Hi Laurens,Interesting post and although i am not an engineer as such, now it all makes sense. The BMW unit has a fully supported pinion gear, and the Quaife unit does not. But why would swap the oil in the Quaife unit at regular intervals? After all, when was the last time you changed the oil in a car or a bike unit?
With the amount of 3 wheelers on the road at the moment, and that number growing would it be worth making an exploratory inquiry to BMW. After all they make the engine for the +8 and above!
As an engineer I beg to differ.
Both Quaife and BMW are fully supported just in different ways.
The BMW pinion is supported by a thrust ball bearing on the propshaft side of the pinion gear and a needle roller bearing on the other side of the pinion gear.
The Quaife pinion is supported by 2 angular contact preloaded bearings both on the propshaft side of the pinion, which support the pinion in both the thrust and axial direction.
The Quaife design is similar to most car differentials. So its just horses for courses. Now if you are asking is the Quaife preload set correctly, the fact that most bevel boxes seem to become noisier when hot would indicate that that the preload is insufficient.
