Thread: Land Rover Diffs

Back on the topic of diffs., is there any tendency to 'steer on', ie. vehicle wants to go in a straight line as opposed to where the front wheels are pointing, with the front True-trac ? Is the turning circle noticeably increased ?
One of the issues I worried about, needlessly as it turned out, before putting Powr-Lok LSD's in the Oka was potential steering on issues. The difference with the Oka though is that there's 1.5 ton (minimum) on the front axle (Dana 60) which tends to help settle pointing in the right direction issues. Rear axle is Dana 70.
As it turned out no problems at all, one of the best 'set and forget' mods I've done. Progressive take up/release no harsh Detroit Locker type action, none of the pain of air lockers, a minimum of fuss and works a treat.
But I reckon the turning circle has increased, I haven't measured it, it's just a feeling. With the lighter Landy is there a greater tendency to steer on ?
If it sounds like I'm a bit paranoid about 'steering on' it's because I am. Happened to me many years ago in my old SIIA (with open diffs ) coming down from Aberfeldy to Walhalla (very steep drop off). Fortunately I hit a tree.

Thanks Deano

I'm not familiar with the Powr-lok, but a true-track is a torsen diff which won't drive a vehicle straight ahead. The detroit lockers are a ratchet type which definitely can.

When I put a Truetrac in the rear it made absolutely no difference on road.
Infact I wasn't sure it was even working until got off road with my axles crossed up into a position where I would normally lose traction.


When I put the front one it I could feel something different immediately, the steering felt a lot tighter but in a good way, like there is no slop anymore & the steering is a lot more posetive. The steering won't pull straight unless you want to go straight, it just goes where I point it. Even If you change power going around a corner on the road its a little quirky but no big deal , there is no big oversteer / understeer effect.

The truetracs have no effect on the turning circle, I've got my stops screwed all the way in & uturn is unchanged.

But if you don't keep the tyre pressures even on the front you will notice it pull to the side with the leak, which is great, I never noticed I had a low tyre before until it got down to about 20psi , now I know straight away .

And off road it has completely transformed the 110 to another level !!

Originally Posted by Dougal

I'm not familiar with the Powr-lok, but a true-track is a torsen diff which won't drive a vehicle straight ahead. The detroit lockers are a ratchet type which definitely can.

Power-lok is a Detroit locker, have you driven rovers with detroits or torsen style lsd?

Originally Posted by Dougal

We get a lot in the mountainbike world people who like to boast about how much stuff they break. They seem to think it's a badge of honour or a mark of how hard they ride. But it always comes down to riders who are rough, abuse their equipment or just can't set it up for their own use.
There are some serious downsides to Nissan diffs too. Like losing several inches of ground clearance. Fit bigger tyres to get that back and your whole rig is now 6 inches taller. What used to be a 40 deg rollover angle is probably now 30.

4wding isn't much different. Some people can break anything, others break nothing.

It's possible to blow a diff in a grassy paddock. Some lads I know have blown valiant diffs in supermarket carparks.

Suffice to say, the image everyone else gets isn't the image they think they portray.

That's called human nature, everyone believes they are doing the right thing. But as you say there is the conservative, stay within sensible bounds typeand the push it till it breaks, just remember if all of us stayed within sensible bounds of either ability or mechanical strength, progress would be slowed, weakness would be seldom found and it would all be boring

Is suggest blowing a diff in a grassy paddock would be close to impossible, I certainly never managed in the paddock bombs I had....unless it was a rover diff

Who wants to portray an image? I'm to much of a *insert 4 little word of choice* to bother about an image

Back on the topic of diffs., is there any tendency to 'steer on', ie. vehicle wants to go in a straight line as opposed to where the front wheels are pointing, with the front True-trac ? Is the turning circle noticeably increased ?

I have a Quaife in the front of my RRC and a Maxi in the back.
I used to notice a very slight tendency to resist the initial turn on curves, but since my new steering box, this is reduced to virtually nothing. AFAIK there is no increase in turning circle on hard or soft surfaces.

Now with the Maxi engaged things are different.
Regards Philip A

As far as diffs go I'm not a fan or Nissan or salsbury diffs simply because of thier size,yes they are strong but going from rover diffed series vehicles to a sals defender I found it a PITA.I used to 4wd around Appin and Wedderburn south of Sydney were it's all sandstone and the amount of times my sals got caught were's my mates in series/RRC's etc didn't was supprising,my Tdi sits on 255/85/16 tyres were's my TDCi sits on 235/85/16's and the P38 diff still has 20mm more clearance than the sals even though it's running the smaller tyre.My choice out of them all would be a rover/P38 diff with a hypoid center with a CW&P/axles/CV's made to Ashcroft spec. Pat

Just for clarification the Quaife diff is a Torsen diff ( for Torque Sensing)
the same as a Truetrac
Brands of Truetrac are depending on market Eaton / Detroit / Tractech - NOT to be confused with the Detroit Locker or SoftLocker which are completely different.

A good spiel on the Qualfe here
Differentials - Quaife Engineering

Also be aware Front & Rear diffs are different - you have to specify what you want as the helical spiral gears are opposite cut.