Make a true limited slip differential

[neurokinetik]

Tried this last night, and it works!

Since the differential units on these cars are completely enclosed, it is very easy to disassemble them and fill them up with grease to stop them from rotating as freely. Yes, that is correct. Use grease to stop things from moving as freely, rather than making them move more freely. What I did was load up one of the diffs with as much grease (from the AWD kit, I couldn't find my tube of bicycle grease that I really wanted to use) as it can hold. If you add enough, the diff will act as though it is "welded", and will hardly slip at all. By using more or less grease, and possibly changing the type of grease used, it is possible to vary the amount of slip that the differential allows. This seems to be a better alternative than the ball diff, which seems to have a clutch-type action no matter how much I tighten it.

[TypeZer0]

huh, interesting, didn't think of that. i tried the same thing with the ball diff last nite and it slipped less. i used the grease from teh awd kit.

[crazydave]

Used to do that in my 1/10th scale Traxxas Stampede. It is definately a tried and proven method for tuning gear diffs.

Try different thicknesses of grease. ;)
I've found 'Green Slime' works great. Most LHSs with RCs carry it.

I just wanted to add that while this slows the differential effect, it is not 'true' limited slip. A true limited slip ball diff actually allows little bit of slip, this prevents torque from breaking traction.

[mbartell]

The grease in the diff works great!
But if you don't want any differential action at all, like for straight line drag, lock it up.

Take apart your stock gear diff, and pack silly putty in around the gears inside. just use a little bit, and screw it back together. Your diff shouldn't move.
You remember playing with silly putty, right? it bounces and reacts to any hard impact with a lot of resistance, but flows or stretches when you pull it slowly. This is why it works in the diff well to jam the gears up.
The silly putty keeps it all in one place, and if you want to go back to normal, it cleans up a lot easier than glue or epoxy.

[GhettoFiedRacin]

wuts the point of a limmited slip diff.... does it increase speed?

[crazydave]

Originally posted by GhettoFiedRacin
wuts the point of a limmited slip diff.... does it increase speed? No, if anything it might kill off the line acceleration. It makes your car more controllable with really fast motors, because it helps eliminate wheel spin.

Packing the gear diff with grease doesn't make it limited slip, what it does do is, when you making a hard turn, and one wheel lifts, it will unload, and put no power to the other wheel. Packing the diff helps transfer the power to the other wheel, so the lifting wheel doesn't unload as bad. I was just playing today, and decided that this is a 'must do' if your gonna use the stock diff.

[Hairball]

I did the same thing to my differential... but I used chewing gum, so it works better and smells minty fresh!

[spinitsidewayz!]

try making a "paper" clutch type lsd:)

http://www.tinyrc.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17285

[LithiumXmod]

nice, i will try this later.