How to tell if you have an LSD?

jonosx · Postby **jonosx** » Wed Sep 22, 2010 3:04 pm

Whats the best way to tell if you have a torsen lsd?

The NB8A i have bought supposedly has one but i am not convinced.

My previous 200sx had a very aggressive 1.5 way mechanical lsd so it may just be a case of me being used to that and the torsen not being that good.

cheers

Jeo · Postby **Jeo** » Wed Sep 22, 2010 3:09 pm

Jack the rear end off the ground. Put it in neutral. Spin one of the wheels by hand. If the other spins the opposite direction you have a winner.

sliq · Postby **sliq** » Wed Sep 22, 2010 3:56 pm

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=373913

RawSouth · Postby **RawSouth** » Wed Sep 22, 2010 4:07 pm

The best way I've heard is...

Stop your car with one of your rear wheels on a slippery surface (such as dirt on the side of the road)...
Agressive start.
If only the wheel thats NOT on the road spins... you don't have an LSD.

If both spin, you do have one!

Im not sure if Jeo's method would work with a torsen, as they act like an open diff when there is no load on it.

GP · Postby GP » Wed Sep 22, 2010 4:51 pm

Im not sure if Jeo's method would work with a torsen, as they act like an open diff when there is no load on it.

Yep, An open diff will spin the opposite way. Mechanical LSD will spin the same way. Torsen I don't know

Regie · Postby **Regie** » Wed Sep 22, 2010 4:52 pm

Jeo wrote:Jack the rear end off the ground. Put it in neutral. Spin one of the wheels by hand. If the other spins the opposite direction you have a winner.

wont work with TorSen... you need load on both wheels to get them to lock up..

pcmx5 · Postby **pcmx5** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 5:33 pm

Go down to a local winery with immaculate lawns, great food. entertainment and park as directed on the lawn nose first on a reasonable slope.

Enjoy the food, wine and entertainment while sitting around an open fire listening to the rain pour down.

Get in your car and gently select reverse.If you leave two bloody big grooves in the lawn it proves the LSD is in good order.Did for me!!

Peter.

Jeo · Postby **Jeo** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 5:36 pm

Learn something every day hey.

Damn old Honda days...

Luke · Postby **Luke** » Fri Sep 24, 2010 12:23 pm

I'll just confirm the using the jacking up method with a torsen does not work. It does act like an open centre with no load on it.

Find the best way to try a torsen diff is some nice accelaration tests in the wet as you go over the white lines at traffic lights.
If you don't want to do that I also found this sort of works.
When you accelarate at full steering lock say in a car park both left and right rear wheels chirp randomly as power gets moved left and right trying to find grip. At least mine does.
Or you can just get a driveway like mine, forces my torsen to operate every time due to the silly slopes on it.

broady · Postby **broady** » Fri Sep 24, 2010 2:07 pm

As others say, rip some skids.

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Sun Sep 26, 2010 2:36 pm

http://individual.utoronto.ca/stehlik/torsen.html

Sort of off topic, but I was quite confused with just how a Torsen could work, this site seemed to explain fairly well, I'm sure it leaves out a lot of the bits related to cars specifically, but it helped me know the rough concept of how they work.

Lego rocks, it's taught me so much over the years!