R200 Datsun rebuild - restoration - bearings seals setup backlash shims gear pattern preload how to

You guys wanted Rear - end rebuild details and this is the result, a 45 minute video of all the details you could ask for!...entirely too long for most I would agree but if your in need of all the small details of how to rebuild a Datsun rear diff than this video will not disappoint! If there's anything I missed or anything else you would like to know then be sure to subscribe and drop a comment below!
Rock auto Discount 5% valid until 04-18-2021 (drop it in the how did you hear about us spot)
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Tools you'll need to rebuild a Differential-
Great info on bearings here! but be sure to measure your specific bearing before ordering! zclub.net/community/index.php...
Factory Service Manuals - www.xenonzcar.com/s30/fsm.html
Bearing separator - amzn.to/2NnneCR
seal driver set - amzn.to/3saLhDI
Slide hammer - amzn.to/3s4UkGq
Seal puller set - amzn.to/3k0jJyj
Pinion preload torque wrench beam style (cheap) amzn.to/3bnwQ8E
Pinion preload torque wrench Dial style (recommended) - amzn.to/3s9LTd8
250lb torque wrench for pinion nut - amzn.to/3drILFi
pinion yoke flange tool - amzn.to/37s1r3H
Acid brushes for gear compound - amzn.to/2ZrpV94
Gear marking compound - amzn.to/3qv9xAa
RTV sealant - amzn.to/3axVXGT
High precision Measuring equipment - DONT CHEAP OUT HERE
ACCURACY IS EVERYTHING
Mitutoyo Dial indicator - amzn.to/3bmYZwL
Noga Articulating magnetic stand w/indicator (Metric) - amzn.to/2ZvOW2M
Noga stand w/o indicator - amzn.to/2Nd8rLc
Mitutoyo calipers
6" - amzn.to/3s6HF5J
8" - amzn.to/3u9TGsZ
Powder Coating - www.prismaticpowders.com/shop...
Degreaser - amzn.to/3kbM58U
amzn.to/37pBCl1
Amazon affiliates-We are a part of amazon affiliates and we do earn a tiny commission on the sales generated from you buying any product listed above through amazon but every penny goes back into the shop and these amazing projects. If you need something from the list below consider buying it through the link so we can continue to build and create awesome content for you to enjoy!
If you are looking for Datsun parts, don't forget to check prices on DatsunPartZ.com
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[@mikegadoury6172]

Admittedly I was one who asked for the details and you absolutely delivered! Fantastic job. This video along with the FSM will be open as I start the process of rebuilding my R200. Again - really great job. Maybe you'd consider a similar video on rebuilding the transmission - Hahahaha - thanks for the tremendous effort.

[@hcr-motorworks]

Haha, glad I could deliver, Hope it helps ya in the future!

[@richardwainwright507]

Great video, I have my work cut out for me, but I’m a lot more confident now.

[@hcr-motorworks]

Thanks for watching!

[@williamknauer7839]

Thank you, awesome video. I'm getting ready to do the same on my Z31

[@hcr-motorworks]

Awesome! Hope it helps!!!

[@andrewb3497]

Great video, shows that doing this is not for the faint hearted and probably best left to the professionals.

[@hcr-motorworks]

I was actually hoping this video would cause the opposite. ANYONE can do this...if they have the knowledge and the tools to measure everything. YOU CAN DO IT!!!

[@jndesign]

Great walk through. I was considering having someone else build my R200 but with this kind of detail, gotchas, etc. Pretty sure I can do it.

[@hcr-motorworks]

💯 you got this!

[@jessewaite509]

Nice dude! Don't know how this will help me on my R180, but I love the detail. Nice work

[@hcr-motorworks]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks

[@od6020]

Thanks for the video 😊, one thing I wanted to clarify the longer half shaft / diff axel goes in on the left side of the diff ( looking from the back of the car)

[@hcr-motorworks]

Yep i go over those details @34:48 Thanks for watching! Hope it helps

[@od6020]

@@hcr-motorworks thanks for that, just double checking since my drivers side is on the right. Have a great day 👍

[@hcr-motorworks]

@@od6020 ahhh, RHD!!! yours is way cooler. And in need of a new owner. I suggest we ship that thing over to me ASAP! Lol 😆

[@od6020]

@@hcr-motorworks 😂 😂 😂 not a chance. Thanks for your help 👍

[@PeterMikolaitis]

Your lucky I've done 2 different diffs and have the same problem with the new bearings the original shims will not go in TOO TIGHT. Can't use FSM for the numbers on the case and pinion no longer exist.

[@Rizzle280]

This video has been immensely helpful, thank you.

[@hcr-motorworks]

Glad you enjoyed it! Hope it helps!!!

[@Rizzle280]

@@hcr-motorworks I had to order a few thicker pinon preload shims from nissan, i'm getting about 32 inch pounds of preload with new bearings. Really glad i spent the extra on a good dial type torque wrench

[@hcr-motorworks]

@@Rizzle280 yea the pricey inch pound torque wrenches are the only way to go to properly set these things up. Hopefully the shims help get it in spec! Make sure the races and bearings are seated all the way down on the shaft and in the case as well.

[@Rizzle280]

@@hcr-motorworks I did, I had to replace the rear outer race because of a defect in the surface, and I could feel a bump every ~30 degrees of rotation. Turned out there was a gouge in it I didn't notice when installing. When I took that race out I double checked both races and put as much pressure as I safely could into them on the press. Replacing that freed it up significantly, I think i just need a few thou of clearance to get it perfect.

[@hcr-motorworks]

@@Rizzle280 awesome! Let us know when you get it all back together!

[@jeffb.7951]

Great video! I'm in the process of rebuilding an R180 in a 260z and switch to a KAAZ LSD. There seems to be some slight differences like the lack of bearing caps. I'm most concerned with setting the pinion preload. Is it possible I need to change some shims to set the preload? I don't have the "dummy shaft" or other special tools to assist in getting the correct pinion depth.

[@hcr-motorworks]

You will probably have to do some measuring on the pinion depth if you're changing the gearsets. You'll definitely need the inch pound torque wrench to check pinion preload. That, along with some manual measuring, you could possibly get away without having to buy a dummy shaft.

[@GuyX2013]

Great video ; if the preload is 3.5 lbs less than the minimum in the FSM is that really all that important as long as backlash is within spec?

[@hcr-motorworks]

3.5 INCH pounds...probably not that big of a deal with used bearings. If they are new bearing i would try to torque that pinion nut to the higher end of the spec and get that preload more towards the within spec range.

[@thomasrobert4893]

Thanks for this really nice video. Can you give us news after these 2 years ? I'm curious if the diff was noisy and if you finally had to modify the pinion depth ?

[@hcr-motorworks]

Ooooph...thanks for the reminder that I still dont have this car done haha.

[@thomasrobert4893]

@@hcr-motorworks ahah restauration take a lot of time on these old datsun. I have a similar patern on the tooth as you show on the video. Maybe it's a choice from the factory. I don't see so many people tuning the pinion depth on our R200. So I don't know what to do... 🤭

[@hcr-motorworks]

@thomasrobert4893 if the backlash is within spec I'd be inclined to run it and see honestly. Keep me posted. Hopefully yours will be running before this one lol

[@thomasrobert4893]

​@@hcr-motorworksmade a drive test today. No bad noise, all seems running fine. I will probably recheck next year if there is no bad worn tooth. Anyway I'm really happy ! Thanks you

[@hcr-motorworks]

@@thomasrobert4893 glad to hear it! 🙏 Good job!!!

[@danielmorishita-horner727]

Where can you order the side shims?

[@hcr-motorworks]

zcardepot.com/collections/rear-axle-and-differential/products/r200-differential-adjusting-shim-washer-spacer-oem?_pos=1&_sid=49c29e6ee&_ss=r

[@BlancoRaceEngineering]

Thank you very much for your effort on documenting all prosses and by k8nd to share it. Id like to ask, where can I buy shims for it? As well bearings and seals. Thanks again.

[@hcr-motorworks]

Most of the bearings and seals can be bought off rock auto or similar...the only one i had to get from courtesy nissan was the pinion roller bearing. The shims can either be bought from nissan directly or plaves like zcardepot.com but you most likely wont need to change the shims unless you've changed gear sets as well.

[@chproadpilot]

For some reason I cannot bring up the Amazon link to get the tools involved. Could you help !

[@hcr-motorworks]

It's in the description, just click show more and all the links should be there and active. Let me know if you have any trouble!

[@chproadpilot]

@@hcr-motorworks thanks for the help. Do you offer a rebuild service for these ?

[@hcr-motorworks]

@@chproadpilot not at this time unfortunately.

[@toe-b203]

What happens when your pinion preload is way off. I was getting a measurement of 50 in/lbs without the seal

[@hcr-motorworks]

Ooph...i would check the bearings and make sure they are fully seated on the shaft and the race in the housing. If it is, your going to need to shim it out and get it proper spec with the nut torqued properly giving you the proper amount of preload.

[@toe-b203]

where on the pinion shaft would the shims go? and how would i go about measuring that? @@hcr-motorworks

[@hcr-motorworks]

@@toe-b203 between the pinion gear and the pinion bearing. The correct way is to measure the depth of the pinion gear in the case

[@barrydowell]

At time 14:40-I don’t understand why overtorquing the pinion preload drives the bearings farther on the shaft.

[@hcr-motorworks]

They are opposed races where the bearings on the pinion shaft are seated by the torque applied to the pinion nut. If you torque the pinion nut to a higher torque spec, when you back it off and torque it properly the bearing races will essentially be pressed up farther along the length of the pinion shaft than they otherwise would have if the pinion nut was torqued to spec properly the first time. Itd be like over driving the bearing race down a shaft with a arbor press. Except this nut in this case is acting as the press when the assembly is over torqued. Creates all sorts of issues if done improperly. Better to just sneak up on the torque of the pinion nut rather than over torqued and then backing it off to try again and having everything in an improper depth from the initial over torqued situation. Even worse if your doing it in a 'crush sleeve' type rear end. Once that washer is over crushed, there's no just backing the nut off and hoping for the best when re-torqued. Hope that helps.

[@barrydowell]

Thank you very much for the reply. Yes it does help, explain the why and moreover to identify my many mistakes. I did exactly what you warned of, but before I watched your video. The differential I’m using is from a Q45 on my Z32. I thought changing flanges was a simple swap. But, my process was very poor, I held the half-shaft flanges (not pinion flange) to both loosen the nut to remove the original flange and torque down the pinion nut with NA Z32 flange. I tightened to the position I marked on the nut and threads. Torque was near the high end of range, but preload was VERY low. I continued tightening, neglecting a torque remeasure, favoring a preload measurement instead until THAT number was in range. I went too far and the flange would barely turn by hand (easy then very tight-nearly snagging during rotation). Frustrated and confused, I loosened the nut, torqued to minimum then up to halfway into the pinion nut torque spec, and accepted the low preload. After which I discovered the play, that was not there before. The result of this process: there is now play/backlash where before I removed the Q45 flange where before there was practically none. I assume my overtightening caused this play? Could I have damaged the LSD or the spider gears also? What a mess I made of a good diff (65k miles, no noise, smooth, tight)!!! Very angry with myself for rushing. I had measured the preload on the Q45 diff before I removed the Q45 companion flange. It was below the FSM, but tight, buttery smooth and quiet.

[@hcr-motorworks]

@barrydowell sometimes the best lessons learned are the hardest ones to accept. At 65k i would have let that thing ride until loud noises started popping up lol. The holding of the companion flanges and then tightening the pinion nut 'shouldn't ' have caused any issues but until ya tear it all down and inspect the gear and look for denting ya wont know for sure. The preload under the fsm spec is fairly common for a used and worn in diff. Most of these specs are for brand new everything at assembly and will change with use and wear. Time to tear it down and inspect.

[@barrydowell]

Agree 100% on all the above. Tough pill to swallow, but necessary. I have 3 R200’s now. All fit on my Z32, different ratios. My journey began with a broken pinion gear-2 teeth snapped off (car makes 740rwhp). Hard lesson simply over a lack of patience. It’s why carpenters measure twice… Great videos. Thanks for the responses.

[@carlosberrios1021]

Mine is way off I'm getting 8 thousands

[@hcr-motorworks]

With new bearings? Spec is 0.005-0.007” so I wouldn’t say you’re way off but it’s definitely better to be within spec. If they are used gear and bearings I’d say that’d be pretty normal.

[@carlosberrios1021]

@HCR - Motor Works Thank you for the swift response kzbin.infoELSXwuscYSs?feature=share This is meine...out of my 1991 GTST Rb20det

[@hcr-motorworks]

@@carlosberrios1021 You need to look up the specs on the vehicle it came out of to know if it’s in spec or not. Also youve got to lock your pinion down somehow, you’re probably getting an extra thousandth on both sides due to just the nature of not having the pinion locked down in a vice or something Preventing any rotation. you need to adjust your dial indicator so it’s measuring directly in the direction of rotation and not at any angle to that degree of rotation as that will also introduce errors in the readings (cosine errors specifically) hope that helps.

[@carlosberrios1021]

@HCR - Motor Works Thank you