Brass in front differential?

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Mark
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Joined: Mon Apr 22, 2013 9:49 pm
My tercel:: 1984 Automatic, 1981 sedan
Location: Victoria, B.C.

Brass in front differential?

Post by Mark »

I changed my gear oil in the front diff of my '84 4WD automatic wagon. I had used 80-90 gear oil with extreme pressure additives (EP). I know that this is bad for brass. I've seen this stuff used in gearboxes with brass gears at work and the oil gets full of sparkly brass glitter within a week. I wasn't concerned with using it in my Tercel diffs since when I've had them apart before, I didn't see any brass components. Today, when I drained the front diff, I saw a bit of what looked like the brass glitter in the old oil. The drain plug has a magnet that would have picked up any steel bits and the glitter really did look like it had a brass colour to it.
My question here is, does anyone know if the Tercel diff has any brass components (maybe a bushing or bearing race)? Again, mine's an auto so the transmission is completely separate and there are no synchros anyway.
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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Brass in front differential?

Post by Petros »

I have had several front diffs open (on the manual trans models), and I do not recall any brass at all. consider the oil is kind of honey colored, any thing sparkling in it would look brass. The front diff is pretty durable though, as long as you do not abuse it, so I would not worry about it.

The only thing that is difference between auto trans front diff and manual trans, is there is a coupling on the trans output, front diff input shaft. not sure what it is made out of, but it is not uncommon for those couplings to fail.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
User avatar
Mark
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 883
Joined: Mon Apr 22, 2013 9:49 pm
My tercel:: 1984 Automatic, 1981 sedan
Location: Victoria, B.C.

Re: Brass in front differential?

Post by Mark »

That's a good point about the color of the oil making metal flecks look brassy. I might try and get some out of the old oil (I still have it) and see what it looks like.
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Petros
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Posts: 11930
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Brass in front differential?

Post by Petros »

Usually if you let it sit for a long time any metal particles slowly sink to the bottom. put some in a jar and try that, put it in a warm place to help it settle out (it may take a week), suck some out and than mix with some solvent like paint thinner and let it sit another day. than try a magnet on the particles. If it is steel (which is likely), it will stick to the magnet.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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