viscous tranfer - should i steer clear or?

[RRV80]

throught the midst of RR i have been looking at lately, i have come across that a few dont have the viscous transfers, most do, and have heard some people say dont go near them and so, on, is there anything i should look out for transfer wise when looking at one, the car will be predominatly and off roader as my current one is and i tend to give it hell so will the viscous type stand up to it. i am looking at 88-94 classics with coil spings or converted to coils, all zf autos. some 3.5's some 3.9's

Just to give you an idea of the hard time i give them, last night i broke and engine mount, crushed the y-pipe and tore the downpipe out of the botttom of the headers and there is now a crack in the header on the rh side.

[p38arover]

The general consensus seems to be to ditch the viscous if doing any real 4WDing.

Ron (with viscous)

[mcrover]

dont get one with a viscous as my Jeep has one and it cost $1600 for a second hand unit.
And they are crap and unreliable.

Isnt it just the P38 up that has the viscous?

[aclo]

I thought ( though I am usually wrong..) that the viscous came in from 89' onwards?? Anyone got the correct timeline - I'd be interested.

[p38arover]

I thought ( though I am usually wrong..) that the viscous came in from 89' onwards?? Anyone got the correct timeline - I'd be interested.


That's about right.

Ron

[rovercare]

throught the midst of RR i have been looking at lately, i have come across that a few dont have the viscous transfers, most do, and have heard some people say dont go near them and so, on, is there anything i should look out for transfer wise when looking at one, the car will be predominatly and off roader as my current one is and i tend to give it hell so will the viscous type stand up to it. i am looking at 88-94 classics with coil spings or converted to coils, all zf autos. some 3.5's some 3.9's

Just to give you an idea of the hard time i give them, last night i broke and engine mount, crushed the y-pipe and tore the downpipe out of the botttom of the headers and there is now a crack in the header on the rh side.

How hard you drive?? or how little maintenance you do:p

[pilbaradisco]

There's use and there's abuse! I had a 1990 RRC for 7 years with no problems. Got better traction crawling up rocky hills then my D2a does now with CDL and TC.

Glen.

[amtravic1]

I have an 89 Rangie with the viscous transfer case. The vehicle has done close to 500.000 kms and the transfer case works perfectly. It is quiet and does all it should both on road and in the bush. Plenty will say get rid of it but my experience has been very positive.

Ian

[Blknight.aus]

if its in there and its working leave well enough alone but when it lets go depending on your views of how well it worked replace it with a locking center diff unit if you didnt like it or another new one if you did.

IMHO tho they're kind of like automatic transmissions............ nuff said.

[dungarover]

I'm anti-Viscous Coupling so I always say **** it off and fit an LT230 transfer :D . Cheap, plentiful and a real center diff lock. Get the later ones with the cross-drilled input gear so you aliviate the wear issues on the output shaft (auto ones are easy to chage, manuals are a bit more serious). Outlay is about $1500 if DIY, probably a bit more if you have one fitted.

The Viscous I had in my 93 Rangie lasted to about 270K of hard off-road abuse by me and the previous owner from what I gather, then seized as they do (the only time it bloody worked properly I reckon :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: ). Put an LT230 unit in and the off-road performance was a noticable improvment.

Trav

[Bradtot]

89 was when they came in my 89 has done 345k is quiet and smooth and it works a treat, I love it as there is no whine with the auto is great, I even bought a second hand one to replace mine when it does go bang, whenever that will be!
Brad:)

[RRV80]

hmmm i dont think maintenace has anything to do with tree stups yanking on y-pipes;)

how do the viscous ones work, are thye a bit like a tourqe converter and locks itself when it feels it needs to (wether it actually does or not)

I could always swap the LT230 out of the 84" into it and sell the 84 with a viscous in it? but is it worth the effort? the one i kinda have my heart set on is a 92 vouge SE with 245xxxkms on it

But by the sounds of it it works for some people, i guess its like EAS, some dont some do.