Hi All,

I just bolted my tranny halves back together with my new quaife LSD inside. Being a bit of a worrier though, I wanted to get people's feedback on the steps I followed to bolt the ring gear back onto the Diff.

I followed www.mini-madness.com instructions here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXS_e...layer_embedded

So essentially I used a few bolts to align the ring gear, then I hand tightened them in a cross pattern until the gear was firmly seated. Once that was done I removed all the bolts, applied red loctite and then torqued the bolts down with my 250 lbs-ft electric impact wrench. Granted that's max torque and not what the bolts were actually torqued to. Do you think this will work? I've done more looking around and see that 70lbs was mentioned...

Thanks for everyone's help. Worst case, the tranny is out right now, so I could just crack it open again and re-torque the bolts to a little less (if that red loctite will budge).

 

can't remember the actual number, but I torqued mine down the amount mentioned in theis youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUjedw1NbcQ

 

Thanks for the reply. I looked at that video and they are saying around 65 lbs-ft which I guess is what is posted on this forum as well. Did you put your ring gear in the vice like that? Did it scar the surface or anything? I am guessing its pretty tough, but just wondering.

 

Same thing I did, 69ft-lbs no sweat.

I threw it in a vice with a shop rag over. Even then I still had to hold it while torquing it.

Whne you put it in the vice you will find that it wants to grab on to the bolts (as the potrude on both sides) so you dont have to worry about hurting the ring gear.

 

Cool. Well I guess no one has done the impact wrench method. I am sure it works, but I guess I am more **** than I thought about my MINI. Hopefully I dont have too much of a hard time breaking the red loctite loose.

 

I had no trouble breaking it loose, but I think I did use an impact for that.

 

Well the factory torque and loctite was easy to get off, not sure about mine. :P. When I installed I made sure it wasn't going to back itself out... Let's put my harbor freight impact to the test

 

I'd leave them alone especially if you've impacted them back on with red loctite. The more times you use those bolts the worse off you'll be.

Clamping the ring gear in vise with wood blocks held fine for me up to 70 odd ft-lbs. Just torque the vise up taught and you'll be good.

Jeremy

 

I ended up leaving it be. I am sure it will be fine. I'll get to go for a test drive after lightweight flywheel, fx100 clutch, Quaife install, and 19mm rear sway bar installed tomorrow, assuming my dealership gets my 2 subframe bolts i need tomorrow. Ill keep you posted.