who can fix this?

[longhamrob]

I had a 'clonk' in the drivetrain of my 131r from the day I bought it. It was the last job to fix.
A year ago I was recommended to a local garage who advertise on the web offering differential repairs.
They had the car a few days, told me some bearings were worn and I get a ?450 bill.
 I drive it home and the clonk, although weaker, is still there and now I have a 'new' whine. Prior to this my diff was silent.
The garage fobbed me off and I didn't want them to touch the car again so I walked away.
I lived with the whine for a few weeks but was not happy with it so I went to another localish transmission specialist. He had no room to take the axle out of my car so I had to do it.
He resets the badly aligned diff and when put back in it was almost silent but still acceptable. He said it will bed in & i suppose it did as I never thought of it again until a month ago.
Then a noise appeared like a wheel bearing.
I drive it another few hundred miles & it gets worse.
Last week it was put up on a ramp and the diff was diagnosed. I drove it to the guy who realigned it and limped home with it sounding like a crank slapping engine just about to exploded.
 I am very surprised it made it but then it is a Fiat and they just do.
He was sympathetic but I will have to take the axle out again to take to him which could be pointless if it has destroyed itself which sounds likely.

I have a second 131 sport that I have just finished this week a total rebuild.
Late last year I purchased a LSD.
The same guy who last rebuilt the diff took this axle apart only to tell me it did not fit. (This was covered in a forum thread earlier this year.)
Despite having him looked at this axle in detail, and charging accordingly, as soon as I road test the car for the 1st time i notice the diff is noisy. Not horrendous but spoils the rebuild.....
 The trouble is I have lost confidence in this second company:-
1) The 1st diff should not have failed.
2) The 2nd diff should have been detected faulty when disassembled.

I have a spare diff with a 10/41 ratio. This diff has also been disassembled, probably needlessly, and given back to me in a box of bits by the 1st garage. I gave it to them as spares should they need them.
The second guy reassembled it while he was realigning the other.
With the other two diffs faulty could you really trust putting this one in bearing in mind is was rebuilt by the same hand.
Does anybody know somebody I can trust to sort this out for good??

[jasonh131]

You ain't had much luck with with diffs or dodgy garages   
 all i have in the past was prop whining bearings, uj clonks and doughnut splits all
 thought to be axles even rear wheel bearings ?

[TOAD]

Hi Rob,

   First, do you have an axle with an undisturbed pinion ?  That is the main set up bit.

   Second, this clonk, could it have been by you seat?  I have two ideas if it could have been.

    Roger.......

[longhamrob]

Hi Toad.
I do not have an axle with an undisturbed pinion. Only the spare axle has been reassembled and unused.
The clonk was eventually found as a dry joint at the front of the prop shaft where a grease nipple was dry.
I went out for the 1st time in the 'new' car yesterday. The diff in this is not too bad and only noisy when de-accelerating sending a small vibration through the car.

[kev131]

Sounds like a very unfortunate tale - 131 diff stories quite often have an unhappy ending.

Glad to see that you  are on the road though and maybe the symptons that you have are common to a lot of owners who just put up with it. I can understand if you'd like to get it running perfectly though.

These guys supply good quality bearings if this helps....

http://www.axel-augustin.de/shop2/Fiat-Oldtimer-Youngtimer/Fiat-131/Rear-axles-parts/Differential-bearing:::6_80_32949_32956.html

[TOAD]

Good you got the slip joint one,

A thump under the floor on acceleration will most likely be the prop center bearing pillow block, the rubber bit.

The Diff I will leave you with as Theo has given you a chap to use

[longhamrob]

Hi Toad.  Thanks for your interest. However nobody as yet has recommended anyone, only a lead as to where to source parts.

[strada]

 i had the axle in one of my supers rebuilt by a company down here in somerset. absolute top job, now, gearsets are virtually impossible to find but can be reused with new bearings and seals that are sourced from portugal,  contact GEAR CHANGE,  01278722359..  www.gearchange.co.uk  somerset may be a big hike for you but trust me its worth it.
   
 on the subject of props and in particular pillow blocks, ihave just had a prop rebuilt using a pillow block which i was told came from some crappy ford engined jag & is readilly availible. it is nearas make no difference the same as a 131one, i am still evaluating & will start a thread in the garage when i am compleatly happy.