1914 Pathfinder axle repairs.

First off, this isn't a restoration and my customer would like the car to keep looking like a survivor. Rather than steam clean and blast the axle housing, it's been degreased and pressure washed to get the majority of the grime off so I can work on it.
Whatever steel this housing is made of, it's very soft and some ham-fisted individual in the past has managed to strip out all of the threads that hold the differential into the housing. There isn't enough material around the hole for a threaded insert repair and making a repair ring for the inside would be time consuming so I came up with this.
1/2" bolts were threaded through the remaining threads in the housing to act as studs. They're held in place with Loctite sleeve retainer which, frankly, is magic and can be used to repair worn keyways and press fits that are no longer press fit.
Nothing on the housing has been modified so if someone wants to restore it down the road, they won't hate me.

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Oct 15, 2026

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Replies (21)

· 1w

Good idea. They really put those threaded holes awfully close to the edge, didn’t they?

· 1w

Thanks!
There's not much meat there. The holes at the 3:00 and 9:00 have cracks from the bolt hole to the opening.
I have a feeling the axle dripped oil and someone just kept cranking the bolts down, hoping it would stop. The diff cover is pretty chewed up too.

· 1w

With a banjo style axle, I’m assuming it uses an open driveshaft?

· 1w

Actually, no. It's an enclosed driveshaft with the differential attached. I'll post up some pictures when I'm under the car, wrangling it back in.

· 1w

That doesn't look like the best design in the world. Is this the stuff you are talking about? It actually works? I've used Loctite in the past but not this.

· 1w

That sleeve retainer stuff is seriously strong.

· 1w

That's the stuff. I use it to sleeve master cylinders and wheel cylinders. No failures yet!

· 1w

Loctite has an interesting history if you wan to look it up. It was invented by a retired professor in the 1950s and the company he created did great. Owned by the Germans now I think.

· 1w

Actually, yes!

Loctite’s origin is a modern industrial fairy-tale. It is the story of Vernon Krieble, a retired chemistry professor, who persuaded his son Robert in the 1950s to leave a well-payed management job and become co-founder of a start-up. Their business model was based on a technical discovery for which no apparent need existed: a substance that solidifies within minutes in the absence of air. They called the new technology “anaerobic” and their vision was to introduce it into the metalworking industries to prevent machine parts from loosening or leaking. What they were proposing to designers, engineers and maintenance managers came close to heresy: they offered them a non-mechanical solution for a mechanical problem! The Kriebles overcame the reservations to this “alien” technology and made their invention a success: Within ten years, Loctite became a state-of-the-art method for bonding, sealing or locking metal parts.

· 1w

Well, I started cleaning the differential so I could reinstall the housing and when I wiggled the pinion gear, something didn't feel right. Lots of slop in the pinion.
-sigh-
I unbolted the caps and pulled the differential out of it's housing. The pinion has about 1/8 turn worth of slop on the drive shaft.
There was some loud profanity and I had to go sit in my chair and ruminate on the life choices that caused me to be in this situation.
I pulled the drive shaft assembly out and tore it down. Good thing I did. There's no bushing at the transmission end and the keyway for the pinion gear is worn right out. Looks like the shaft and diff are getting overhauled as well.
There's a lot of in and out play on the transmission output shaft that I need to investigate and since the universal joint is out, I'm going to tear it down and check it as well.

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· 1w

Trying to fix old cars is like pulling a thread from a sweater.

· 1w

Well crap. Interesting diff housing/torque tube. So the pinion gear is just bolted onto a round shaft with a woodruff key? That’s an awful lot of torque against that little key.

· 1w

It's on a taper.
The taper is -supposed- to provide the driving force and the key is just insurance.
This had been left loose for a LONG time by the looks of it.
I'll cut a new keyway on the other side, that should fix the problem.

· 1w

Oh okay, didn’t realize it was tapered.

· 1w

This bearing has my name on it...

· 1w

Maybe you should inscribe your name on the inner housing with a date for some guy to find in 50 years.

· 1w

Maybe add "Good luck!"

· 1w

I don’t know if you should be honored or terrified. It could mean that the machine has it out for you. Proceed with caution.

· 3d

I didn't find anything awful in the differential once I got everything cleaned up.

The bearing on the thrust side of the gear is no longer available and it would take some work to adapt a new type bearing to the case. The old bearing feels ok so I'm going to put it back in. The bearing on the non-thrust side of the differential feels a bit chunky and will be replaced since an off-the-shelf solution is available.

I reassembled the differential, added new safety wire and I'm just waiting on the new bearing to come in.

This is a basic unit. Not hypoid or helical gears, just simple bevel gears. Setup will be making sure the pinion is in the center of the ring gear and there is some backlash with not too much noise. The thrust side bearing is in the carrier with the threaded adjusters (big rings with the lugs on them) on each side, this allows you to adjust how close the ring gear runs to the pinion. Running a pattern won't really tell you anything here because the gear teeth don't slide against each other like they do in a modern gearset.

(edited)

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· 2d

Interesting differential. It reminds me of one from a garden tractor transaxle.

· 2d

Interesting work. Thank you for posting for us.