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Our Rear Differential Weaknesses

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Old 08-05-2004, 04:10 PM
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Thumbs up Our Rear Differential Weaknesses

I'm aware that our diffs are really sensitive or whatever. I'm afraid to go all crazy with my car, cause don't know how much beating the diff can handle. But what exacly breaks in the diff? The housing? The bolts holding the diff, ring or pinion? Our lsd's use clutch right? Even the kaaz use clutch? How about the cusco? Trying to make my rear end hold atleast 500 hp with no problems.
What ever info you guys can help with, spill it on this topic
Thx
Old 08-05-2004, 05:41 PM
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Virtually anything that can break on the S2000 differential has. Split cases, pushing the ring gear out the back, stripping the pinion gears, breaking ring gears, etc.

Ths S2000 does not have a clutch unit in the rearend. It is a Torsen differential that uses gears.
Old 08-05-2004, 05:54 PM
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I've never launched my S and never will for the fear of our weak diff will break. The older lady who owned my S I'm sure never drag raced either
Old 08-05-2004, 06:06 PM
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I always use to lauch before I knew about this site.... Ignorance was bliss.
Old 08-06-2004, 09:44 AM
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I still really haven't lunched my car yet, but the urges are growing. Or I have to see if I can fit a supra or rx7 diff on my car.
Old 08-06-2004, 09:53 AM
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interesting...I've launched probably...75-100 times (anywhere from 5000 revs to about 8000 revs) and still don't have any problems. (knocks on wood) Maybe cause the clutch is so weak???
Old 08-06-2004, 10:11 AM
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Originally Posted by dre107,Aug 6 2004, 09:53 AM
interesting...I've launched probably...75-100 times (anywhere from 5000 revs to about 8000 revs) and still don't have any problems. (knocks on wood) Maybe cause the clutch is so weak???
how many times have you replaced the clutch? i'd rather the clutch go then something else in the drivetrain
Old 08-06-2004, 10:25 AM
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Originally Posted by dre107,Aug 6 2004, 11:53 AM
Maybe cause the clutch is so weak???
Maybe 'cause you know how to launch? We have diffs that are most suseptible to improper launches and poor maintenance. If you are guilty of one, you better not be guilty of the other.
Old 08-06-2004, 10:28 AM
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I just launched my car for the first time the other night. I've read all about the diff's from this site, and was fully aware that the rear ends are one of the weak links of this car. That being the case, if you're ever launching, you need to get torque to the wheels ASAP... this takes the pressure off of the clutch and diff and puts all of the engine's torque directly to the tires to let them deal with the resistance with the road. What you don't want to happen is have the tires stick, then all the torque sits on the differential, most likely damaging or even breaking it completely.

That said, I revved up to about 7300-7500 RPM's (max torque in our cars is 7500 RPM) just to make sure the tires would break loose. I dumped the clutch, and sure enough they broke loose, and the tires howled. And then I took off faster than a madman... so much different for this car since you usually have to wait for 6k to pick up speed.

There's an analogy I like to use when thinking about how high to rev when you want to break the tires loose as opposed to breaking the differential. If you were going to try and break a board karate-style with your own bare hand, are you going to only go at it half-assed, or are you going to punch through with more than enough force? Of course, you don't want your hand to be crushed when it hits the board (like the diff. breaking if you don't rev it enough, like below VTEC), you want to push through it with more than enough power (revving up at least beyond VTEC engagement).
Old 08-06-2004, 10:33 AM
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Originally Posted by xviper,Aug 6 2004, 10:25 AM
We have diffs that are most suseptible to improper launches and poor maintenance.
How often should the diff. fluid be changed? And what other maint. can be done to help sustain it's life? Thanks.


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