[culver]

Originally Posted by Alastor

That video was awesome in that they actually built the differential and showed the purpouse of each mechanize. They definitely need one for an LSD.

On a modern open differential is it still common practice to connector the drive shaft to one of the half shafts? Or is the power sent to the differential itself and then split through the gears?

I ask because in my two RWD vehicles if I break the rear end loose while traveling straight they always want to rotate the same direction. So they are very easy to rotate counter-clockwise but it is a lot more work to go clockwise. If that is still common practice it would explain this behavior.

On a modern car (basically any time after the dif was invented) power always goes to the dif then to the two wheels.

The easiest way to think about how a LSD works is imagine a brake that tries to keep the left and right wheel spinning at the same speed. It makes it harder but not impossible for the wheels to spin separately. Basically all passive LSD's work that way. The difference is how they control the "brake". Some simple kinds are the spring loaded clutch pack which really is just a brake that tries to keep the two rear wheels spinning at the same speeds.

The viscous system in really simple terms (really really simple) is like having to paddle wheels in the same water. When the wheels spin at the same speed the paddles don't have to do anything. When they go at different speeds the paddles start to work against each other. Again, the system tries to make the wheels spin at the same speed.

Difs like the Torsen are more complex but ultimately they again try to apply the brakes between the two wheels.