What in the hell is the limited slip differential? I took my truck to the dealer and "supposedly" my limited slip differential is just a "bunch of metal shavings" and "the backend is completely gone" any input on what this s*** means would be great.

 

Limited slip makes it so that if one of your rear tires starts to spin on ice, snow, gravel, whatever, it sends power to the other side also so you don't lose all traction. It's a good option to have, but not really a necessity. When they go bad, there's almost never metal shavings. There are clutch packs inside that can go bad, but they are easy to replace. A whole new unit is about $500 on average, and the rebuild kit with the clutch packs is usually about $90.

I read your post in Off Topic. That dealer is trying to screw you HARD. DON'T LET THEM! Take it to an independent shop and ask them to look at all the areas that the dealership pointed out, and see what they say.

 

Here is a good link about differentials. Limited slip is covered on page 7 and 8.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/differential.htm
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/differential7.htm

Also, I agree with Snafu. Tell the dealer to pound sand, they're trying to rip you off. Take it to an independent shop for a second opinion. Sometimes, if you tell an independent shop that you think a dealership is ripping you off, and you want their opinion, they'll take a look at it free of charge. They would like nothing more then to take business away from the dealerships.
Another thing I have had success with is to take it to another dealership that is in competition with the first. Explain that you think dealership A is ripping you off, and you won't put up with it, and dealership B will sometimes give you a good deal, just so you will come to them in the future rather then dealership A.

If it turns out you pickup actually needs all those things, you can do alot better then the prices the dealership gave you. Shop around a little.

 

I have an 01 Ram 1500 Off Road edition with a 3" Skyjacker lift and have 33"s. I have heard a few people say 35"s will work but I don't think so as the 33"s are very close to rubbing when you turn.

 

First of all, I'm gonna take a wild shot in the dark and say that this guy posted in the wrong place.

Second, I took it to an independent dealer today and I showed him the Dealership bill of what they were going to charge me and the guy asked me if i had any KY jelly stains on my pants cuz they were trying to rape me. The independent dealer (also good friend of ours) is going to fix everything this weekend and for MUCH less.

In reply to my own question, is the limited slip differential basically POSI? Cuz i know that my truck definitely has that.

 

roflmfao thats funny


posi is when power is given to both tires all the time.....but a lil less to 1 tire when turning so it doesnt squeel......a locker will make it squeel

 

10-4, Ramfan

 

as long as were on the subject...theres times when my right rear will spin and i cant get the left rear to spin with it.other times,it'll kick in when supposed to.ive taken cover off and all gears look good,no shavings or any red flags.im sure everything is ok but is there certain conditions that this will take place?
thanx

 

Posi = limited slip. Posi is short for positraction, which was the GM name back in the day.

Not quite. In a limited slip (lsd, posi, etc) once power overcomes traction on one tire the clutches/viscous fluids start to engage which will allow more power to be applied to the tire with traction. Some clutch-types you can increase the tension in so that it takes an incredible amount of force before they'll allow slippage, while others allow quite a bit of a speed difference between the tires before it activates.

Lockers for the most part only lock the tires together when there is sufficient torque being applied to engage it - with light throttle or no-throttle there is often a clicking sound and the diff behaves as an open diff. You can get squealing around corners if you're using moderate to high throttle, but if you're going easy on the gas it'll behave.

Spools squeal. They are a solid connection between the two axles that allow no speed difference between the two.

stic, are you sure you've got a limited slip? My Ram has open difs front and rear yet sometimes it'll actually spin both rears - usually when on sloppy mud or a sand coated road where the torque required to spin each tire is very close. The reason that in other situations there'll only be one tire spinning is that the non-spinning tire only gets as much power as it takes to spin the opposite tire, and if more power is required for that tire to lose traction, it won't happen.

 

im pretty sure mine is open.open is different from limited slip?