shimming the diffs the right way on B44
 

Hi guys!

I shimmed the diffs on my B44 as per manual and went good for about 45 battery charges (a 3x5 minutes). The the were completely worn and i rebuild the diffs and shimmed again as per manual. Maybe i should have thought about the fact that after 45 packs there are some more shims required because everything beds in and bearings do get a bit more play.

So i heard the noise again after only 5 battery pack charges. Now my questions is: if you have replaced the gears for the seconds, third and fourth time how many shims did you use on both sides of the diffs? 3 and 4 obviously doesn´t work anymore after a rebuild.
A mate said 4 and 6 are suggested in the new manual but this manual is nowhere online.
I was wondering if there is someone who can tell what will work most likely for all B44 gears when rebuilding.

Thanks in advance!

Every diff is different. Shim it so that there is minimal play between the gears but no binding.

I know that every diff si different. But AE must know what is best at first and this was 3 and 4 shims. So if there is recommendation for the first build there must be one for the rebuild. I don´t think that the gears wear that different after the same amount of battery charges.
How many shims did you use?

I shimmed mine like you (3 and 4) and raced it twice a week for almost a year and never had any problems with killing gears. I often found dust in the housings though...

A friend didn't do 3/4 like us and he seemed to eat gears regularly :confused:

I used to have a B44 and found that the diff cases aren't perfect as I had the same problem.

Use the instruction manual as a guide only but shim them until they had virtually no play. :thumbsup:

Well this is how I did it, after being recommended the following method, and it actually is very logical and makes perfect sense.

Put ALL the shims on the long side of the diff.
Set the diff in the housing with the pinion in as well. Hold the pinion down, and rock the diff back and forth to check for play. If its loose, take the diff out, and move one of the shims and put it on the short side of the diff. Put the diff back and and repeat, until you get no 'rocking' movement. At this point reverse the process (move the shim back on the short side) so you have the tiniest amount of play in the gearbox. Mine are still good, with no dust in the gearbox.

HTH
Mark

Mark are you still using the 7 shims recommended in the manual or have you added enough to stop all movement?

Cheers

Adam