Thread: Life of Puma Rear Diff's

I recently had installed one of Dave Ashcrofts new diffs.
Same problem that others are finding, noise on overrun. A lot of it actually.
Anyway I am now waiting for this to be sorted out and as others have allready mentioned Dave has been most accommodating in assisting.
I am interested and a bit surprised to see how many others are having a similar experience.

Originally Posted by lightwing

I recently had installed one of Dave Ashcrofts new diffs.
Same problem that others are finding, noise on overrun. A lot of it actually.
Anyway I am now waiting for this to be sorted out and as others have allready mentioned Dave has been most accommodating in assisting.
I am interested and a bit surprised to see how many others are having a similar experience.

Interesting indeed. I've been interested in this unit since it was just an idea but have been holding back to see what some others found these to be like before jumping in and shelling out for one. Considering there are a few about not too much seems to have been mentioned about this, perhaps most have not yet been installed, or all the talk is going on elsewhere. Or, understandably, if people have some issues they want to give Ashcrofts fair chance to sort it out and not publicise it too much.

I know Dave is around here a bit and had a lot of input on this thread early on. So considering his last post....

I think I will get another batch of parts ordered up, this first batch is only 20 and nearly half have sold mainly from this thread....

Dave

Dave, Can I ask you directly what the problem is, what causes it, and what can be done to rectify it? If its excessive noise is it due to the cut of the gears? And is this just par for the course for a stronger unit?

If a unit is ordered now will it come from the first batch and have the same issues or can this be addressed before it is sent out?

Like I said I'm interested in getting one of these but am slightly reticent if there are some known issues, especially if it means having to shell out the additional expense to get the prop shaft re engineered to find that out for myself. My truck is my daily drive and i dont have a spare prop so couldn't just pop the old diff in if it needs additional attention after installation.

Cheers,

Ian.

Originally Posted by isuzurover

Since the 120s were made in AU, they probably were fitted with lengthened 110 shafts without any thought to increase the diameter.

That is probably the answer. I wasn't aware the 130's had larger diam tubes, and thought it was typical of Land Rover cost cutting not to do so.

I have uploaded two good documents about drive shafts from Dana Spicer. They are in the files section, under the category of Technical Manuals.

Application Guide

Installation Guide

Originally Posted by lightwing

I recently had installed one of Dave Ashcrofts new diffs.
Same problem that others are finding, noise on overrun. A lot of it actually.
Anyway I am now waiting for this to be sorted out and as others have allready mentioned Dave has been most accommodating in assisting.
I am interested and a bit surprised to see how many others are having a similar experience.

Mine now has aprox 1400km on it and I have to say the noise has significantly reduced although still present. Will be interesting to see what it's like with a few more km on it.

Originally Posted by chook73

Mine now has aprox 1400km on it and I have to say the noise has significantly reduced although still present. Will be interesting to see what it's like with a few more km on it.

Hey Iain,
Good to hear the diff is on the improve.
Have you tested the locker function yet ?
I taking mine out today for its first real test, clock up some K's and find somewhere to test the locker.
Really hoping it doesn't develop any noise.
Cheers

Originally Posted by Drover

Hey Iain,
Good to hear the diff is on the improve.
Have you tested the locker function yet ?
I taking mine out today for its first real test, clock up some K's and find somewhere to test the locker.
Really hoping it doesn't develop any noise.
Cheers

Hi mate I haven't tested the locker yet however it's the same locker I have had for a year without any problems so I have confidence in it.

Good luck I hope all goes well.

Well.....

Did 250k's, including the Yango Nation Park (Lagoona to the Putty Rd). In all a easy trail, only needing engage centre diff lock once for a creek crossing, but lots of steep up and down hill sections.

Diff went went well, no probs.

No noise at all under any acceleration or "floating" the throttle.

On deceleration, started to get a "whine" from 63km/h to about 45km/h. The whine starts very low and peaks at about 53km/h by 45 it's completely gone.

Going on a trip out to Inaminka next week so hopefully the noise will just disappear after a couple of tousand K's. If not I may be up for the same repair as you, Iain.

On a positive side, I engaged the rear locker at that creek, amazing how much difference it made, just walked up out a of stepped up rocky exit at idle in 1st gear.

Cheers.

Had the dry diff sound at the back after 37000km. Especially evident when going from 3rd to 2nd and also a quite loud creaking sound when engaging reverse. Trivetts at Parramatta replaced the diff centre, claiming all was fixed and 20 km later, same problems but at lower revs, just about constant in traffic situations. So what gives, how can a brand new unit be this bad?
Back to Trivetts tommorrow and when the warranty runs out in 6 months perhaps an Ashcroft unit if they iron out the niggles.
Any idea how much a new P38 centre costs?, mines being done under warranty at the moment.