cprepared125

well after finally getting my autocross car all put together i drove it and found out if you turn the wheels any more than a 1/4 turn the car just plows straight. first i thought it was alignment. set the toe at 0*. still has same problem. then got to looking at the rear end (dana 44 factory clutch type limited slip) and no matter how hard you hold the one tire they are both locked together. even if one is on the ground you cannot budge the other. Is this normal? never had this problem with the same rear end in a different car last season. any ideas?

Stephen

iTrader: (12)

If you have both tires in the air & the tranny in Neutral.....When you rotate one tire by hand, do the other side rotate in the same direction, or opposite?

big gear head

Either the clutches are shimmed extremely tight or something is wrong with the differential. It is possible that the pinion gears are welded to the cross shaft. If this is the case then it will be locked solid like a spool. This happens when the clutches are worn and someone does a long water burnout and one wheel stops spinning. The pinion gears spin very fast on the shaft and it eventually welds itself solid. Have you looked inside the rear end to be sure that it doesn't have a spool or mini spool in it?

cprepared125

both tires rotate in the same direction and no it's not a spool i've had this rear end for quite some time and i'm pretty sure before you could spin one tire by hand with the tranny in gear until it caught and locked up. i have pulled the cover in the past it is a clutch type. It's not a drag car so the only time it really breaks loose is at speed on the autocross course never strret driven either

big gear head

I'd take the differential out and disassemble it for inspection. Seems like something has gone wrong. I've seen these Dana differentials break the ears off of the clutch discs and bind up. This could be what has happened to yours.

cprepared125

i've never had a clutch type differential apart only gear type lockers and open diffs so i was just checking to see if anyone knew what i should be looking for

big gear head

The Dana LSD doesn't have visible springs in the center like the Eaton does. It has spring plates in the clutch pack. The clutches have to be compressed to install the pinion gears. Remove the cover and see if you can find any metal parts in the bottom of the housing. Look at the differential and see if there are any visible signs that the ears are broken off. Remove the cross shaft if you can and look for signs of galding. You might have to remove the differential to get a better look at it.