G'day All

Am I correct in saying the EL diff fits EF no probs,
but going EF Diff to EL Car u need the upper control arms also?

thats all,
Andrew

no, you'll need to use the rigth arms for the diff.

But if you're putting in EL diff adn arm's you'll get a nice rear suspension upgrade too. The ELs were much better in the rear.

the arms are different length as said by datam, the rear housing as well has a different length arm i think too as the housing has the watts link bolt lower then the ef (better handling).

so make sure you get everything!

Ok,

well,
I take it the Lower Trailing Arm is Identical on EF and EL (plz correct if I am wrong).
The Upper Arms are the difference between models, In order to install an EL diff I need to replace the uppers arms with EL ones.
hence saying this, will this alter in any way my current ride height and or stiffness? (asuming not as the springs and shocks do this)? will this alter my diff angle (i don't have any vib probs currently)
also I guess I need the rear hand brake cable too...

and If i do change this... is there a correct position to tighten the trailing arms at IE: when diff housing is installed and the shocks take the weight? OR when the car is on its own mass?
I only query this as when I removed the diff the trailing arms where at a 'home' position after removal!

and the other thing.... Is all this worth it for the reworked suspension design? (I do notice my EF has crap rear end feel over speed humps)

sorry about the umm quantity of crap im spilling, I just like to get the facts b4 i do stuff

Thanx, Andrew

Hi Andrew,

Yes, the lower arms are exactly the same.

The upper arms are completely different. You could use your arms with the EL diff. It does has have a bolt hole in the same place as the EF diff for the upper arms, but there is no captive nut at that spot. But it doesnt stop you from getting a nut from somewhere to do the job. As well as fuzion said, you will need an EL watts link, as the arms are lower. The point on the diff hat is lower down.

I cant remember what springs you had on your car. If they are lows, the normal EL arms will be OK, although not optimal. If you have superlows, with normal EL arms, you will have a big change in diff angle that will cause a fair amount of unhappy vibrations from the rear of the tailshaft. Getting hold of some EL XR rear arms will solve the problem with superlows. EL XR arms will make it perfect diff angles with lows.

And as you said, you will need the EL handbrake cable too.

It was all done to improve the handing, not so much the ride. Got rid of the dodgy roll oversteer feeling that the EF's had. But I think most people got rid of that when they lowered their EF's.

When tightening all the bolts up, make sure the car is sitting on its weight, not on stands or anything. Otherwise you will end up killing the bushes.

Good luck,

Adrian.

Great reply thanks!

I have Pedders Red Low's (GSR) all round.

and as for the second mounting hole on the top of the housing is that in the exact same spot as the current EF diff? or is the lower mount different on the EL diff? if the top secondary hole is the same as ef, then i should be able to use my current arms....?
Like i said.. I just want to replace the diff and and have no angle probs! (don't we all)

so what upper arms do i look out for the 'default' el ones or EL XR uppers?

Im only doing this cause i picked up another 3.23 LSD out of an unmarked cop car (that was mothered very well) and had only done 90,000k's until a tree fell on the front of it, and i actually changed the hemisphere in my diff to make it limited slip, i just feel this ones prolly a tighter diff and gives me the option of upping the sus config.

either way, it goes in... or it gets sold (i saw an option to play with the car)

Ta!

EL diffs have 3 holes drilled into the upper bracket. 2 of the holes have the captive nut on them. The higher hole of these 2 is for the normal EL arms. The lower, further back hole of the 2 is for the XR arms.

The upper hole is the same as EF. At the highest point of the bracket, about 5mm or so from the top. So you could use your existing arms and have the same problems (if any) that you do now with height, handing and vibrations. Just go pinch some nuts from a wrecker. I think they are the same thread as the lower control arm.

Either EL arm would be OK. But I would take the XR ones if they are available. Very rare to find on the wrecker market, best bet is to get them from Ford, but you will be looking at about $300 with bushes (the XR urethane bushes). They are longer than the standard EL, and because the sit lower, have a half moon shape over the diff to allow them to fit. Effectively lowers the rear roll centre for better handling, and will put the diff on the best angle.

thanx for that, pretty straight forward, the car I removed the diff from was a futura and had the upper arms located on the rear lower holes.

thanx for the help and I'll put this in during the week!

Andrew

Best bet is to use the EL arms with the EL handbrake and EL wattslink ,
as for it being lowered watch your uni-joint angles , you want to try and get both uni's to on the same angle , this will ensure no vibrations , you can do this by playing with different upper arms , on some cars you can buy adjustable arms to get the angles right , but i havnt seen them around for fords

Ok, I went and removed the Upper Arms from the car, turns out it was Opt20, and has the XR arms and also the diff has a nice Xr with yellow paint on it too, I also removed the hand brake cable and wattslink.
All this should go in the car sometime this week (if I don't go to Painesville)

Anyways Cheers for the help and have a safe New Years!

PS, all the other police goodies are gone. :)