To answer your question on whether or not you have a limited slip you can do one of three things.

1. Find a gravel parking lot and punch it. If both wheels spin then you have a lsd. If only one wheel spins you do not.

2. With the rear wheels in the air and the tranny in neutral, spin one wheel. If the other wheel spins opposite you do not have a lsd. If it spins same direction you do.

3. Take the diff cover off and look. Would be a good chance to inspect tooth wear anyway.

 

It wasn't broken. I don't know what got it to stop. We didn't have to do anything more to it though.

 

So, why did u take the rear end out?

 

Maybe it's the definition of terms. The clutches are to help both axles turn together. When going absolutely straight they turn together.
When the clutches are gripping tight they transmit power to both wheels - same like a regular locker.
But if there's considerable strain - the axles need to turn at different speeds, the clutches slip, allowing it. A true locker won't slip, but some will "unlock" on a hard turn..
But - if the clutches "grip" too tight they will still slip, but when they do it makes noise.
That's why the additive - no matter what the brand or name - Posi, Tracloc, etc. they need the extra slippery additive.

If there isn't enough additive the will make noises! whether some think it's only on a hard turn or otherwise, they need the additive.
Mine rarely made noise when turning tight - maybe I couldn't hear it. But it was very obvious when backing up, turning or not.
The additive did the trick.

So you all have the choice - if yours makes noises, try the additive - or help the economy by having a shop rebuild it for you.
$10 vs 600 or $700 - your choice.

Rebuilding diffs was not my favorite type of job. We'd rather do manual trannys - but our specialty was high performance tuning on the dynos.


Of course if there's a problem with the clutches - broken parts etc, adding the additive won't help.

Most of the time LSD's clutches lose their gripping power - due to the surfaces wearing too much. Then it acts like an open diff. Too much additive can cause them to slip too much.]


,

 

Bad pinion bearing

 

So, why put the additive in if it's not noisy?

 

Oh.......a bad bearing......excessive drag maybe?

 

What do you mean by drag? Tire drag? It didn't drag tires until after we worked on it and then it only did it for a little while. My teacher drove it a little bit without fluid in the diff to make sure everything was in working order. Our school lot is gravel though so he wouldn't have caught it then.

 

U do realize u r digging yourself into a hole here, right?

 

How so?

 

....u need to use syntheic oil....
....the lsd was locking up....
....tire was dragging....
....I forget what the problem ended up being....
....I don't know what got it to stop....
....bad pinion bearing....
....it didn't drag tires until after we worked on it....(previous post said dragging a tire)
....teacher drove it without fluid....

 

"""""So, why put the additive in if it's not noisy? """""

If it isn't noisy or grabbing, then obviously it's not needed.

If it's not broken don't fix it!

Some dif lubes claim they already have it in, some don't.

When you look at factory service manuals, they always say to add the additive.

Could be a double edged sword too - without the extra slippery it may make the clutches wear faster. But on the flip side it may not let them grab as well, defeating the purpose of LSD in the first place. Dunno!

I had a Jeepster with LSD - it barely worked. I didn't tear it down to see, but I suspected it was just worn clutches. Tried the additive no change either way. I didn't care - I had a D44 with a Lock-Rite I was going to put in. But I sold the Jeepster before I got around to it.

I put about 300 miles on mine today - no noise like before. It worked for me.

 

I won't deny that i have absolutley no knowledge on differentials. The most i ever did was help my buddy put lockers in. But my comment is for Austin. I think he is just trying to help with limited knowledge, No offense, Austin, but i mean from what he saw in shop class. I know when I first starting looking up info and asking question, i used completely wrong terms, or one term for another, and man was it hard for people to understand what i was saying. lol. I know try to keep it simple and if i am unsure of a term, say the term i think is correct, then describe. It is a headache when you know what you are talking about, but the terms elude you.

Again, not meant in any offensive manner, but these guys are right in the fact that your describing a lot of things that, in part, sound like differant issues and such, and i also think there may have been some mis-interpretation of what you were saying and what some were reading.

Anyways, to the OP, Good luck, and this thread made me realize i need to learn some things about diffs so i can later held, and help diagnose any of my own issues.

And thanks all for the info, and the palm example, the very simplified version, really helped in just a basic understanding of diffs. Kudos

 

Basically there are 3 types of diffs: Open, Limited Slip and Locking.....the latter 2 being "traction enhanced" diffs. There numerous types/variations of lsd and locking diffs. My "palms together" simplified example was for clutch type lsd only......does not apply to locking or open diffs or other types of lsd.

 

None taken! I'm 18 and I DON'T know everything and don't claim I do. I just throw out what I know in hopes of being helpful