The Black Art Of Differentials!

Hooray for Smallfry from the Club Triumph forum! thanks to his input regarding diffs i have reshimmed the carrier on the origional rebuilt diff that was in the herald. i ignored backlash tolerances the workshop manual gives, and concerntrated on getting a good mesh 'footprint' this meant moving the crown wheel very slighty from the pinion gear by swapping the skinniest shim from one side to the other. backlash went to 5 thou out of tolerance, but it less than 10 degrees, and the footprint was much better. The result is a much quiter diff! you can stiill hear it but it so much better, the gears are a little worn so i guess some noise is to be expected. I think i could have got it perfect if i had played with the pinion shims too, as i reckon it sits a little low, moving into the diff a few thou would be the ideal solution probably, but iwas fed up arsing about with diffs! great stuff! moral of the story, a good gear mesh footprint appears to me more important than getting the the backlash super low!
below is a picture of the Herald with a stock spitfire swing spring