Waving the white flag...

[audidudi@mindspring.com (Jeffrey J. Goggin)]

>scott, you have been telling us all that the torsen gets confused with slip
>angles, because it can't understand the difference between traction and slip. 
>ok, i say, so what?  for the tyres you and i use, the coefficient of friction
>provided by the tyre is the *same* over a wide range of slip angles.  therefore
>it *makes no difference* to the operation of the torsen.  by definiton.  no
>argument, at least to the point of the slip angle increasing to the point of 
>*decreasing* cof. your argument (at least the 7/10ths on a dry road bit), does
>*not* affect the torsen.

I don't know how to put this politely but I'm beginning to experience the
same degree of frustration here that I do working with my girlfriend's
learning-disabled daughter ... despite our best efforts, she's in the fourth
grade but still reads at a second-grade level.  By all other evidence, she's
a normal 10-year old girl who has slightly above-average intelligence, an
artistic flair and a fair degree of intellectual curiosity ... yet for
whatever reason, she's having considerable trouble wrapping her mind around
the basic concepts that constitute what we collectively refer to as
"reading" and take for granted.   

By the same token, Dave Eaton has shown that he is also of above average
intelligence, has some artistic flair and a fair degree of intellectual
curiosity ... apparently, he also suffers of a learning disability since his
statement above demonstrates his inability to wrap his mind around the basic
concepts that define how a Torsen functions when used in a center-diff
application.  He's clearly got reading down pat but his analytical skills
aren't up to the task.

However, while I'm willing to do anything within my power to help Ellen
ovecome her disability -- I've been up since 2:30am trying to figure out how
I can afford the $10,000/year needed to put her in a private school that
specializes in teaching learning-disabled children -- I don't have much
enthusiasm for rehashing this agrument again and again and again, ad
infinitum.  Just as her public-school teachers have given it their best shot
and failed, I've given Dave my best shot and failed ... now it's time for
somebody else to try their hand at it so I can move on to other, more
productive activities.  (I'll bet Scott feels the same way about now!)

My interest in keeping this thread alive was selfishly motivated.  Like
Scott said, I still think there's some hope for the Torsen center diff in
high-performance applications -- as everyone has already conceded, it works
great for most people, most of the time -- and my goal here was not to
educate everyone about its failings but to find someone who knew more about
its workings than I did and/or who could help me figure out how to address
its shortcomings.

Having now achieved my goal, it's time for me to start looking forward to
finding solutions rather than behind to protecting my flanks ... if and when
I uncover something interesting, I'll post back.  Otherwise, this will be
the last you ever hear from me on the subject of Torsen center diffs...  :^)

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   / |      _| o    | \       _| o  Jeffrey Goggin
  /__| | | / | | __ |  | | | / | |  audidudi@mindspring.com
 /   | |_| \_| |    |_/  |_| \_| |  http://www.mindspring.com/~audidudi/
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