Changing relector rings (window type) at home

[piria33]

As some of you may know I've been having issues with my abs system due to rusted and warped reluctor rings on the rear. They do affect the tranny as they send the speed outputs to the TCM. When the nearside sensor failed the tranny was surging and hard shifting randomly. Once the sensor was changed all returned to normal.

then the offside went and again but not as severe the tranny started acting differently. Just a few mildly rough shifts. Nothing to make you jolt but not a smooth.

This time I saw the ring was warped. Had 2 high spots and a lot of corrosion underneath. We had a hard winter with lots of snow/sluch/salt.

 

After contacting a few garages with no luck my local garage just put a shim under the sensor saying the ring was fine!! No not for a ZF tranny. the air gap needs to be consistent and not vary due to high spots! I know my tranny and its feel changes when you vary that critical air gap. I tested it!

 

Getting fed up with mechanics not wanting to take on a more challenging job I've decided to tackle it myself.

 

Gavin Moss from reluctorrings.com said the window type will not need heating up to get on. There isn't enough parent material so will slide on and stick on with a good adhesive.

So should be possible to do at home.

 

 

Friday night all ready  to start. Nope wrong I thought I had a 36mm socket. 8.10pm and Halfords closed.

Saturday picked up a 36mm impact socket.

Couple of shots with the impact gun the nut started to move. Breaker bar to remove the nut.

Jacked up and acces to hub.

Hours trying to loosen the shaft spline from the hub!!! Wouldn't budge.

So back to shopping - online bought a fairly heafty hub puller (18 thread that bolts onto the hub bolts and not the usual feeble 3 leg pullers).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004FDMWE0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

4lb sledge hammer on order for today also.

So a good pressure with the hub puller and blows with the sledge I hope it will budge. Its been soaking in wd40 also.

 

Well I put the hub nut back on last night to use the car to get to work.

 

Fingers crossed for the second attempt this week. At least we have nice weather (although wife/son want me out more to play games after work so its always a struggle).

 

 

[piria33]

A mechanic from Rugely should be able to pop over saturday morning with various hub pullers to try. If he can't remove it he won't charge anything.

 

If that fails my boss knows someone who has a big 30 ton press being assembled. Would have to take in the whole shaft and hub assembly then they'll pop it out in a second probably.

 

Hope the mobile guy can release the rust bind.

[piria33]

Hi R2e.

 

The reluctor rings aren't the issue. Unless you mean cut the old one off. Cut the new one and squeeze it on.

This will deform the new one and it will never be completely cylindrical again.

 

 

[piria33]

SUCCESS!!!

 

Finallly this Satruday morning a helpful mechanic from Rugely came out and did struggle initially. His 10 ton puller did nothing. His standard copper hammer did nothing.

So he brought out the big guns. The giant copper hammer with a 6 ft handle and 5kg head!

About half a dozen whacks with this it started moving bit by bit. Once it had gone in about an inch he pulled it back with the hub nut and then out again.

Risk of damaging the bearing we took but turned out ok. Bearing felt fine afterwards.

 

Then I spent half the day cleaning up the CV joint. Wow what a rusty mess. Took a while to get it to just the right size so I heated up the ring in the oven and just tapped it on.

Added a bit of epoxy on the edges as added security.

Sensor back on and a perfect air gap all round.

 

Then assembled the shaft/hub etc.

 

Sunday test drive and what a difference. The gearbox has rewarded me!! It is crisper, smoother and more precise.

Now I need to get the other side done!

All I can say is don't overlook these reluctor rings. View the air gap while you spin the hub round. It only takes a small variation in air gap to affect the ecu/tcm.

 

Gavin from Reluctor rings said they don't need any treatment due to the quality and design.

 

 

 

[Guest]

Hi Christopher,

Well done that man, precious few would tackle that job and many have resorted to fitting a new drive shaft.

I'm curious though about how you verified the position of the ring relative to axle and sensor?

Last year I had ABS challenges of my own but managed to get over them - replaced the NS sensor and on the OS thoroughly cleaned out the crusty/rusty bits between the ring slots. As the rust will no doubt continue, your feedback may be valuable this coming winter.

Cheers in advance.

Steve

[david moore]

nice to see someone having ago at doing the job them self, sounds like it was tough going but your persistence has paid off with a good job done. well done,👍 plus money saved too. nice to see the pictures as the work was progressing as you were going along.  hope it all gets sorted and drives as it should, with no issues. regards dave. 

[piria33]

On 7/17/2018 at 7:11 PM, cubist said:

Hi Christopher,

Well done that man, precious few would tackle that job and many have resorted to fitting a new drive shaft.

I'm curious though about how you verified the position of the ring relative to axle and sensor?

Last year I had ABS challenges of my own but managed to get over them - replaced the NS sensor and on the OS thoroughly cleaned out the crusty/rusty bits between the ring slots. As the rust will no doubt continue, your feedback may be valuable this coming winter.

Cheers in advance.

Steve

Thanks Steve. Yes wasn't easy. I didn't really want another used one with the same soft old rusty rings.

I didn't think of the position relative to the axle to be honest. Seemed to be fine. Same would happen if the shaft was removed and re-installed. 

But position relative to the sensor (if I understood your question correctly) - I measured the distance between the inner edge of the old ring and the edge of the CV boot with a feeler guage. Tapped the new one up to the same position very carefully. You could aslo create a spacer.

I assume the position relative to the axle is self-calibrating. As long as the sensor is reading the windows correctly and creates a good strong voltage.

Thanks

[piria33]

15 hours ago, david moore said:

nice to see someone having ago at doing the job them self, sounds like it was tough going but your persistence has paid off with a good job done. well done,👍 plus money saved too. nice to see the pictures as the work was progressing as you were going along.  hope it all gets sorted and drives as it should, with no issues. regards dave. 

Thanks. Yes few bother to take on these tricky jobs. Well worth it imo.

The ZF boxes rely on all of these inputs to work well.

4th day driving and it feels great. I feel the box is more precise and smoother. I'm sure once the other side is done also I'll see a further improvement.

It has been reiterated that the air gap is critical. If the air gap is varying as it rotates due to a ring that has warped how is the ecu/tcm going to read this? Does it take an average or does the voltage strength vary? If the metal of the ring is in bad shape surely the signal will be weak also.

The new ring is much stronger than the old one as you can see. The metal is better quality and of a harder material also.

The guys at reluctorrings know what they are doing. Not 9.99 ones off eBay probably made of tin metal.

[piria33]

hmm the shifting had been a bit off again this week. Last week after changing one side there was a nice improvement in smoothness, Its been fading this week as if something is off again. A gradual change which is strange as if the adaptions are a bit squiffy and wondering.

I wonder if its because I haven't changed the other side yet and the 2 rings are quite different designs. Rule of thumb - change everything in pairs!
bit frustrating.

Checked the newly installed ring last night and all looked perfect. (note I do have cheap sensors in right now - not sure what difference there is between expensive ones and cheap ones).

Once the other side is done I might take it in for an fluid level check and adaptions reset also to rule out anything (could be a leak but seen nothing on the drive - had real seal replaced to propshaft a few months ago) .
Not sure where yet.