air locking diffs

[mat 91]

i just had an idea i know its not a cheap one
but coming from a 4x4 background (i grew up around them)
we used a air lockers in the front and rear diffs and they worked great
flick of a switch diff locked solid you dont even ahve to stop
and for all that dont know its basilly
open all the time but put some compressed air into it
it locks up solid just cant think why no one uses them
i know they arent made but it does seem a better way than a lsd or welding
yes you would have to use a small air compressor system or an air tank that you pump up from another source
they dont use a lot of air at all just a bit of extra weight in car not much thou seems to me its the best of both worlds
making one would be a custom job but lsd are £500 easy if you could get one for the 300 series
im going to have a ring around tomorrow see what if any one could make one or modifie one
just i want to get your take on the ideas
and for your time a flying escort

[monka]

what exactly in the diff is different? i'm guessing, being that it is just compressed air, that something gets moved in the gears and locks them in place like being welded?

if ya could find something/someone to do that. and with what you said about not much air being needed. would i be correct in saying you could use a central locking air pump? commonly found on '90's german saloon cars

[mat 91]

just fount this site its got a good amanited pic shows you how they work
and explains it in good detail
hope that helps
http://www.offroaders.com/tech/arb-air-locker.htm

[Chris_C]

You'd need to modify the internals as well as the diff casing, where as with a slipper you have less work (just!)

Plus for the cost and time surely a slipper is much better, a locker is always a comprimise

[mat 91]

a locker is always a comprimise

how do you think its a comprimsie
as 1 sec its open next its locked 100% from flick of a switch
personaly i think its better than a lsd on paper anyway
yes its bit more complacted but not a lot realy

[Chris_C]

As I'm not a drifter, my car goes rallying when I can afford it. The problem I have on fast road or rallys is I lift the inside wheel on a corner, or get one in the mud, so I need to be able to put power down to both wheels whilst still being able to have them moving independently.

If I was using it for drag, it'd be a different story and tbh I really have no idea for drifting, apart from on track I've found it to be a heck of a lot quicker to enter a corner with more pace than I'm comfortable with and drift the open rather than go slower and spin up the inside wheel. I've heard rumour, and it kinda makes sense to me that a slipper would reduce this speed to I could get optimum cornering rather than going over the top and loosing pace by being sideways.

[mat 91]

Chris_C
i cant get one your tring to say
im on about the diff not suspension
think thats what your saying

[magnumpi]

What Chris is saying is as the car leans into say a right hand corner, the OSR wheel gets "loose" as the weight isn't pressing down so much therefore aollwing the diff to spin the wheel up. But it's not really productive for fast/rally driving thats why lsd's are used.

On a side note just watch A 4X4 is Born on Quest, and he fitted an airlocker to his Range Rover diff. Pretty clever how it works and more than likey ideal for off roaders but maybe get a bit tedious having to switch it on every roundabout you come to

[mat 91]

i seee what you mean now
and you raised a good point about having to switch it all time
but i think i could live with that as your not surposed to be drifting at round abouts lol

[Joe]

i think its a amzing idea but you could just weld it and suffer with scrubbing lol

[mat 91]

i have welded mine and the srubbing and clonking is doing my head in
and it cant be good for the rest of the drive chain
im just thinking of other opotions

[OapEM]

Interesting idea Mat.

+1 on the welded ones being a PITA!

It sometimes feels and sounds as though the car is shaking itself to pieces!

[mat 91]

just spent a hr on this been looking throu the interweb
and most air locking diffs have a removable crown wheel
can you see were im going here
im thinking if i can get the crown wheel off cutting what ever as ive not looked at my
spare diff yet so dont know weather it unolts
but if i can cut it off and get it machined and spaced to fit on the airlocker to bolt on
then job done i wish it was that easy half shafts would have to be made to fit the splines on the airlocker
or see if ARB could make the splines same as volvo
but ive got a plan for my car which dont involve the standard diff or much in that way
so it would be a waste of time and money to convert one for me
but i think you could do it to any diff as long as the air locker fits inside the casing
but i think its possible just how much cash it would take is shocking
pricing so far
air locker £500 new second hand dunno ????
standard volvo diff say £40
then all the machine time it would need ??????
that is what i dont know because it would have to be cnc jobby
i would do it my self my i realy dont have the funs for a cnc machine (you might of guessed that bit)
as usaul all boils down to cost
any ideas people

[Chris_C]

Arn't custom quaife's arount the £600 mark? Been a long time since I looked into it though.

[Ronnie]

Yes, I believe a custom quaife LSD is about 600 bucks. I think the Fogster looked into it once. They're very well made and built from unbreakatainium. I think they want you to order at least 10 of them though. It's a fair price really. Their standard units usually come in at about that price.

You just need to get enough people together who want to go for it. Maybe a case of an international group buy?