Ok so it’s apart now, fortunately from what I can see it would appear the issue is that the preload was not set by Chris Cole when it was “rebuilt”. There was as expected significant play on the diff bearings, I don’t believe this is something that can have changed over the 1500 miles as the castleated nut was locked into position.
Typical in that the only part of the car that I did not build myself is the bit that fails, as they say if you want a job done properly, do it yourself...
So onwards and upwards I now need to rebuild the box.
After reading up it seems that to set the preload the diff has to not be connected to the rest of the gears, question number one is can I just remove the lower shaft and gears without stripping the whole box or does it all need to come out?? It looks like it may come out but don’t want to balls it up...
Secondly I don’t currently have an LSD so this is obviously the time to fit one, that said however I can’t really afford one (so my wife says) at the moment but in reality this is my one opportunity to fit one, so talk to me, do I need one, will it make a big difference, will I notice the difference??
Finally (for now) does anyone know where I can get the tool for setting the preload nut or even better have one I could borrow?
Appreciate your help