Technical Question about Fiat 126P differential.

Currently reading:
Technical Question about Fiat 126P differential.

Saljara

New member
Joined
Jun 14, 2016
Messages
10
Points
8
Hello.

Does anybody know how to disassemble a Fiat 126P differential?

I need to replace axles, because one of them is broken and it appears that to do so, i have to disassemble the differential, which I am not quite sure how to do.

I have taken the whole thing out of its housing and you can see how it looks as of now in the attached picture.

The other picture is out of Autobook series Fiat 126 Owners workshop manual for 1972-1976 Fiat 126 and Fiat 126L with 600 cc egnine.
Mine's 1997 Fiat 126P with 652 cc engine, but so far it appears that everything is the same as depicted in the manual.

It appears to me that I need to split the differential casing. I haven't tried that yet, but after removing the bolts (16) in the second picture, both parts of the casing hold together pretty solid. Do you have any tips how to split them?

Also, any tips on how to remove the old bearings will be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.
 

Attachments

  • IMG0243A.jpg
    IMG0243A.jpg
    122 KB · Views: 164
  • diff.PNG
    diff.PNG
    242.1 KB · Views: 119
I'd try tapping the two differential housings along the joint with a brass/copper mallet to separate them.

Re: removing the bearings.

There are special tools for removing those taper roller bearings intact.. Usually a puller with a 'spreader plate' to fit around the bearing. Very easy to damage the bearing cage as you've discovered.

Check carefully around the housing where the bearing inner race fits. There might be 1 or 2 small recesses/notches to allow prying. Some people use a small cold chisel to start the bearing moving. You need something very narrow, possibly a small axe, strong knife, old screwdriver. Wear eye protection.

To remove the damaged bearing, you can either heat it with a welding torch or grind it almost through with an angle grinder, the heat will expand the bearing and allow it to be easily removed. You could also run a bead of weld onto the bearing, this will heat up and expand the bearing race and also give you something to strike against with a drift/punch.

Al.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the reply. I was really acting rather dumb, haha. Asking for a pretty obvious thing because those casing pieces didn't want to come apart easily and I was afraid to damage them. I did manage to get them apart.
 
Always better to ask first if in any doubt, than risk breaking something.

Glad you got it sorted. (y)

Al.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top