How long did it take to get your built sheet?

 

took about 2 days... pretty fast for email from a large company... the link to it is http://www.dodge.com/wccsapp/univers...ull&category=R

so i know it has a limited slip now because both wheels turn the same direction, so my question and worry is this... a year ago my dad redid the rear axle bearings while i was away working. we didn't know it was limited slip so its been run with pure differential fluid for a year. i want to pull apart the differential to check it and see if the differential is shot. what would a bad limited slip look like?

 

Is it giving you problems? Clunking, whining, growling...?

 

well when i got stuck in the mountains in the snow it wasn't operating like a limited slip should be. the wheel with the most traction was not spinning. my car makes a whining noise pretty much all the time while driving, only when i have my foot pressing the accelerator. so im just trying to make sure if im gonna work on this i do it all at once.

 

I see. If it were me, I would remove the cover and look for metal on the magnet or even in the fluid. Also, iIf you look in your service manual, it has pictures of normal wear marks for the teeth. If all looks good, replace the fluid with Mobil-1 LS 75W-90 and a bottle of friction modifier from Auto Zone. Last year I had a horrible growl/whine coming from mine, luckily the fresh fluid and friction modifier took care of the problem. I would suspect that if your diff was toast, you would know without a doubt.
Also, be sure to use a good RTV sealer. I had to redo mine because I didn't pay enough attention to what I was using. I have been very happy with Permatex Ultra Copper.

 

well a lsd without the correct friction modifier will whine

another thing im going to say is that a limited slip differential MULTIPLIES available torque, if you put one wheel in the air and hit the gas, the wheel in the air is the one thats going to spin. PERIOD.

the idea of a limited slip is that in the snow you have LESS traction at the wheels than normal, so one wheel might have low enough traction to start spinning, a lsd detects the spin, and bc there is still some traction (amount of torque sent to that wheel) it will send some torque to the other wheel keeping you moving. If you are on ice you could very well have 0 torque on one wheel, well anything multiplied by 0 is still 0 so no movement

 

Well what is supposed to work is when one wheel spins the clutch packs take a good load and transfer it to the other side that has traction. Now it doesn't lock it up or anything, but power gets transferred in good quantities to give you some more traction and hopefully give you enough to stop the spinning. It doesn't "detect" anything, it's all mechanical and friction.

The more your clutch packs are worn the less torque is transferred accordingly.


Now you need to get some fiction modifier in there! At least use 5oz, I use the 8oz bottle from Auto Zone and use the whole thing.

 

ok well i just spoke to my dad and he said there were no metal peices or anything in it when he did it. said the fluid smelled so bad he almost lost it, which is hard to make him do. whats in the dif right now is valvoline durablend synthetic blend, 80w-90, tough driving formula... it says its for limited slips on the back but im not inclined to think it is... here's a pic of the bottle



any advice would be appreciated and yes, we rtv the hell out of everything... our favorite is the red stuff. its the super high temp rtv

 

If you've ever dealt with a heavy weight oil, you know they all smell horrible straight out of the bottle. Anyhow, that oil should be fine;however, I don't think it has a friction modifier additive. I would suck about 8 oz out through the fill hole and dump a bottle of friction modifier in it from Auto Zone. It only cost $5.99.

 

oh i know they smelll horrible... but my dad said when he dumped it it smelled nothing like what the new stuff does... alright well ill stop by autozone today and get some friction modifier... is there different kinds or is it all pretty much the same