The recent differential talk has brought back to mind one of the (to me
anyway) great puzzles of Spitfire ownership - why the heck do rebuilt diffs
cost so darn much in the US? It is cheaper to buy a rebuilt transmission
for a Spit from the "big 3" than a differential. Surely a differential is
far easier to rebuild and far less complicated? In the current VB catalog -
$899 for a 3.89 Spit diff, vs. $799 for a rebuilt transmission! At current
exchange and airfare rates it would be cheaper for me to FLY to England,
buy one and hand carry it back! And I may well do just that next spring, as
I am going to Hungary for a wedding, it would be little extra to stop off
in the UK for a couple days to pick up goodies... ;-) I would just order
one from Rimmer with the free shipping, but they do want the old one back
so that negates most of the savings.
Kevin Rhodes
Portland, Maine
Freddy the Spit with the whiny, leaky, clunky, diff - and that's the GOOD
spare one...
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