Re: a yaw'ning chasm....

[Michael Williams <urquattro@surfree.com>]

JustaxPHX@aol.com decided to speak these words:

>Needless to say, I respectfully disagree with Dave's comments above.  And if 
>anybody figures out how a "locked" diff can transfer torque, please be sure 
>to drop me a note before I go offline for the summer at the end of the 
>month...


Here is my thought on it, based soley on mental visualization.

example:  Converting and UrQ to rear wheel drive:

Remove the front half shafts, leaving only the stub axles in place to 
insure that the wheel bearings are not destroyed.  Lock the center diff.  
If you dont, all torque will be transferred to the front since an open 
diff sends torque to the wheel with the least resistance and that is why, 
technically, a gen 1 car, with the diffs unlocked is actually a 1 wheel 
drive.

Anyway, so you lock the center diff, causing the front and rear axles (if 
there were still a front axle) to TURN at the same speed exactly.  What 
will happen?  You wont lose 50% of the torque into space, so all of the 
power is transmitted to the rear wheels.  I havent done this yet, but i 
can pretty much guarantee that when you do that and compare say 0-100 
times, they will be almost identical, maybe slight difference for weight, 
shift points, etc.

A locked diff forces both sides of the diff to turn at the same rate, but 
does not inhibit a torque shift.

later...

Michael Sheridan Williams
San Francisco, CA
ICQ# 11740998
1983 UrQuattro, MC--1.8 BAR, borla, 16x7.5 OZ Mito's w/ SP8000's, K&N
1985 4000S Quattro, Koni Yellows/Coilover (2B), strut brace, Sport 8000 
Tires, K&N
http://members.aol.com/daserde2