground when they are made so they were sold as gear sets but they are no longer available. Yes a few very special tools are required to get the pinion gear out. Very difficult without at least two very special tools and some other commercially available tools such as a blind hole bearing tool. I will assume the needle bearing at the end of the pinion shaft failed causing the pinion shaft to wobble around in there tearing up the ring gear. Basically the rear diff is toast. I have a freshly rebuilt and repainted ES diff sitting on my shelf ready to go. For Canadian trikers the cost is 340.00 USD shipped. You can buy one off Ebay for about 250-300 but it too will need to be rebuilt and you will spend a couple hundred dollars gathering up the tools you need to rebuild one with the exception of the diff holding tool which is no longer available. When you do the math, buying mine is far more cost effective than trying to do it yourself but the choice is yours. Without a functional diff, you have a really heavy paper weight. I only have one of these so if you want it, you might want to jump on it while I have it. Let me know.

[Bigbadred]

Do you have any pics possibly? I'm interested

[Flyingw]

Yes, I'll post em when I get off work.

[kb0nly]

Flyingw is the man when it comes to those dang diffs!!

Bummer that its bad, but once its replaced if you maintain it you should get another 30 years out of it... LOL

Oh and post up some pics of this trike your working on, we all like pics here!

[Flyingw]

Here ya go. Completely rebuilt. I left the metal natural but put a clear powder coat over the cases to protect the metal.

[Bigbadred]

Right on man, so would you have an idea on how much shipping would be?