Steeda Differential Install issue on driver side front bushing

[Grinchoffl]

Hi all,

I attached a photo reference to make the story telling easy on what I experienced during my diff bushing install yesterday. The result at the end was having to reinsert the factory bolt minus the bushing. In short I got 3 out of 4. It was dark and this took way longer than expected using hand tools. The result with the 3 are incredible considering I have most of the other suspension mods added on (sub frame alignment sleeves, braces, billet inserts, rear sway, vertical arms). The 3 bushings removed the flex the diff had resulting in a light clunk during lights shifts or throttling on and off in traffic.

Case in point, hoping to get feedback on the following

A) Anyone else go through this?
B) Any opinion of running 3 vs. all 4 from a structural integrity or risk perspective?

Thanks everyone!

P.S. I did speak to Steeda (Thanks to Rod who was helpful) but confirmed they had not seen anything like this from their experience.

-Nick

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[Temovic55]

I have the same kit at home and planing to install it this week! It will be installed by a professional shop to get rid of all the headache associated with the process!
Will be posting afterwards for sure!

 

[tj@steeda]

Let me run this by our lead tech - see if he can offer additional insight.

Best,

TJ

 

[NGOT8R]

I had the driveshaft out of the car when I did mine. I‘m assuming that anyone doing this with the driveshaft in the car will at least need to unbolt the center support bearing bracket for the driveshaft, in order to allow the ds to hang low enough to allow lowering the cradle to access the forward bushings. Yes/No?

Did you drop the cradle to do the job? That’s what I did (using two floor jacks, a jack stand and scissor jack to support the snout on the differential) and didn’t have any trouble. I carefully lowered each side of the cradle a little at a time and kept the snout level at all times and then reversed the procedure to reinstall the cradle. This method allowed me easy access to torque all bolts.

It sounds like something may be in a bind on your car that’s causing the bolt to go in at an angle.

 

[Dana Pants]

I had same issue. Bolt goes in fine by self. Gets crooked when bushing involved. After convincing myself that it was NOT cross threaded I sent it to Jesus with plenty of threadlocker. The insert has been sitting crooked but functional ever since. It’s definitely a tolerance issue between the poly insert and a bushing ID that requires no tolerances for regular use.

 

[Grinchoffl]

I have the same kit at home and planing to install it this week! It will be installed by a professional shop to get rid of all the headache associated with the process!
Will be posting afterwards for sure!

Part of the headache is me being a massochist to grind it out with hand tools

Let me run this by our lead tech - see if he can offer additional insight.

Best,

TJ

Thanks TJ!

 

[Grinchoffl]

I had the driveshaft out of the car when I did mine. I‘m assuming that anyone doing this with the driveshaft in the car will at least need to unbolt the center support bearing bracket for the driveshaft, in order to allow the ds to hang low enough to allow lowering the cradle to access the forward bushings. Yes/No?

Did you drop the cradle to do the job? That’s what I did (using two floor jacks, a jack stand and scissor jack to support the snout on the differential) and didn’t have any trouble. I carefully lowered each side of the cradle a little at a time and kept the snout level at all times and then reversed the procedure to reinstall the cradle. This method allowed me easy access to torque all bolts.

It sounds like something may be in a bind on your car that’s causing the bolt to go in at an angle.

Hey bud! I had read your install in another thread or it may have been your original thread. You definitely went above and beyond for access ease. I didn't have enough equipment to pull this off, and bluntly may have lacked the patience. I went down the beaten path, and ripped up my hands working around drive shaft and mufflers. That said, I still made it work with enough space using a shallow socket to get my torque wrench in place to get it in spec. I'm starting to believe this was a pre-existing issue in the thread lining that having the original factory bolt threading all the way through from a side with no obstruction or constraint didn't allow the problem to materialize.

 

[80FoxCoupe]

Hi all,

I attached a photo reference to make the story telling easy on what I experienced during my diff bushing install yesterday. The result at the end was having to reinsert the factory bolt minus the bushing. In short I got 3 out of 4. It was dark and this took way longer than expected using hand tools. The result with the 3 are incredible considering I have most of the other suspension mods added on (sub frame alignment sleeves, braces, billet inserts, rear sway, vertical arms). The 3 bushings removed the flex the diff had resulting in a light clunk during lights shifts or throttling on and off in traffic.

Case in point, hoping to get feedback on the following

A) Anyone else go through this?
B) Any opinion of running 3 vs. all 4 from a structural integrity or risk perspective?

Thanks everyone!

P.S. I did speak to Steeda (Thanks to Rod who was helpful) but confirmed they had not seen anything like this from their experience.

-Nick

@Oakley did some research on this and notes that the fronts are not needed and to squirt some Window Weld in the front bushings. Head out to Home Depot and get you a tube. I'm sure Steeda would agree that using just the rear kit, and Window Weld in the front is better than using all four.

 

[Grinchoffl]

@Oakley did some research on this and notes that the fronts are not needed and to squirt some Window Weld in the front bushings. Head out to Home Depot and get you a tube. I'm sure Steeda would agree that using just the rear kit, and Window Weld in the front is better than using all four.

Thanks for the advice and option! To be honest I really do feel even with 3 bushings in place is a great improvement, and I'm betting it's weighted on the rear units in place vs. the front bushings. I'm just trying to validate I'm not the only person this has happened too, which doesn't seem to be the case.

 

[80FoxCoupe]

Thanks for the advice and option! To be honest I really do feel even with 3 bushings in place is a great improvement, and I'm betting it's weighted on the rear units in place vs. the front bushings. I'm just trying to validate I'm not the only person this has happened too, which doesn't seem to be the case.

I cannot take any credit for that, whatsoever. Good luck moving forward.

 

[tj@steeda]

I spoke to our lead installer, this is what he has recommended:

1. With the car in the air enough to comfortably slide under it, remove the front differential bolt on that side (yes, I know, it faces towards the rear of the car). With the bolt out, run a 14mmX2.0 tap into the hole cleaning the threads as you go. This will repair any damage done to the threads allowing the front side bolt to be installed. Note, that it may be necessary to support the differential during this process.

2, Once the threads are cleaned, reinstall the rear-facing bolt and torque into place.

3, This is the hard part. Support the front of the subframe on a jack. Remove both front subframe bolts, and loosen both rear bolts(if you have any subframe braces, they will need to be removed). Lower the jack until the subframe drops 3-4 inches away from the body of the car.

4, Using a prybar, push the subframe towards the rear of the car. Take the bolt and washer together, and install them into the bushing. With the subframe pushed back as far as possible(this may require an assistant) install the bolt/bushing into the pocket. Thread the bolt in by hand as far as possible. Use an open-end wrench to finish tightening the bolt. This bolt only needs 25-30 foot-pounds of torque to be tight enough.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can email me directly & I can put you in contact with our installation team.

Many thanks!

Tim

 

[80FoxCoupe]

I spoke to our lead installer, this is what he has recommended:

1. With the car in the air enough to comfortably slide under it, remove the front differential bolt on that side (yes, I know, it faces towards the rear of the car). With the bolt out, run a 14mmX2.0 tap into the hole cleaning the threads as you go. This will repair any damage done to the threads allowing the front side bolt to be installed. Note, that it may be necessary to support the differential during this process.

2, Once the threads are cleaned, reinstall the rear-facing bolt and torque into place.

3, This is the hard part. Support the front of the subframe on a jack. Remove both front subframe bolts, and loosen both rear bolts(if you have any subframe braces, they will need to be removed). Lower the jack until the subframe drops 3-4 inches away from the body of the car.

4, Using a prybar, push the subframe towards the rear of the car. Take the bolt and washer together, and install them into the bushing. With the subframe pushed back as far as possible(this may require an assistant) install the bolt/bushing into the pocket. Thread the bolt in by hand as far as possible. Use an open-end wrench to finish tightening the bolt. This bolt only needs 25-30 foot-pounds of torque to be tight enough.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can email me directly & I can put you in contact with our installation team.

Many thanks!

Tim

Tim, would you recommend that he just leave that last puck out and squirt some Window Weld in there?

 

[Grinchoffl]

I spoke to our lead installer, this is what he has recommended:

1. With the car in the air enough to comfortably slide under it, remove the front differential bolt on that side (yes, I know, it faces towards the rear of the car). With the bolt out, run a 14mmX2.0 tap into the hole cleaning the threads as you go. This will repair any damage done to the threads allowing the front side bolt to be installed. Note, that it may be necessary to support the differential during this process.

2, Once the threads are cleaned, reinstall the rear-facing bolt and torque into place.

3, This is the hard part. Support the front of the subframe on a jack. Remove both front subframe bolts, and loosen both rear bolts(if you have any subframe braces, they will need to be removed). Lower the jack until the subframe drops 3-4 inches away from the body of the car.

4, Using a prybar, push the subframe towards the rear of the car. Take the bolt and washer together, and install them into the bushing. With the subframe pushed back as far as possible(this may require an assistant) install the bolt/bushing into the pocket. Thread the bolt in by hand as far as possible. Use an open-end wrench to finish tightening the bolt. This bolt only needs 25-30 foot-pounds of torque to be tight enough.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can email me directly & I can put you in contact with our installation team.

Many thanks!

Tim

Thanks for the feedback TJ. I was hoping for the easy button..lol I was dreading to hear the use of a tap but logically that's the only reasonable solution if there's any misalignment on the threading. Although selfishly, I'd prefer the option proposed by @80FoxCoupe !

 

[Oakley]

@Oakley did some research on this and notes that the fronts are not needed and to squirt some Window Weld in the front bushings. Head out to Home Depot and get you a tube. I'm sure Steeda would agree that using just the rear kit, and Window Weld in the front is better than using all four.

you should probably keep your shit talking and lies to one thread at a time.

 

[80FoxCoupe]

you should probably keep your shit talking and lies to one thread at a time.

No need to get shook up, take a deep breath and pull yourself together.

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