I'll add my two cents here. . .
I have disassembled and reassembled MANY a small chassis differential
(as well as others) and if they are CORRECTLY set up and all internal parts
are in good condition you will hear very LITTLE if any noise from the rear
end. The only noise that I here from my GT6 (rebuilt myself 1978, used
gears) is a hardly noticeable, barely perceptible whine SOMETIMES, very
early in the morning when no one is about and I'm gently cruising without
the radio on. Even then you have to really listen for it. In the 26 some
years I've driven my cars, I have never experienced any noise (other than
tire, or road or occasional clicking u-joint) from the rear of my cars
(except from the three exploding GT6 rears, but that's another story, and
even then nothing until it happened. Then lots of loud, nasty noise
followed by eerie silence, and sometimes a long oil slick :-{) Those
happened when I transplanted the V6 many years ago, until I found out what
Triumph parts to use to build a unit capable of handling the torque. After
that, I had enjoyed about 10-12 years of daily, sometimes hard driving from
the same differential without any complaining from it applying more torque
than most Spitfire owners only dream about. Now I sport a Quafie, and
fully expect another 10 maybe 15 years without any problems (or noise).
So I contend, if you have undue noise coming from the differential, or
for that matter, the rear end of your car other than normal road and tire
noise you have some sort of out of spec condition, be it bearings,
u-joints, oiling, or gears. It may or may not be impending
doom/destruction, but it is definitely a problem which should be remedied.
You *can* sometimes drive with noisy gears for many years, but who really
want's that. Again, properly set-up (with later 1976 on if possible
components in your vehicle), you will have a very reliable, QUIET, rear end
assy that is surprisingly robust for it's size, fully capable of handling
anything that even a modified Spitfire can dish out.
That's been my experience, for what it's worth.
Barry Schwartz (San Diego) bschwart@pacbell.net
72 V6 Spitfire (daily driver)
70 GT6+ (when I don't drive the Spit)
70 Spitfire (long term project)
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