After pulling out of work fast and lighting them up a little bit yesterday, I noticed the car driving a little bit differently. Oddly enough, it felt like only one tire was really spinning.

I jacked up my rear end and spun one wheel this morning. The other wheel wouldn't move unless I spun the wheel a few times. The car was in neutral at the time. I just got home from work and tried it again (except in 1st), and spinning one wheel immediately causes the other wheel to spin the opposite direction.

Did my limited slip die? On these cars both wheels should turn the same direction when one is spun, correct? What specifically fails in this situation, and how easy is it to fix (and how much $$?). Also, would this possibly lead to the eventual death of my rear end, or is it unlikely to specifically trigger its demise?

Thanks.

 

With the trans in neutral, turning one wheel could turn the driveshaft instead of the other wheel. I don't think that's anything to be concerned about.

When you spin one wheel, the other should spin in the opposite direction. This is true for anything other than a spool or a locker (when locked). The function of the limited slip will not affect you at the speeds you can generate by hand.

Go do a burnout. If you leave two tire tracks, your diff is probably fine. If you leave only one track, or if one is significantly darker than the other, something might be wrong.

 

Boy, that's good to know. I thought LSD was always supposed to have both wheels turn the same direction? I know my third-gen IROC was that way.

 

You're totally sure?

If that's true, a previous owner must have put in a spool, or at least welded up the diff so that it essentially became a spool.

 

Do a burnout and see if you're still leaving 2 marks or only one and depending on the type of lsd the clutches or cones burn out in those, the torsens usuall break teeth off of the worm gears or break the spider gears.

 

if you do have a posi then both wheels should spin the same direction. What you need to do is jack it up put it in first then let it drive. Both wheels should spin. I think you have a auburn style posi unit which is cone type (that wear out and cause a one legger) it's happening to me now, ever so often. One thing to remember is if your turning and light them up thats where the LSD comes in only one wheels will spin most of the time.

 

That's misleading. See my previous posts.

 

I understand that you said that the only way to get both to go the same direction was a locker or welded spiders, But I know how my stock posi is and the spin the same direction. Actually when it was A4 if it was in park I couldn't turn either wheel it was locked. I also had my posi unit out and installed 3.73's and saw no weld or locker.

 

If you have a Torsen LSD the wheels will spin in opposite directions. If you have an Auburn LSD the wheels will spin in the same direction. It doesn't take a spool or welded spiders for the wheels to turn in the same direction. The clutch type LSDs lock the axels together using spring pressure. The clutch slips enough for the wheels to turn at different speeds going around corners. The later model Z28s came with the Torsen though I belive you could order a different one on the SS.