I believe my truck is supposed to have a limited slip rear diff. But yesterday in the snow I came home and got stopped making the transition from the street to my driveway, which is just slightly sloped. The truck just sat there with the left rear wheel spinning in the slush and right rear just sitting still.

How can I tell if this rear axle really is a limited slip or an open diff?

 

It is a torsional phantom anti-spin. To you and I, it's an open rear end.

 

look at your sticker......btw these LSD's suck...Dont confuse them with a locking diff, either

 

Slorocco, you could have lsd but your situation is one that this LSD has trouble with. To get the LSD to engage the wheel with traction, there has to be some resistance on that wheel. If you engage the Pbrake slightly, the LSD might click in. Its stupid but its easier to engage the LSD if the passenger side tire is spinning with the brake method. ks

 

I couldn't agree more.

Any lawyers in this group? Class action possibilities? Pehaps I could use my part of the judgement (about $1.50) to buy a front E-Locker.

Oh wait, I've already ordered the E-Locker

 

Like ABC said, apply the parking brake a couple clicks and SHAZAM, you have a live axle!!!! You may have to experiment with the number of clicks though!!

 

good luck with the class action thing. You aren't endangering yourself with not having the slipper work. It would take a dumb lawyer to even think about taking on a case like that.

 

I haven't really been in that situation yet, but I read you could just push the brake peddle while accelerating and it would get both rear wheels spinning. I never heard of the parking brake until this post, but I guess it should work too.

 

Are there any aftermarket LSD's or lockers for our trucks? Is anyone running these if there are any? Any recommendations?

 

limited slip just means, if your main wheel doesnt have traction then your other one will not work. its stupid in our situation. But beleive it or not, limited slip can be helpful in certain situations, but only for the front axles...rear axles need to be full locked.

 

Hey guys, thanks for the replies. I'll try the parking brake trick next time. I've only driven a couple other limited slip diffs before this. The best one I've driven was the Quaiffe, that was in an autocross car. Man, that thing hooked up well.

I know this is not a locker, like the detroit in my trail rig, but i was expecting better performance than this. My last tow vehicle had a traction control system that used the ABS system to pulse the brakes. Even that worked better than this, but I guess I'll have to reserve judgement till I try the parking brake trick.

Later

 

You know, the more I think about it, it strikes me that this parking brake trick is the same trick I used to use on vehicles with open diffs.

 

That is why several of us on this forum don't consider the "Trac Rite" differential to be an "Anti Slip" design.

 

Slorocco,

The diff's in our truck are the exact same design as a quaiffe! The difference is the lack of weight on the drive wheels. Applying the park brake a few notches or using the foot brake should allow the torsen unit to transfer torque to both wheels more equally. It is called 'limited' slip for a reason....a locked diff is a different story and provides other headaches as well depending on where it is driven.

 

Well well, now that is a surprise. I'm obviously going to have to get better informed. You are forcing me to read up on this now.

Do you by chance drive a CRXsi with a Quaiffe? I used to autocross a VW Sirocco.

Later, Dan