Quote:
Originally Posted by Dimman
Awesome, thanks.
Back to the Torsen, is it true that they can be fragile on road courses or rough streets? I've heard that they will break in an example of hitting a curb (racing curb) or bump and one tire loses total traction, but then hitting the ground suddenly has full traction again.
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Sure, but it really depends on a lot of things. What the differential is experiencing in that sort of situation is a shock load. Instead of just being subjected to drive torque from the engine, it is subjected to the (potentially much higher) forces responsible for the rapid deceleration of gears/axles etc. With a clutch type or viscous lsd a large enough load will simply cause the clutches to slip, though that still might be too much for the spider gears to survive depending on ramp angles and preload etc. With a mechanical diff, there is nothing that can harmlessly slip so a large enough shock load
will break the diff. How big of a load that takes depends on design and manufacture of the diff itself, and how much load it sees is dependent on the car and the impact. The important factors in our case (IMO) are that the weight, power, and tire coefficient of friction are huge contributors to the magnitude of that shock load. If the diff holds up to a 3800lb, 416 hp ISF it will laugh in the face of an AS1, even when jumping over curbs.