Patrick Bitton wrote:
>
> Hi,
> Can someone tell me what does limited slip differential means? And
> what is the difference in types.
It's sort of halfway between a normal diff and a locker.
Picture a car in the air on a stand so the
wheels can spin. The car is idling in first
so the wheels are spinning slowly.
In a normal car, you can grab one wheel in your
hand, and hold it. The other wheel will now turn
twice as fast, and the torque exerted on your
hands isn't much.
With a locker, both wheels turn at the same
speed no matter what. You can't stop the wheel
with your hands unless you can stall the
engine. Obviously lockers are for racing, since
they hop and chatter around corners where
the wheels travel different lengths.
A limited slip allows some slipping, but
will still apply torque to both wheels. The
car won't chatter so badly on corners, but
also won't sit on the starting line with
one wheel spinning away and no motion.
That's the goal really, with a normal differential
if one wheel loses traction then it spins and
you lose the ability to put power to the ground. With
a locker or a limited-slip, the other wheel will
still apply forward power.
--
Trevor Boicey
Ottawa, Canada
tboicey@brit.ca
http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/
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