tiny tim

Why does my open rear spin both sides like a locker on snow,as well as gravel (at least in reverse on gravel anyway) and sometimes even on dry pavement if I'm gassing it too much while turning?

BTW,yes,I'm serious,and no,it doesn't have a limited slip,locker,welded spiders,etc,I've been in the rear (Woah,that doesn't sound good does it)

PS,I've had the same situation with other vehicles which were verified as open rears

We had a little bit of snow today,but I started out in 2wd,cause I didn't think it'd be bad enough to bother with 4.First time I tried to very gently accelerate at an intersection,I was fishtailing all over the place.Lotsa fun but I went ahead and put her in 4wd from that point on.Also,while in 4wd,when I gas it too much turning at intersections,the back end still always comes around,but the front immediately pulls me back in line and straightens me out.So,in other words,why does the front always just spin 1 side,but the rear often doesn't follow the rules?

VTJeep

Haha.. Well, open diff doesn't mean only one tire has driving force! What do you think would happen to your tires?! All it means is that when one tire has enough load on it, it will not spin and then you'll get the classic one tire fire. Try getting it in an off camber situation, i.e. approaching an incline at a 45* angle- when you get to a certain point, one tire will have basically no weigh on it and the other tire, the one with all the grip, will just sit their mocking you..

Or your tires suck and/or are over inflated and will break free cause of that.

How do you know there's no locker?

XJGrason

hahahahahaah

mr white

If both tires have equal amount of friction, they will both spin.

tiny tim

I looked for a "posi" when I was changing the fluid right after I got the heap,I mean,jeep.No sign of clutches in there or anything,just the regular ol' spider gears.Plus,I confirmed it didn't come with an lsd factory,of course,that doesn't necessarily mean anything on its own

Definitely know there's no locker or welded spiders even w/o looking inside cause it only does it in the snow,and once in a while under other circumstances as mentioned.Most times it does the good ol' 1 wheel peel,Capt. Pegleg,1 tire fire,etc

I ALWAYS keep up with tire pressure,never have 1 tire even 1/2 lb off (usually 30,occasionally I try 31 or 32 for a lil while) and tires are like new

I just always thought an open diff was only able to apply power to 1 side at a time.Thought that was like a law of physics Even cars w/factory lsd's I've had in the past would often do the 1 wheel peel,I assume because the clutches and/or springs in the lsd were worn down

ikenchute

Nature of the beast. If both tires have the same lack of traction both can spin. That being said…think of how an open diff works and what it has in it.

I used to have a mild street car with an open diff. When staging for launch I would put it in reverse, hold the brakes while letting roll back just a bit while putting it in drive then locking down the brakes, Stall it against the converter, then launch and would get power to both wheels. Best guess it was pre-loading the spiders enough that with traction being equal at both wheels it would work. If I didn’t do this ritual it would just fry the right rear.

In your case the lack of traction is allowing both to spin…not at equal speeds though since it is an open diff. A tighter set of spiders will help give you the same effect.

Now add good traction to 1 wheel and none to the other and you know what happens next.

tiny tim

Your mention of launching at the strip reminded me of something.In some of my old 1960's and 70's hot rod mags,the Air Lift air bags were really popular for preloading the right rear for better traction on launch,and some folks ran an air shock just on the right side to do the same thing.I recall reading some folks claiming their open rear cars would launch like a spool once they found the sweet spot for how much air to put in the right side

I guess it makes SOME sense to me now,altho I still don't fully understand how open rears can work.Seems to me with all those gears every which way (2 pairs of spiders at 90 degree angles to each other) the whole rear should be locked up and unable to turn at all

Guess it's just one of those things that'll always be a mystery to me