2004 CR-V rear diff damper

[Orcadian]

Hi Folks,
Just had the pass air bag and driver's window switch recall sorted and they mentioned the rear diff damper being split (which I discovered when I was doing some underbody protection with Bilt Hamber UB)
Anyhoo, this damper is £130 ish from Honda and £50 odd from spurious. You probably know it's held to the side of the diff with one bolt, so easy to change. My question is has anyone repaired one with Sikaflex? The bar is only bonded to the carrier in a few places so that is probably critical to keep the harmonic damping correct. I have not noticed any adverse effects with this damper split but Honda must have put it there for a reason. It would probably work equally well without it but I'm not intending doing that - at this stage. Any thoughts or do I just replace it?
Ian

[discomx5]

The damper will be there for NVH reasons only... probably to reduce diff whine. If you can't hear a problem I wouldn't spend the money!

[Orcadian]

Thanks for that, yes, NVH seems the logical answer, but there is no discernible noise or vibration but of course a new one might make a slight improvement although I can't see how. I'm not one for buying stuff unnecessarily which is why I wondered if anyone had Sikaflexed one. I'm going to give that a go and report back if there's any improvement or worsening. Nothing to lose other than a bit of Sikaflex. I'll report back for future use.

Ian

[Orcadian]

Been driving around for a week or so with the Diff damper off the car and on the bench. If there is any difference, I certainly can't tell and being a motorcyclist as well as a car driver for nigh on 50 years I am very used to detecting unusual changes in noises or vibrations. Anyway, I pulled the two rubber buffers off, which were attached to the solid centre bar. This then allowed me to remove the bar from the bracket. The bonding sleeves are all the way around the big holes in the bracket but only attach to the centre weight at 2 points on each sleeve. I stripped and cleaned all the bits back to bare metal and then ran Sikaflex around the inner faces of the large holes and around the outer parts of the centre weight and left them to dry a bit. Next was pushing the bar through and supporting it in the right position and then squeezing more Sikaflex into the four attachment points in the correct orientation. Left that to dry and then re-bonded the buffers back on to the main bar. A quick coat of paint, left to dry and refitted. Can't be any worse than it was before - I'll see how long it lasts!

Tight fisted old Yorkshire git!

[Sandy67]

Help. I just realized my HONDA CRV 2004 is missing the damper completely. Is this dangerous. Pretty annoyed as I haven't noticed anything or probably thought its just normal/. Not sure if it came with one or got nicked at some garage during a service, but should I get one installed? Only picked it up when Honda Servicing & MOT said my Rear diff mount (Rubber bush) was splitting and saw this and checked it out. I'm perplexed annoyed and worried as they didnt say anything about ithe damper being missing. Help!!!