I bought myself a Quaife LSD, because Jaguar in thier infinite wisdom decided to make it a one-wheel-wonder...

Took it to a local indy shop who specialize in Jags, and they quoted me 4000 in labor. That seems insane to me...

When I asked them why, the said they had to send the entire rear end off to be rebuilt with the new LSD, that it required special equipment they they did not have.

Is this BS or am I missing something or what?

 

Sounds like bs to me. Someone more knowledgeable will chime in soon. But, AFAIK it's been done at a more reasonable price.

 

It doesn't require special tools but some amount of skill to do the job properly. Not substantially different than any other differential though.

That price is way out of line.

 

They are charging you that much because they don't want to deal with it. In my opinion, it's not that hard to R&R the differential assembly itself as long as there's a lift involved. The internals do require skill to properly set it up though. Your best bet is to see if you have a truck specialist in your area because they have to deal with a lot of differential repairs.

 

What is wrong with the Diff?

Gus
www.jagrepair.com

 

What I did was find a spare diff from a wrecking yard and had it rebuilt outside the car by someone with experience in rebuilding jag diffs.

I saw a mailer from Coventry west a couple weeks ago advertising differentials as low as $200. You will want to replace all the carrier and pinion bearings anyway, which aren't too terribly expensive.

 

Gus, its not actually broken...

My XKR is an early 2000 model, they came with an open slip differential, and not a limited slip differential like the newer ones have.
The OSD will spin only one wheel, whichever one spins easiest at the time given the road surface.
The LSD will spin both wheels, either at exactly the same time for a geared LSD or at almost the same time for a clutched LSD. This is my limited understanding of it anyway...

I live in Atlanta, and people here drive crazy, or stupid; sometimes both. Traffic moves fast. The cops dont pull over speeders much either. Honestly, I love driving here! But the OSD is dangerous, like has almost wrecked me a few times. I dont know how many times Ive gone to pull out into traffic and had just one wheel start spinning, you make a lot of smoke and just barely move forward. If theres oncoming traffic, and there always is in Atl, I have to hit the brake and wait for another chance to pull out. Or if the car moves too far forward I have to force oncoming traffic to slow down while I take my foot off the gas to stop the wheel spin and then accelerate into traffic again. This endangers me, and other drivers. And thats on dry roads. In the rain forget about it, youll have to drive like a wizened old granny or the wheels are constantly spinning.
I dont mean to portray myself as that guy who thinks every red light is a drag race and every on ramp is a pit lane, I am not that guy. But I have a 400hp engine with a 200hp rear end behind it, and its ridiculous and dangerous to leave it that way. (imho)

 

ccfulton, yeah, I live 20 minutes away from Coventry West. Have been there on numerous occasions.
I called them when I decided to upgrade, and they informed me that as far as they could tell, no x100 came with an LSD rear end. Or at least they didnt have one in stock or in thier computer.
Thats why Im using the Quaife and going to the extra trouble - its literally my only option. Or at least the only option I could come up with.

 

You gave a great detailed description. It made me wonder. Doesn't the XKR have traction control as one of the base (always included ) features?

If not and you don't have it this is moot but what you described is exactly what it prevents (on my car). On the other hand it certainly impedes acceleration if it senses a slip. Thats why I turn mine off to make a quick turn from a stop.

You didn't mention it but i recognize the odds are you're bringing this up because LSD would be best of both worlds. So friendly check: do all XKRs have Traction Control (it was an option on my XK8), if so, is yours working ok? (Might help until you get an LSD.)

Either way I can't blame you we would all love an LSD.

 

Thanks to everyone for the knowledge and advice, I really appreciate it.
You've all helped save me 3000 bucks or more.

Im worried now, because the same mechanic (Kuhn Cadillac Jaguar in Atlanta) told me I had a leaky power steering cooler, and that it was a 700 dollar fix. Thing is, I park my car on a clean and dry cement floor, and theres not a drop of anything on the floor. Ive owned the car for a couple years now, and I dont remember ever adding PS fluid (and yeah, I check my fluids religiously). Makes me wonder if its really leaking, and if so, exactly why its leaking now...
They also told me I needed new upper strut mounts, and I had them replaced less than 2000 miles or 8 months ago. I know the job was done too, because the mechanic who did it returned the old worn out parts in the new parts boxes for my inspection. (I always ask for my old parts back) Theres no way they wore out in under a year, which means Kuhn Auto is selling me parts and work I absolutely dont need.

Better find myself a new mechanic asap!


Thanks Guys!

 

Johnken, yes, as far as I know all XK models, both 8 and R have TC.

When its on it will take off faster, in a relative sense, because the brake is keeping the wheel from spinning; but it makes the car behave terribly on takeoff, and causes the same problem, I take off very slowly, thus clogging traffic and causing a dangerous situation. It gives me the same feeling as when youre walking up or down stairs and expect another step when there isnt one... lol

It does help, and as a rule I always leave it on, but its still really getting to me... Id sell the car before I learned to live with it.

I have had vehicles that had a much more comprehensive TC system, which would basically feather the gas pedal back, apply braking to the spinning wheel, and adjust the timing, all simultaneously. This is a much better TC method in my opinion. It makes the vehicle take off quickly and smoothly under any circumstances, rain, snow, sand, etc. I had a 90s Corvette with that type of system, and for all that cars massive flaws (I'd never own another one) it took off briskly under any conditions, and did it so smoothly the passenger could not tell it was working. Too bad it rode like a low rider pickup truck with 3 flat tires... lol

 

Modern Corvettes (and most modern RWD performance cars out of Detroit) have always had positraction standard, so the Traction control doesn't have to work as hard as it would with an open diff.

Mustangs V8's have had Positraction standard since around 1986, so its something a lot of us take for granted.

Because I'm doing an LS1 swap, I plan on buying a Junkyard rear axle and having someone knowledgeable about Jag rear axles install a LSD.

The going rate on XK8 3rd members appears to be around $225.

 

I guess I wasn't clear. What I meant was, I bought an extra diff to install the quaife in. That let me have some time to find a good shop for the job and they could do it on the bench. Then I just had the usual indie jag shop do the swap.

 

Yeah, I re-read your post and you were pretty clear, I think I just didnt read it right the first time...

My rationalization is this... I bought my fiancee a 350Z, which is a hoot to drive. Nothing comfortable or refined about it, no class at all really, but it has some serious fun factor. I cant make myself drive it instead of the XKR for any good reason except when the Jaguar is in the shop. So the next week or two is my chance to really put her 350 through its paces, make sure its safe and sound on the road and all that. Its actually just as fast, and more responsive than the jag. But its a rice burner plastic turd too, with poor finish and not much soul... Im enjoying it as a toy, but Ill definitely be glad to get my cat back on deck as soon as I can.

 

I wonder if that $4K price included dropping and re-installing the entire rear subassembly as well as the rebuild itself? I do believe dropping the subassembly is the only way to get to the Diff. That would add a few man-hours to the whole program.

 

Im sure Ive read a post somewhere that describes how to remove the diff without dropping the whole sub assembly. From what I remeber you can basically remove it from one side. Im not sure how to describe it exactly, and the article from Jacks Transmissions that describes the process is no longer available. Im sure it wouldnt be too hard to figure out once the car is off the ground.

Regardless, over 2000 dollars worth of the price for the job was for sending the rear off to be rebuilt by a third party.

 

I picked up my car from Kuhn Auto yesterday...

Chris Kuhn met me at the counter and took me back to show me that the power steering hose was indeed leaking, and that it had been leaking for at least some time before it arrived at his shop. By the looks of it, Id say it had been leaking for a few months at least. Strange that it hadnt dripped a single drop on my garage floor, but no fault to Kuhn there.

He was also mildly aggravated with me for this thread, and made it known to me, but in a reasonably polite and professional way. I guess nobody likes criticism, especially in front of the whole internet. He didnt change his prices or his story though, neither of which I can credit as being on the level. Even though Ill never take my car back to them, Id still reccomend them over many of the other shops Ive reviewed.

I have more to say on the subject of Kuhn Auto, but its not in line with this thread, so Ill say it in an older post of mine about Atlanta area shops.

 

I've just performed some work on mine, there is no way to remove a jag xk diff without dropping the subframe.

 

I could not find the article I was referring to when I searched again today, but I did find a similar article describing the same thing on a XJR.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ge-how-121268/

They mention in that thread that it may have been easier to drop the whole subframe in the end, but that they did not do it to get to the chunk.

In the article I was originally referring to, the vehicle was an XKR, 2005 MY I believe, it was a black one, and there were lots of pics of the process they went through to pull it from the side. Wish I could find it...

 

I said it couldn't be done but I suppose anything is possible, but at what cost, to drop the subframe it's 12 (19mm) easily reached bolts 4 drive shaft bolts and a couple exhaust pipe hanger 10mm bolts. then it's out and workable in the open, the other option would be spending alot of time disconnecting the plenum in a very restricted space for reach as well as the half shafts etc. It would be difficult to get sockets and a torque wrench in on reassembly. I'm not sure what you'd expect to gain from doing it on the car vs dropping but I know you'd lose alot of time. Since I've been through this now dropping the rear subframe isn't a big deal as long as you have a good jack/stand to support it. I dropped it by myself but did have a second pair of hands to help align it when reinstalling, out in 1 hr back in in 2. The hardest part was the dumb hangers bolts for the exhaust, getting them off was easy, getting them back in was a pain if anyone knows the trick I'd like to know in case I ever do this again. btw to get them off I lowered the subframe and let it pull the hanger/pipe down about 2" then you can reach in to remove them.