Two easy newbie questions

Tire Shredder

New Member
Sep 15, 2005
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Oshawa
Koenigturbo;1388970 said:
What's a Trans brake, how does it work?
Also,
What's an "open" differential?

Trans brake - an electrically operated solenoid (aftermarket) that engages first and reverse gear at the same time in an automatic transmission. The hydraulic pressure resists each other (locking the output shaft of the transmission) and allows you to extract all of the stall RPM out of the torque converter. The result is increasing the engine RPMs closer to the torque peak so when you disengage the brake, the car takes off like a bat out of hell. This does no good if you don't have a traction surplus off the line though...but it can help with consistency.

Open differential is a differential that is not equipped with a limited slip center section or locker of some kind. This means that each wheel is capable of rotating at a different speed than the other (so cars can go around corners smoothly). The downside is that when one wheel loses traction (can support less torque) all the power will travel through that wheel. LSDs allow to do this too except at a specific wheel speed difference or torque difference between the wheel, will cause a mechanism to be actuated and attempt to even out the torque transferred to each wheel.

effectively,
Open - one wheel peels
limited slip - two black strips
 

KeithH

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Mar 31, 2005
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Portland, OR
Everything I know about differentials I learned from My Cousin Vinny

Mona Lisa Vito: It's a limited slip differential which distributes power equally to both the right and left tires. The '64 Skylark had a regular differential, which, anyone who's been stuck in the mud in Alabama knows, you step on the gas, one tire spins, the other tire does nothing.

That and laughing at the FWD crowd when they try to do a burnout at the drags and only one wheel spins. HAHAHAHAHAHA! What's the point guys!