Short of tearing into you trans how would you tell if a it has a limited slip diff installed?

Jack up the rear, turn the wheels...both turn the same way...ya got some sort of locked rear end.

transaxel.......isnt that the little fella from guns n roses

Well, the most reliable way is to park the car with one wheel on ice and the other on asphalt. If you can drive away, you have an LSD.

If you have both wheels off the ground, then spinning one by hand will cause the other to spin the opposite way with an open diff. With a clutch type, both wheels will spin the same direction (at least if you spin one wheel fast enough). However, with a Quaife-type LSD, it will behave like an open diff if one (or both) wheels are off the ground, so that's not a 100% reliable method. I've heard that you can't turn both wheels (or the halfshafts) in the same direction at the same time by hand with a Quaife, but I've never tried it.

QUOTE (messix @ Apr 17 2005, 02:13 AM)

transaxel.......isnt that the little fella from guns n roses

yeah - now that he's wearing dresses...

there should be a Type number on the transmission that will tell you what it was originally, anyway. IIRC, 'A' is open diff, 'B' was the factory ZF clutchpack LSD.

if a ZF diff hasn't been serviced in 30 years you can probably count on the clutches being toast, reverting it to open function...

What if in air you turn either wheel , the other wheel is unaffected?

I know for a fact that if you turn one wheel on a guard diff, the other will turn the same way. It acts like a spool until something overcomes the drag in the gears, then it will spin different.

BTDT!!

transmission in neutral, parking brake off and not dragging?

could be time to find the type number - i think it's near the serial number or on the ventral rib. this has been discussed before - check the archives for LSD discussions.

QUOTE (rdauenhauer @ Apr 17 2005, 05:53 AM)

What if in air you turn either wheel , the other wheel is unaffected?

Then you need to put the transmission into gear.

--DD

no Dave.

I'm guessing you have a standard diff with lots of drag in the brakes....or something...

Nope. The rotation has to go somewhere. If you turn the one rear wheel, and the other does not turn at all, the rotation is either going to the input shaft (it is spinning; it won't turn over an engine that easily unless the plugs are out) or it is indeed going to the opposite output flange, but the CV joint is broken.

Occam's Razor (suspect the simplest things first) tells us that you forgot to put the transmission into gear.

If it really is in gear, then you need to look at the fan or the flywheel or the distributor when you turn the one wheel and the other doesn't turn. If that is not turning, then you look at the CV joints. If they are hooked up and in good shape, then you have detonated the transmission itself.

--DD

Dave, I have a differential out of a transmission. It is not in gear and behaves that way.

What way does it behave? I'm having difficulty picturing how that applies to this argument...

--DD