Good news:
The new FD is on

There is a detectable difference in gearing

Bad news:
The big bearing (the one I didn't change despite my mate smacking the seal down too far onto the ball cage) growls like a dog over 40MPH

Other news:
My mate is going to have a pentagram smeared in gear oil on his front door and sacrificial gaskets hung around the periphery

The big seal was down hard on the carrier, to the extent it had depressions on the back. I asked him how hard he had hit it after the test ride and the answer was [bullshit interpreter] "Far too much". "It's only rubber". No it has steel inside it.... It's coming off again this weekend and I'll clean and spin it before pulling it to be sure it is that and not a clearance / shimming issue. I note the old one has noticeable backlash (but makes very little 'diff' noise) and the replacement has less. Plus the gears look good to the eye. We have karma though, he swapped the mufflers for nice shiny ones and is now in a world of pain with balance pipes and parts that don't fit
The unit was unknown and had half the input bearing off and multiple stripped threads. So I don't blame my friend 100%. Maybe 99...
