Companion Shaft Pull Out - Circlip Replacement

[macjohnw]

I towed my bike on a small bike trailer a few months ago and noticed a gear oil smell when I stopped. Upon closer inspection I saw gear oil all over the trailer, my back bumper and underneath the car - aaaaand it gave me a big fright. My rear diff seemed buggered.

After some Google research, I identified what seem to be the companion shaft pull out problem due to circlip failure - the Ozzies have a lot of these problems as they discussed it a lot on their forum. Their solution - temporary pop it back in with a hammer and order new circlips and install.

Now, there seem to be a lot of discussion and some confusion about an upgraded circlip that was thicker to replace the thinner original one. Nobody could tell for sure if this was true or if if the new thicker circlip would even fit onto the shaft. Off I went to the dealer and ordered 1 x set of ciclips, 1 x set of oil seals and a new diff sump nut as it was stripped. All parts had to be ordered from Japan as Mitsu SA did not carry any such stock.

After a month I got the parts and picked it up a few days ago. I noticed that there were in fact 4 x circlips, not two. It turned out that it was two sets of different thickness (and shape) circlips. Took the car to my local Gearmax and asked them to install it - felt confident when the labor/mechanic told me he is aware of the different circlips as he had seen it before on similar Pajeros. The shape of the shaft's groove will determine which circlip to use apparently.

They installed the thicker circlip and they work well so far.

Below are the prices and info (prices include VAT):

Circlips (4) : R149-91
Seals x (2) : R644-30
Nut (1) : R70-11
Labour : R1300-00

Pajero 3.2 DID 2005 LWB
ODO: 505,000km

[macjohnw]

This what the pull out looked like.

- Simply take a hammer and a piece of wood and knock it back in place to prevent further oil loss and until you can get to your destination or garage.
- Top up to fill the diff again.

When I got home, I took out the diff sump plug and drained some oil in order to inspect it. It was clear as day with no visible ion shavings, so all was good. Simply put the plug back and filled up all the way.

Just check your Pajero's booklet to ensure that you buy the correct spec diff oil.

[CATS]

Should be good to go now. I had to this on my gen3 Pajero but once done never had a similar occurance.

CATS

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