[Guest]

Hi,

Someone has mentioned to me that it's possible to convert a open, 4 spider gear 9" diff to limited slip by simpy installing a few cheap parts from a Trak-loc. The parts amout to a "block", some springs (4?) and some sort of "cap".

Benifits besides being dirt cheap are that the diff housing is supposed to be stronger than trak-loc...

Any one know if this works and if so, the details on how to build it?

Thanks!

Rob Farmelo

 

[camachinist]

I'll be interested to see what answers you get....IME, the open carriers don't have a sufficiently large ID flat area inside to facilitate the modifications you suggest....the T-loc carriers are substantially different in external appearance.

Quick and dirty method I used on the race car was to install a 31 spline mini-spool into a 4 pinion carrier housing.....no problems to date..

 

[Art]

I saw an old article years ago in a magazine about shimming the spider gears together really tight to duplicate a positive traction carrier...
I thought at the time what a PIA it would be to remove all those little metal shards and broken gear teeth.... And THEN buy the proper carrier....

Still feel the same way...

 

[camachinist]

Yeah, Art, after I posted, I recalled the same thing (shimming the spiders/side gears) and was coming back for an edit when I saw your post. Some of my street racing buddies did do this and it worked reasonably well. We were all running junkyard stuff and I don't remember anyone ever putting a new set of gears in so if one destroyed the rear, it was no big loss.

I certainly wouldn't do it in an assembly with new parts with an expectation of normal service life. No short cuts to success, eh?? *G*

 

[Guest]

Pat & Art,

That sounds like the fix this guy was refering to. He mentioned reading about it a long time ago in some mag....
I'm just running junk yard stuff too, so if it can handle 300 hp and street tires, it would be adequate for me. The car is a project and is occasionally autocrossed and run at the 1/4 mile.

Any contacts of further info would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[Guest]

Pat,

Does the spool give me full posi, or just limited slip. I need LS...

Thanks,
Rob

 

[Guest]

No, it gives you no differential at all - OK for the drag strip, but not autocrossing.

 

[Nedcrane]

We did the shim trick to an eight inch and it worked really well for several weekends,until the bearing caps broke.The ring gear put an inch deep dent in the housing.It was all junk yard stuff and we were having fun without spending money we didn't have.I wouldn't do it again,though.That was over twenty years ago when my time wasn't an issue...

 

[camachinist]

Spool gives you a locked differential....only good for drag racing at the track IMO...