Hi All,
I'm sure someone knows the answer to this:
I have someone here on the other side of the world that has a 1937 LaSalle Coupe that he is working on and it has a "whining" differential. He is fairly certain that it is the pinion bearings that are the problem and wants me to ask you if any of you have experience with replacing these. I would appreciate any detailed explanation of how to do this if anyone can help. I understand that pinion seals may be involved somehow so if you could address the insertion/replacement of these too, that would be ideal!
John,
The differentials on Cadillacs up until the 50's, or later, are extremely difficult to work on because Cadillac did not allow any work to be done on them by the Cadillac dealerships. If there was any problem they were to replace the center section with a new one and send the old one back to Detroit. They published no information or specifications for any of these units. I tried once to find information on setup procedures for a 38, or later, and found none. I know the ring gear is riveted to the spool piece so it is not really replaceable. I can't remember if the pinion backlash is adjusted by a crush sleeve or shims, but there is just no information. If they do use spacers, and you just want to replace the bearings you might try, but you would have to wing it as far as setup goes.
I'm going to be faced with this issue sometime in the future because the differential in my car is starting to make some noise but I do have a used center section replacement so I'm just going to let it go until it gets much worse.
Good luck.
Tom Beaver