Has anyone had the dreaded transaxle/diff failure?

Very true, I kept my ferrari and gave up the house in a divorce, no regrets.

 

Well....

*chiming in where no one cares*

If I HAD a Boxer I think I'd just order that improved carrier, and be done.....THEN the next part in the driveline can be the one to fall off!

You are right Brian, I have run smooth out of women to entertain lately, and all of a sudden I have all this money to work on cars!

..and SPEEDBOATS!!

Hated to let the Sleeping Boxer Beauty go by though.....

 

Heh...........it's the same for Porsche as well.

 

I have been in Formula 1 Gearbox manufacture for many years. A friend of mine, had the dreaded happen to him and I would like to help.
Can any help me find a good example of the diff cage that I can reverse engineer and make some decent ones. When I do, I will make some
available to all the other owners......and I can promise it will be the finest qualiy at a supermarket price.

 

I have been in Formula 1 Gearbox manufacture for many years. A friend of mine, had the dreaded happen to him and I would like to help.
Can any help me find a good example of the diff cage that I can reverse engineer and make some decent ones. When I do, I will make some
available to all the other owners......and I can promise it will be the finest qualiy at a supermarket price.

 

Can you perhaps give me some contact details. I have phoned more Ferrari "think you knows" than what you can shake a stick at and I just cannot find
the correct thing.

My Mail is: [email protected]

 

Hey all,

I don't have a TR diff or any experience with them but I've had a few 308 diff's apart. Most recently I had this horrible popping and snapping and found a chunk of metal on the drain plug magnet. I pulled off the bottom cover and inspected the gears and didn't see anything so I figured it was something in the diff. I thought the piece on the magnet was a chunk of spider or output shaft gear but it ended up being the tab off of the thrust washers that are in the diff.


When this tab sheared off it got jammed between the spring and the diff housing. Like I said the popping was horrendous and I could feel it thru my foot. Essentially this would try and split the diff in half ... it would try and spread the halves which is what it seems like is going on with the TR failures??? Just wanted to throw this out there. My car is back on the road now but I don't have the warm fuzzies about the tabs on the thrust washers 'cause on the diff that failed I had replaced/checked the thrust washers 350 hrs ago. New thrust washers have longer tabs on them FWIW.

Cheers,

Sean
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This is some interesting detective work. Is the diff the same design on the BBi's. I wouldn't be surprised if the diff's were the same. The BB CV joint are the exact same as 308. That tells me this hardware is overdesigned for the 308, and possibly underdesigned for the BB. Maybe a careful inspection of drained gear oil in search for debris could be the warning piece of the puzzle. The BIG prob is if a carrier goes, there will be no way to tell what precipitated what.

Sorry for going off-topic - I had a Fiat (67 Horsepower) diff go, and it had no limited slip. It was a fatigue failure that took 220,000 + miles of "fun" driving before it went. I started doing the research to weld up all of the aluminum that got splattered all over the road, and buy the replacement parts for those that got munched, when I came across a clean used one for $175. I got it back in the car that afternoon including an oil change.

I can't even think about that failing on the Boxer.

 

The carrier is not the same as the 308, if that was the case a carrier for a boxer would cost less than a 2-4 of beer. I wish.

 

I wouldn't expect the carrier to be identical, but if the diff's are prone to this thrust washer failure, it's going to but a bunch of "splitting" force on the carrier assembly.

 

FWIW I was told the later Porsche diff's also made by ZF do not have the tabs on the thrust washers.

 

How to find, is not on google?

 

you can try one of these if you like, just email me...


http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=226140&highlight=tr%2Fboxer+crown+pinion+solution

 

I.............have never had a carrier in a Ferrari fail. But I have a new/upgraded/not welded one, I had made, that I will install as soon as it gets done traveling around North America sightseeing and instigating drive-bys and damage to police cars!.......It's a long and dangerous story!!! I have a diff.........with a record!! See, when rockwell hardens them, they become criminal it seems!

Kerry

 

Has anyone considered the history of their Boxer in relation to this failure? Was the car driven hard? Was it drag raced? Has the diff oil always been changed?

Remember the 512's were raced, so maybe it would be a good idea to try and find out what mods were done to the transaxel on the racing 512's.

It seems really odd that the diff would fail if your car has always been used primarly for normal street/highway use.

I had the engine out of my 512 BBi SN 51723 (I'm the third owner), and when out, I had everything inspected with no faults found. The car has 19,000 miles on it and has always, under my ownership, been driven "kindly". I knew the previous two owners and neither were the typ to hot rod the car.

 

The fact of the matter is so many of those cars (BB,TR,512) were bought by flippers or someone who knew he was only going to have it for a year or two so they were driven like they were stolen. I can't tell you how many I saw in front of the dealer with an owner who yelled "Hey, watch this" when he dumped the clutch at 6000 rpm. Every time I hear someone claim "HIS" TR or whatever with an unknown first year or two of life was NEVER driven that way just makes me laugh.


I have NEVER seen a diff failure on a car with a history that shows good treatment from day one.

 

For me it was just peace of mind to upgrade the diff.....along with getting the sodium filled valves out before anything happens - its about prevention for me. Now ive at least seen the insides of my engine and gearbox, updating some items while im there and now those possible problems down the road are eliminated. Doesnt mean it wont break a crown and pinion or a forward gear but I feel better about thrashing my car.

 

So you're saying that the diff failure only occurs because people launch these cars?

 

Wow, another discussion shows what else can happen. Chunks get cut out.

Total cost to repair is over $25,000.00


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Just shredded my diff carrier. It sheared off at the weld, as expected. I'm sure that the twin-turbos didn't help the already weak design at all. Does anyone know if Modena in Australia is still making upgraded replacements?

 

Talk to Paul Newman, in Canada, you may be very lucky to find he has a carrier left. Mine has been replaced late last year as the original was toast. At that point Paul had only one carrier left for sale. So PM him asap.
Cheers MG

 

Check E-bay, 2 were on there Feb. 06-11. $3300



Ago

 

I think it is one Newman made, is it not? Looks very similar and also located in Canada.

EDIT: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ferrari-Testarossa-Boxer-differential-carrier-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem3cb4efc190QQitemZ260733649296QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

 

What else failed when the diff broke? Is the case etc still ok?? What a scary failure.

 

Thank you very much. I'm on the job!

The exterior housing was blown into at least two pieces -fluid everywhere. And the loose parts shredded a bearing and bits of debris are scattered throughout the transmission -neccessitating a labor intensive cleaning as well =^(