Well folks, the enivitable has reared it's ugly head. Mrs P's 3.2 needs new bearings. Not overly distraught as we've had it two years and it hasn't really had an issues. It's a 2007 model with around 95K miles.

A local place is using a kit from Bell and I'll get them to change the Haldex oil and filter while they're in the vicinity anyway. They say that it's possible that it'll just need the partial kit, but I'll likely just go the whole hog and get the full job done.

Just had mine done by Bell. They were just over 100 miles from home but well worth the trip, great service along with a good price. They did the rear diff the Haldex oil and filter change all for 2 thirds less than my local indy! 2009 FL2 with 50000 miles. She drives a lot quieter now.👍

Aye, being specialists with that task they'll have it down a fine art. I'll be phoning my folk on Monday to get booked in.

I had my diff done at Bell in the summer, it was making a lot of noise and clearly on its last legs at 95,000 miles. I stood and watched as it only took about 1hr 45mins (would have been a lot quicker if people hadn't kept phoning them every 5 mins!)

I think the price they charge is exceptionally good value.

It's worth remembering that they fit a reconditioned diff which is modified to take a heavier duty input bearing - not a bad idea if, like me, you (a) tow a caravan and (b) have a Bluefin remap.

I would also say, having watched the entire thing, that the removal, refitting and oil topping-up procedure is quite tricky and you really have to know what you're doing. I would be very wary of letting an independent loose on the job if they weren't experienced.

Yeah, it's cool. The people doing mine are very highly-regarded locally (Gibsons in Cumnock) and I've not heard a bad word about them.

They're using uprated parts.

Gibsons did mine about 1 1/2 years ago

Question from a non knowledgeable person here. When they do a diff rebuild (or install a reconditioned diff) do they generally rebuild it so that one would expect it to be similar to a new diff or do they just replace bits here and bits there so if they only replace part A then part B could fail in the future 🤷‍♂️

Cheers

I would say that a reconditioned diff should have any parts that are 'appreciably worn' replaced whereas a repair would just involve replacing any broken/excessively worn parts. In the case of our duffs, the input bearings are the known weak spot.

Generally speaking, of course.