DUDE454

I got my Limited slip differential in and it work, just tested it 5 min ago. The only thing i saw was that i be real slow for a while then all of a sudden you would see the other tire kick in and id be off. Does LSD usually take a little while till it kicks in?

tannerp89

did you add the friction modifier to your gear oil as needed for a limited slip? cause my limited slip doesnt do that....

DUDE454

My buddy put it in so i dont know, i mean it works, its just a little slow to work.

tannerp89

sounds like he forgot the friction modifier. its needed for the clutch packs in the limited slip to work correctly, so your probably "slipping" more than you should. id ask if he put new clutch packs in and remembered the friction modifier...i put new packs in mine on tuesday and its tight as hell, basically feels like the axle is locked on quick starts....

djb383

If the clutches are bad, a LSD won't perform much different than an open diff and adding a friction modifier won't help, probably make it worse.

The LSD additive (friction modifier) makes the clutches slip easier, not grip more.

Some LSDs need the additive, some don't. After doing a diff gear oil change, if the LSD is quiet (no noise/chatter in a slow/tight turn) you probably don't need the additive. Again, the additive will cause the clutches to slip more, not grip more.

tannerp89

i never said it makes it grip more, but by the way i understood it, the additive is required for the clutches to "grip" properly. i asked if the clutches were replaced because i assume they just swapped the carriers, so it could be that one of the disks in the clutch packs is broken, which would cause one axle to "slip" more than the other.

djb383

Sorry, but your post said "sounds like he forgot the friction modifier" and "so you're probably slipping more than you should". It just sounded to me like that's another way of saying 'friction modifier needs to be added to make it slip less' and I said "friction modifier will make it slip easier", which it will.

tannerp89

ya i see what you mean, my bad on the wording. either way if one axle is slipping more than the other something or isnt engaging right away something isnt right, id bank on one of the disks in the clutches being cracked in half. mine did same thing almost and the lead plate on the clutch packs was cracked in half.

djb383

It's hard to tell what you mean when you say "tested it 5 min ago". A clutch type LSD is both always engaged AND almost always slipping - that's the way it's designed. It can be difficult to tell if something is wrong with a LSD (since they do slip) without doing a visual inspection of the internal parts. Is there trash/debris in the bottom of the diff case? Are the clutches slick/glazed/cracked/broken? Spring(s) broken/weak? Other parts/pieces of the LSD bad/broken? A LSD is the lowest/least form of a "traction enhanced" diff, followed by a locking diff, with the ultimate in traction being "no diff".

Just because one wheel spins and one doesn't, or turns slower/faster, doesn't always mean an LSD is malfunctioning. If one wheel spins and one wheel doesn't with a locking diff, you know something is wrong. Here's a video that does a decent job of showing the differences between an "open" diff, an "lsd" diff and a "locking" diff.

DUDE454

Changed the diff oil and it does engauge quicker. But it goes from only one wheel spinning to both spinning. I let my buddy (different one) mud in it as i watched and it went to 2 wheels when he started to get slowed by the mud, but it does engauge better now.