quote:Originally posted by Bosswrench:
Rob, have you ever taken the cover off the ZF and checked to see if the ring gear bolts are intact and safety-wired? Loose ring gear bolts will allow slop in the drive, eventually shearing off the heads of one or more bolts. If this happens and is ignored or mis-diagnosed and a bolt head gets in the R & P mesh, really bad things can happen to your ZF, which is a large fraction of the cost of the car!
I realize that pulling the cover is a non-trivial exercise. A small-diameter fiber-optic light can make its way inside by various means and show whether all 10 bolt-heads are still intact, and the presence or absence of protective safety wire. Several Panteras in CA have gone home on a trailer when this happens. It's worth checking.
Now this is something that I've never done. I'm sure my ZF is overdue for an oil change, so can we discuss a couple of things.
Firstly, oil change. What interval, type of oil (your preference) and where is the fill / level point?
Next, I have a camera inspection tool. Where is the best place to access the gearbox to allow me to check to see if the wired bolts are all intact etc?