utn

So I think I must have made a super rookie mistake when installing my Quaife ATB differential in my D17 transmission (SLW/PLW X7B - '01 Civic HX 5 speed).
This is the first transmission I have rebuilt and changed a differential in. I am not an expert, or professional, just a hobbyist with a factory repair manual.
So, I replaced all synchronizers and bearings in the transmission, along with new carrier bearings for the Quaife differential.
Put it all back together (didn't measure any shims/clearances because I felt like rolling the dice), it shifted and rotated fine on the bench, and seemed good to go, but now I'm getting some real bad issues
On first drive I heard a clicking sound that would increase in volume and rate with the speed of the car, regardless of what gear was selected, even neutral.
I hoped maybe it was a CV joint that got tweaked wrong when re-installing or a bent dust shield from either the clutch area, or brake rotors.
So I attempted to diagnose it by jacking the front of the car, running the engine, putting it in gear, then stopping the rotation of one wheel at a time. When stopping the driver side wheel the sound went away. When stopping the passenger side wheel the sound/clicking got louder.
So I attempted to pull the driver side axle out of the transmission and I was not able to remove it. In the past with my old transmission axles were easy to pop out with prying with a large screw driver, but last night nothing I tried worked to remove the axle from the transmission.
To further complicate things at some point while letting the car run off the ground, the differential appears to have locked up. The front wheels will not rotate independently of one another, whether the transmission is in gear or not.
So my plan now is to go back in and attempt to remove the transmission, and do everything over again, hopefully right this time.

So after all of that, my question really is, what would cause a differential to lock and not rotate independently? Is that something that improper shimming could cause? Any ideas as to why I was not able to remove my axle? Is there something I can try before I take the transmission out of the car again?
Any other general tips for when installing a limited slip differential in a Honda transmission?

Thanks much,
Scott

utn

As an update. I was able to remove the driver side axle by putting two chisels between the axle on either side and hammering on them to work the axle out. I've attempted to do this with the passenger side, but haven't been able to get it out yet, after hours of prying and hammering.

utn

Another update. Pulled the transmission with the passenger side axle still stuck in it. Was able to hammer a ball joint separator fork between the axle and transmission to get it out further, then used a punch from the other side of the differential, through the center, to hammer out the axle.
The axle has all kinds of bad metal on it. I'm really not sure what happened. It looks like something was too tight and the axle itself was rubbing against some rotating part that deposited metal onto the shaft and caused the near to impossible to remove fitting.

Any ideas what the problem might be? Any suggestions on what I should do next?

JRCivic1

You rolled a 7 !!! You have made a grave mistake (or two or three or five) in assembling that transmission. Pictures of the damage that you see inside the transmission may help provide the answers that you seek, however, there is no way to tell what went wrong solely from the damaged inboard shaft splines of the axles. You might consider enlisting the help of a professional transmission builder next time... from the looks of those shafts, it is likely that many parts will be damaged inside, and quality transmission parts aren't cheap.

utn

Well I'll take it apart tomorrow and see what might be vaporized inside.
Worst case scenario I've still got a spare that I haven't fiddled with

utn

More pics. This is what the inside of the differential looks like. I don't understand why the inside of the axle hole ( can't think of the name ) is all marred up. I can't see how it would be related to anything I could have done when installing the differential. It makes me think the axle diameter is too large, or the Quaife differential axle inlet is too small.

JRCivic1

How much trouble was it to push the inboard splines into the transmission/Quaife openings ??? If it wasn't hard, then this wasn't the issue. It is more likely that there was some interference elsewhere, steel started flying around inside the transmission... found it's way into the diff and galled things up. Get it apart and let's see what you find.

holmesnmanny

I found your problem

utn

So far. Inconclusive.

I don't remember the axles being difficult to install. Maybe ever so slightly more than my old transmission, but not a significant effort.
Removing the passenger side was near impossible - driver side was harder than OEM but still possible in-car.

I've taken the transmission apart again and have found no signs of damage to the gears, or differential. I did find metal pieces in the oil that are magnetic which I don't know the source of yet.
Continuing to investigate.

Runnerdown

No damage there points to bad installation. The outer casing and side gear seems to have some unusual wear. Almost looks as if the gear was orbiting within the casing which caused wear and axle contact with the housing. I'd reassemble and send to quaife USA for evaluation.

utn

So I found what I believe is the root cause of the issue I had. The shimming/installation was not exactly the issue (I did end up using a 1.55mm shim instead of a 1.40mm factory installed shim - but this is not what caused the issue).
The issue appears to be the speedometer drive gear.

I was able to compare a fully working - unmolested transmission that was in my Civic - to the transmission I fiddled with. Everything was in order and I could not determine that anything was different or askew, except for the speedometer gear.
The way I figured this out was, after removing the main and counter shafts from each transmission and rotating each differential in their empty cases, everything sounded normal and silent, until I inserted the gear driven speed sensor. My Quaife transmission made all kinds of rattling/grinding sounds, while the OEM diff sounded just as quiet/silent as before.
What had happened is that I destructively removed and installed the speedo gear from a differential and installed it too brutishly onto the Quaife diff, bending, cracking, and chipping the speedo gear with a hammer (smart move I know). So the weakened gear teeth were knocked/broken loose during driving the first time, causing the metal contaminates to get into the oil and eventually into the differential and axle ports, causing interference and locking up the diff solid.
I have since swapped the good speedo gear to the Quaife differential, reassembled my Quaife equipped X7B transmission and reinstalled it in my car. And what do you know, it's quiet, smooth, and driving great now.
So moral of the story - bad install? Yeah. In a way.