TR3A differential and rear suspension

I hoped that the one good thing left on this car was the rear differential/axle assembly. Unfortunately, just as the reality of having to separate the body from the frame quickly came clear, so did the complete over haul of the rear differential. On a cheery spring day I endeavored to remove the cover and gaze upon the majesty of well protected gears only to find rusty bearings. All the carrier and pinion bearings were rusty!! I should have expected it, given the crunchy feedback I got when turning the pinion flange by hand.  The gears were clean though. Go figure. Even the outer axle support bearings were rusty (recall that this car has been non-operational since 1986!). So I had to dive in head first and basically replace everything but the housing, carrier and gears. I had to figure out the nuances of the TR3A rear axle first, though. I found the original factory service manual very helpful in this regard, though it was still a difficult process requiring the use of a press, a freezer, hammers, indicators, a time-out and an enormous amount of patience and sobriety.

Call me overly optimistic, but I look at this and think..."hey, the innards are protected by gear oil, it'll probably be fine!"

One has to be a bit of an optimist to take on a project like this TR3A, either that or just pay someone else and not think about it.

Here's the ring gear, carrier and pinion gear. Hard to spot, but the tapered bearings are rust spotted and pitted. Lame!

 Ugh. I was not having any fun with this mess.

 Original red paint inside.

 Anatomy of the TR3A rear differential and axle assembly. Note the fresh bearings already pressed onto the axle shafts and pinion gear.

 Here's where it gets real. Critical measurement of "backlash" between the two gears.

Anatomy of a TR3A rear suspension. I opted for new leafs, because who wants to clean and paint rusty leaves?? Also one original leaf pack was thicker than the other, which I found out is how they came new. Weird.

 This is way easier to do with the body off. In the end it was a no-brainer

Here's the completed suspension. Still waiting to build new brake lines and rebuild the front calipers. This was a major milestone.