LoPro25

Hey guys and gals, I have searched and searched and honestly overwhelmed with all the different information out there on differentials. Plus everything I've found seems to be from 2004 or older, and I am wondering if there is any newer information or if nothing has changed since 2004. Here's my situation:

I am pretty sure I blew my differential last night. I haven't had a chance to get it looked at yet but it definitely feels and sounds like my diff is out. Either way, I was probably going to end up upgrading my stock diff for when I go turbo (saving up for Mase kit).

So finally to my question...What is the best way to upgrade our diff for higher hp application without spending a sh** load of $$$. To be honest I do drive my car hard (plenty of quick hard shifts at redline, and the occasional drag launch or 180 slide launch). After all, why have a performance car if you're not gonna drive it. My car has 103k miles but I hate to say my baby probably had one too many hard 1-2 shifts.

I've seen lots out there about the Comptech housing upgrade, which seems to be the high-failure part on our car??? I've also seen lots on higher-ratio gearsets. Do these fail often if installed with the correct backlash etc? Is there anything else I should be looking out for? When I go to fix my diff what is the best stuff at low cost, to end up with a strengthened diff?

s2k aok

puddy differential is strong, i can't remember if it was j's racing that sold some conversion kit for a nissan differential or something, but anyways s2kpuddydad had a pretty good differential...

RedY2KS2k

Contact s2kpuddydad by IM. He has a solid reputation as the "go to guy" for S2000 differentials.

LoPro25

Alright guys now I am desperate for your help. Please give me any ideas, here is the updated situation...It's my driver-side axle, not my diff. The inner CV joint is broken. If the output shaft from the diff spins, the axle shaft does NOT spin along with it with everything connected.

Today I tried to take the axle out...I got the ball joint out of the lower control arm without the special tool, and disconnected the inboard joint from the diff. Everything was going smoothly until I tried to loosen the spindle nut. It won't budge. I broke two half-inch drive torque wrenches and a half-inch drive breaker bar trying to move the nut. I went and bought a 3/4 drive ratchet and with that I can apply enough torque to turn the axle/rotor even with the inboard joint re-connected to the differential (because the joint is mechanically broken) and I even had a buddy in the car mashing the brake pedal with engine on. STILL the nut won't budge. Was able to get an impact gun to the car, and that didn't do it either.

Long story, and hard to explain, but I wanted to give you guys ALL the details so I hope it makes sense. My question: Any ideas on why the nut won't budge or how I can get it to budge so I can take out the broken axle? Again, any and all help is so greatly appreciated because I am officially at a loss and completely desperate. Thanks all!

wisdom

Last I heard that axle nut is torqued to 200 ft/lbs or something? So it does take some brute force to break it loose.

LoPro25

That makes sense, but I broke 2 torque wrenches on it haha.

black2000

It may not be best to use torque wrenches. What length of breaker bar did you use?

LoPro25

Honestly don't know how long the breaker was, but it was a half-inch drive. I would guess about 18-inches long...it was a pretty standard sized breaker. And normally I would not have used a torque wrench at all, but I broke the breaker bar first, and then my buddy decided he was going to go after it with his torque wrenches...told him not to try it lol

my2ks2k

yeah, probably best not to use a torque wrench to try to get the nut off.
i'd just find a good 1/2" or 3/4" impact

LoPro25

Impact didn't do it either. It wasn't an impact socket, but I don't imagine that would matter too much as long as the socket didn't break