Would it be possible to get live rear axles/permanent locked diffs as an option to help limit wheelspin? It would likely be available from the start and hurt drivability similar to how the automatic locker does in exchange for less wheelspin to help with acceleration for high powered cars, mostly for classic cars and muscle cars.
Permanent locked diff is pretty much no diff, is there any production car with no diff at the rear?
A live axle is a powered solid axle at the rear, which is already in the game or is my definition of a live axle wrong?
Ok so I guess I must have been confused from remembering a top gear episode where they reviewed a mustang saying it had a live rear axle which pretty much meant it didnt have a diff. Looking at it now it does seem you are right with a live axle just being a driven solid axle. I would still be interested in seeing an option that was a permanently locked axle although Im not sure if they have ever been put in a production car (other than the legends racing car) it is used as a cheap alternative to an LSD in racing.
That would make the car entirely useless for normal driving. Any curves would destroy the tires because of the different path lengths of the wheels. A locked rear diff can only be used on asphalt if you drive in a straight line (i.e. it works fine for drag racing).
The only other application of permanent locked diffs - also known as welded diffs - that i can think of is drift cars, where destroying tires is the daily business.
Live axle is already in game, is just a depedent suspension set up, the one you still find in trucks…
I think you might be confusing what a diff is or what it does…The diff allow the powering wheels to turn, if you permanent lock the differential, the car won’t turn, and as Asdren said it will be like having no diff at all.
The only application where you might use that is for drag racing, or in a situation where you don’t have to turn or to drive on pavement.
Locked diffs can also be found on some oval cars, where they compensate for that lack of differential by using larger diameter tires on the right (as they are always turning left)
The autolocker which IIRC is a differential that locks the diff when under power, is currently available in 1950. Considering that the starting date will be around 1945-1946 (I forgot the exact year), it should be possible to use it from the start using techpool, or something amongst those lines.
This would make sense considering the well known Detroit Locker was patented in 1941.
I know how a diff works as well as some knowledge on how they can effect car handling, we have both ball and gear style differentials in our rc cars, I was just thinking of having this as a way to decrease wheelspin in cars before we get the automatic locker but with what trackpaduser said I would just need to use extra quality so I could get that earlier.
I am trying to differentiate the difference of terms of what is being used to describe a non slip rear. In the very early days of the automobile (1910s 20s and earlier) most if not all cars had a locked rear due to low cost and ease of manufacture. It wasn’t until cars started racing at decent speeds that they realized they needed to split the speed of the tires independently to allow it to turn. That created the standard rear end we all know. That was fine until the early mid 50s when high horsepower, street racing, nascar, and drag racing became popular. They realized that under higher horsepower applications the power transfers to the tire with lower traction. that puts all power to that tire and lowers grip, and acceleration. Thus came the famous LSD or posi. GM lines started offering posi diffs in every line from 1957-1959. Several brands offered posi earlier and some later, but a general rule of thumb in the US posi should be available from the start, but at a higher cost until 1955 when they reached widespread use. Am I missing something with this description?