Torsen diffs

[ross_jsy]

So what's the score with Torsen diffs? Was looking into fitting some extra plates to my LSD but seen torsens mentioned a few times. Obviously they have the advantage of not relying on clutches which wear out but what are they like? What sort of lock % do they achieve and what are the lock characteristics like?

Thanks

Ross

[Ianb]

I fitted one on my m50'd cab and wasn't keen on it at all. It seemed like it was an LSD untill one wheel lost all grip then it behaved like an open. i definately preffered the clutched slipper.

[Brianmoooore]

It seemed like it was an LSD untill one wheel lost all grip then it behaved like an open.

That's exactly what they do. They have a "torque bias ratio" which defines how the maximum ratio that the available torque is divided between the two rear wheels.
A TBR of 3 means that the wheel with the best grip gets a maximum of three times the torque applied to it than the one with the lesser grip.
If the wheel with the lesser grip has ZERO grip for some reason, such as being in the air, then 3 X 0 = 0, so the other wheel with the greater grip gets zero torque as well, just like an open diff.

[HairyScreech]

As above, but you can preload them to over come this.

To be fair you should never fully lose grip on one wheel unless its in the air, if your losing drive with the wheels still on the ground and one wheel spinning then either your tyres are too slippy to activate the diff (unlikely) or your diff was using the wrong oil, had a very low maximum bias ratio or was just plain hosed.