How a differential works..

[DaOld Man]

[Malenko]

interesting, shame they dont cover a 1 way, 1.5 way, and 2 way Limited Slip Differentials

[danny_galaga]

interesting, shame they dont cover a 1 way, 1.5 way, and 2 way Limited Slip Differentials

Let's not get ahead of ourselves!

 That was a great little clip. Good one, OldMan. God knows why you would want to skip to 1:50 though. Those stunt cyclists are amazing (",)

[Fordman]

I have made thousands upon thousands of transmission differentials at FoMoCo and never really paid much attention as to why they are made and what they are for! Now that I have watched this video, I feel like a total brainless idiot for not paying attention to what I was building or why I was building them!

Thanks for the education!

 

Fordman

[SavannahLion]

Interesting, but I'm too drunk to get past 6:00. Too much pirate alcohol I gues.

This is just to remind me in the morning.

[protokatie]

WOW! That makes total sense! I had a very very rough idea as to how they worked, but that peg demo really gave me an epiphany!

Nice one!

[TOK]

Thanks, I could watch this kind of stuff all day... Look, not even any warnings saying "THESE ARE PROFESSIONAL STUNTMEN IN CONTROLLED CONDITIONS, DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME".  

This video also shows without highlighting the bad side of this type of differential... When you get stuck, its always the wheel with no traction that spins! DOH!

[danny_galaga]

This video also shows without highlighting the bad side of this type of differential... When you get stuck, its always the wheel with no traction that spins! DOH!

Actually, i think it was showing a '1 wheel drive' car getting stuck. I could be wrong, but i'm too lazy to go back and look 

[protokatie]

This video also shows without highlighting the bad side of this type of differential... When you get stuck, its always the wheel with no traction that spins! DOH!

Actually, i think it was showing a '1 wheel drive' car getting stuck. I could be wrong, but i'm too lazy to go back and look 

The above person is right and so are you. A one-wheel-drive car has the dis-advantage that if the drive wheel has no traction, then the car does not move. ALSO in the case of a PASSIVE (IE the one in the vid) differential the wheel that is more apt to move may (in the case of ice or slick mud) be the only wheel to move. So for the type of differential that they showed; if one wheel was on ice and one wheel was on tarmac then the wheel on ice would spin but the one on tarmac would not (for non-UK/Eire's that would be pavement) spin.

It basically breaks down to this: With the type of differential they show in the video (which is still the most common type) you will only have as much traction as the tyre(tire) that has the least grip.

Here in the US, us motorheads (in the UK/Eire also known as people who have too much money to spend on a project car) tend for positrak or a differential that can be LOCKED. ( Too bad I sold my Ford Prefect Ranger 4WD. It was the REAL kind of 4WD, with locking hubs, and a true locked differential (4WD Low))


Never again will I get a truck like that for 400 bucks... :<

[TOK]

Actually, i think it was showing a '1 wheel drive' car getting stuck. I could be wrong, but i'm too lazy to go back and look 

Protokatie nailed it... I wasn't referring to the one wheel drive non-differential car.
In an open differential like the spoke demo they showed, the wheel in the mud/ice will be the one that spins if the other side has good traction.

That same thing that allows it to turn without binding means you're going to be shoving a board under a tire in the mud even if the other side is on pavement. 

[danny_galaga]

Actually, i think it was showing a '1 wheel drive' car getting stuck. I could be wrong, but i'm too lazy to go back and look  

Protokatie nailed it... I wasn't referring to the one wheel drive non-differential car.
In an open differential like the spoke demo they showed, the wheel in the mud/ice will be the one that spins if the other side has good traction.

That same thing that allows it to turn without binding means you're going to be shoving a board under a tire in the mud even if the other side is on pavement.  

I was thinking of the point at 2:45. They clearly say this is a '1 wheel drive'. And you can see it doesn't have your classic 'banjo' style of diff. I can't find the other thing you are referring to  

Limited slip diffs were popular here for the rev heads. Gives nice, even two wheel burn outs  

Edit: If i wasn't so attached to my user name, I'd change it to Jam Handy 

INSIDE WHEEL. OUTSIDE WHEEL. INSIDE WHEEL. OUTSIDE WHEEL...

[danny_galaga]

Oh, just realised what you mean now TOK. I thought you meant they ACTUALLY showed a car stuck in the mud! I already knew how diffs worked so i didn't see anything new so to speak. But i love how they explained it. Really well put together, building up a 'picture' like that with the single spoke in the axle etc.

Jam Handy.