I'm not trying to insult anyone. If people want to learn I'm happy toshare whatever I know. If not I can stop replying. It is far more likely the explanation was misunderstood than Bob actually said there were needle bearings in the differential.

 

I'm probbably completely confused. I thought the differential has ring and pinion arrangement in it. Ring yes, pinion no??
Andy

 

no. The ring bolts to the differential.

 

Matt - send me an email - I've got 25+ sets of used ring and pinions that I might be able to help the OP out with.

 

Sure. With our US gear boxes, the gears were not optimized for maximum performance, but rather were optimized for mpg and noise issues (lower rpm's overall). That said, I switched 2nd thru 6th, with a more aggressive stack than Euro gears (except for 6th, which I replaced my US 6th with a Euro 6th) and now have an excellent stack all around.

Around town, when I am in 2nd gear, I am simply in a better rpm range than previously. Same goes throughout the stack. I use my 6th all the time on the freeway, at 70-80mph without slogging the engine. The US 6th is a disgrace.

Not to mention a better driving experience for Auto Cross and track events, but that is a different question.

Also threw in steel synchros (while I was in there) and used Guard Gears throughout.

Did this all about 12-13yrs ago at a cost of around $10k total (gears, labor, RS Flywheel, etc..), so I can only imagine how much it would cost today.

 

Pm nsully. He had his rebuilt with an LSD, wear items for around $3200 if I recall. This was about 5 years ago and he used Brian Copans in OH.

 

Update
Got my car and torn apart tranny out of there
Was charged $1550 for tranny removal and inspection.
$126 for inspect clutch ??
My Windows now have no power?
I'm feeling burned. Live and learn I guess.

We also discovered some gouging inside the diff than wasn't found with 911 designs inspection.

 

Guys,
My last post asked a question about the condition of the differential. These photos hopefully show why.

The 993 gearbox in question is out of a one-owner 993 convertible from California with just 15,000 miles on the odometer which is in the shop for conversion to the 5th 9m93 Speedster S.
As a precaution we stripped the differential to inspect the differential gears because we have seen this kind of failure too many times. What we found was a worn centre shaft with blued bearing surfaces and worn needle rollers. The shaft for this later differential is not available as a spare part, so rather than buy a new differential (as Porsche would want us to do) we have purchased an earlier shaft and are having it re-drilled to fit the later diff (identified by the visible cups on the outside of the shaft). I should add that to remove the shaft we have to drill from the back of the diff to remove the roll pin, earlier diffs have a hole right through.

If you have a stock differential, my recommendation is that you should inspect it thoroughly before it destroys your gearbox.

I hope this helps.

 

My apologies, I had totally forgotten for a couple years they ran the spider gears on those crappy little needle bearings that Colin has shown us. Bob's explanation to you was clearly accurate of what happened inside your diff. It's an odd couple of years where they did that and they don't exist on later or earlier diffs.

 

You suggest to ASAP purchase an earlier shaft, check the gearbox, and then if needed, have the purchased shaft re-drilled etc. ?!

 

Could you advise what years?

 

No, not at all. I just recommend that you check your differential for wear and if it is worn, do something about it before it damages your gearbox.

I guess most people finding a worn stock diff would bite the bullet and fit a new LSD, rather than effect the repair that I have done here?

 

I would suggest to heed Colin's advice. I am replacing mine with a Wavetrac LSD

 

wow!! ^^

 

What are the typical symptoms prior to all this?
After all, seems like an overkill to open and check, if everything works perfectly.