Ok since the last drags I was at the rear end wheels are locked 1:1. When I make tight turns you can feel the car jumping a bit, since the outside radius wheel should be turning quicker than the inside radius wheel. Mine turn 1:1 and the car feels like a 4wd when you make a tight turn on pavement in 4wd. It kinda torques up and then hops to relieve the torque. In a straight line or even highway driving you can't tell a bit of difference. But tight slow turns are annoying.

I know I am stressing about every component in the driveline with 1.52 60' times.

Here is what I did thus far. First I thought maybe it just needed more limitied slip additive. so i drained a little out of the rear all of which was perfectly clear, only about 1500 miles on the lub, and put another bottle of GM limited slip additive in it. This actually made it feel worse! I drove it for about 50 miles hoping it would loosen things up, but still no dice.

I called Corky last night, as he just had his all apart and rebuilt his, so seeing it first hand helps visualize what could be causing the problem. He thinks its just something gauled up, like one of the bearings that is not releasing the clutches. He suggested I totally drain the fluid and replace it with Mobil 1 gear lub and some new additive.

I completely drained the rear, and filled it with ~2 pints of mobil1 and some new additive. The roads were a little wet, so I couldn't tell if it helped some, which I think it did, or if because the roads were a little wet it was just not hopping/binding as much.

Along with the 1:1 locking my car makes all sorts of "clicking" while making the slow turns as well.

Just a little more information. When I have the car up on the lift, I can put it in neutral and pin the wheels feel as can be. There are no harsh messing feeling, nothing. That is in both forward and backward directions.

Has anyone else ever experienced any of this?

Corky seems to think that its just something that will eventually fix itself. He said to put the modil1 + additive in it, then this weekend HIT it hard with the slick on at the track. He said something will pop loose! LOL Hopefully not ring "popping" through the differential housing. LOL

One last question. And maybe I am mistaken. But I thought before this happen, as its not something that you do often, that if you held the back wheels one person on each wheel. You could hold one wheel and spin the other, fairly easy. Now you can't even budge them. But to my surprise, Dad had his vette up on a lift and his is the same way! Now I swear it was either corkys car or mine that you could spin the back wheels pretty easy.

Maybe I am loosing my marbles or the fumes have finally gotten to me. But can someone else verify that yu can also do that or is this normal. I am leaning, after having tried it on Dad's vette that you can't spin them like I thought.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks :cheers:


[Modified by ski_dwn_it, 9:13 AM 7/24/2003]

 

[Quote]
One last question. And maybe I am mistaken. But I thought before this happen, as its not something that you do often, that if you held the back wheels one person on each wheel. You could hold one wheel and spin the other, fairly easy. Now you can't even budge them. But to my surprise, Dad had his vette up on a lift and his is the same way! Now I swear it was either corkys car or mine that you could spin the back wheels pretty easy.

Maybe I am loosing my marbles or the fumes have finally gotten to me. But can someone else verify that yu can also do that or is this normal. I am leaning, after having tried it on Dad's vette that you can't spin them like I thought.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks
[Quote]

When i did my bearing i tried to turn the wheel to get at the torx bolts but couldn't.
:cheers:

 

Was the transmission in P or N?

Because when you have it in P, it doesnt let the car roll, so only on a steep incline/decline would you even have to use the parking brake. Of course, i'm not a tranny guru, so maybe i'm missin somthin

 

Vader,

The car was in neutral. Nothing at all wrong with the tranny. Knock on wood :smash:

 

"Just a little more information. When I have the car up on the lift, I can put it in neutral and pin the wheels feel as can be. There are no harsh messing feeling, nothing. That is in both forward and backward directions."

When you do this, do the wheels turn opposite of each other or in the same direction? They should freewheel in opposite directions

 

Quote: Corky seems to think that its just something that will eventually fix itself.

Don't take this the wrong way Ski, you know more about these cars than I probably ever will, but after reading this statement: :lolg:

Let's face it: you guys are putting A LOT of power through that stock diff. Something's gotta give. Once you fix the diff the weak link will travel somewhere else, probably further down the line. I hope I'm wrong, but none of my cars have ever fixed themselves. :nonod:

 

Don't know if it applies to your situation or not, but I had the EXACT same symptoms in a Trans Am I had. It was the positraction hanging up in the rear end and it was resolved by putting the additive in. If I remember correctly it took a while for the problem to free itself once the additive was added.

 

They turn the same way, but so did Dads on his stock vette :confused: Now his 67 chevelle turn the oppose way. must be a different type of posi unit?

 

Loiq,

Well i can't say that I disagree with you. I think what Corky ment was that a piece of grit or maybe the one bearing as a spur on it that is causing things to hang up. Once that spur either breaks off or rubs away, probably with the next few hard launches, When things are hammered together, that it will free itself up.

Maybe as the last post indicates from the other gentleman. It may just take some time for the lube to work through the system.

And lastly. You mean you never saw the movie "Christine". Dude that car could do it, why can't mine.

Hell if it did that I would probably be about 10 grand richer over the last year. LOL. :D :jester :thumbs:

 

Jesse,

Was this Dana 44 rebuilt before you installed it ?

Do you know the history of it ?

Vic

 

Not sure what year your Dad's Vette is. Mine's an 84 with the 3.08 gear and its completely stock. Never touched it. I believe all limited slip diffs will freewheel in opposite directions. If it doesn't, it suggests that the diff is locked up and may be the issue brought up in a previous reply.

 

I hope he's right, fixing that diff wouldn't be fun. Keep changing that fluid. Keep in mind you've made a lot of track passes and dyno runs on an old diff, though.

FWIW, with the limited slip in my old mopar (8 3/4 rear) you could turn one of the wheels while the other was held in place but it was REAL hard. With that rear when you turned one side both sides turned that same way. That was alos a clutch-pack type limited slip, so :confused:

Good luck, man. Your posts are some of the most informative on the site. Keep it up. I'm sure when you figure this out we'll all learn something. :seeya

 

Wheels will only turn in opposite directions on an open differential. Posi's trun the same way. A weak posi will allow you to hold one wheel and turn the other. A normal posi will allow the same with a lot of effort. A tight posi will not. It sounds like you either have locked or extremely tight clutches (which my be a good thing in your case. Or you might have damaged a spider gear which has the posi locked.....

My car will sort of act like yours depending on the road surface. On a clean road it will turn smoothly, so i assume the posi is doing it's thing and letting the wheels turn at different rates. However, on a dirty or wet road, it will sort drag one tire.

You might try wetting one tire and doing a burnout an see if one wheel spins. If it does, i wouldn't worry about it.

Good luck

 

Jesse, as far as I know the Dana 44 takes 4.3 pints (2.15 quarts).

 

Ralph,

Which wheel should spin with regards to the wet tire trick. The dry one right?

I will try this tonight.

Last night I did a pretty good burnout on the dealerships asphal parking lot, the pavement was kinda wet, and both tires went up in smoke instantly. No banging or clanking what so ever. Dad shood outside to see if he might be able to detect any weird noises. Nothing was heard. Burt holes right in the asphalt :eek: Oooooppps!

The rear is dead quite on the road. You made me feel better when you said your is like that in tight turns on a loose surface.

Scorp. I put two of those large Gear lube (mobil 1) containers in the rear. plus a new thing of additive. I filled it till it poured out the hole, so its filled, maybe even more than it should be since the car was tipped up in the front. I fugure a little more isn't going to hurt anything.

I will be putting the slicks on it tonight. Getting it ready for E-Town this weekend. I will do a few hard launches in the parking lot and see if everything feels ok. Then take it out there and give her hell! If it breaks it needed fixed anyways. :D :smash:

Not sure what the history of the rear was before I bought it. I got it from contemporary corvettes, and with my luck it probably came out of a car like mine to begin with. Drag freak, power maniac, abusing it for years. :rofl:

I Corky said if the clips were broken it would have probably let loose by now. I have probably put about 200 miles on it since it started the locking problem. But only maybe 50 since I added the first bottle of slip additive. And only about 4 miles with the new mobil 1. Time will tell., If it holds up this weekend. I am going to assume its OK, and will probably just change the lube a few more times to see if I can flush it free.

If anyone has seen this before let me know. I am feeling better about the whole situation. Especially since dads vette, with only 20k miles on it does the same thing. That car is about as new as an 85 could get.

Guess we will see. Keep the comments coming. I can't be the only person on here to have this problem. :) :skep: :cheers:

Ralph, real nice sig picture! Wish my tires would smoke like that!

 

Ok good, those are like 1.05 quart containers. :) I got nervous when you said pints.

 

I got confused I thought I was back in Ireland talking beers. Sorry. :jester

 

Jesse, the wet tire should spin before the dry tire. Dont hammer the burnout, just sorta ease into it. The dry tire should have better traction, so the wet tire should spin first. If/when that happens, listen for noises coming from the rear. When one tire is spinning, more than the other or when making turns, your spider gears are turning and your clutches are slipping. Where as when you are going striaght, they are not.

 

If its friction plates of the posi unit stuck together, I've read that you can drive in tight circles (each direction) to work the additive into the plates.
I had to do it once on a 70, popped like mad during the process but it did work.
good luck, RJ

 

The D44s in the 86 and 90 freewheel in the same direction. I thought this was a trait of all posi rears.

Also, if one wheel is on the ground (or stopped in some way) the other will turn, but with great effort. This is on both the abused 40k mile 86 and the 123k mile 90.

The 90 will slip the outer wheel on dirt roads and sandy pavement in a slow turn also. I dunno about the 86 since we haven't been able to drive it for months.

Food for thought.

Dale