Locked rear diff on 2wd Maxx - Any Problems?

[olds97_lss]

Hey all,

I just built a sport maxx, well sort of. Anyway, I have a 2 wheel drive maxx and had a real ball with it today. I noticed that I lost traction all the time when turning. One tire would raise up and spin. It would also happen when I hit the brakes. So, tonight, I took the diff out and cleaned it thoroughly with soap and water, dried it, put all the gears in, and filled the cup with jb-weld to lock it up.

I'm running an OS 15 cv-r(x) on a 2wd maxx with plastic slider axles. I'm trying to stick to mostly stock to keep cost down. I have RPM all around for arms, stock shock towers, aluminum bulks, steel skid on the front, alum on center, OFNA 125cc fuel tank. Looking into getting another set of rc-solutions skids, but they will have to wait.

Anywho... what is bad about running a locked rear diff? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[bigboystoysguy]

running a locked rear diff will hurt your turning radius significantly, unless your sliding around the corner it will also put a little more stress on your axels, so maybe some cvds would be in your best interest.

bbtg

 

[olds97_lss]

Originally posted by bigboystoysguy
running a locked rear diff will hurt your turning radius significantly

I guess I'll have to see how bad this part of it is. I have 3 stock diffs sitting in a parts bin that I can put on if need be, so I don't really care one way or the other. I just got mildly annoyed at the unloading of the diff on every turn I had. Also when hitting the brakes.

 

[bigboystoysguy]

since you have three laying around try three other things! for example look here www.badhorsie.com look at the fith product down, its diff locking grease it alows some movement for better turning radius but it wont unload like there is only water in your diff.

bbtg

 

[olds97_lss]

I used heavy duty synthetic axle grease and it still unloads. That stuff must be really sticky as well as thick.

I might give it a shot if I don't like the permanently locked diff.

Any idea how long the badhorsie stuff lasts before it turns into a watery type of goo? I can only imagine that over time it looses it's potency.

 

[bigboystoysguy]

I'm not sure on that one. I've personaly never used the stuff but it was recomended to me when i asked about heavier diff fluids. it probaly as all things do, loose its potency but it would also probaly last a long while till it did die out.

 

[30%NitroBoy]

Hey guys,

Olds - Bigboys is right on the money about running a locked diff via a Diff "spool" or something similar. Just like on a 1:1 your tires will hop and shim when cornering and overall turning and race handling will suffer significantly.

As for the BadHorsie diff lock grease...it's funny Bigboys mentioned that as I run it on my Maxx diffs front and rear. I've had over two gallon throgh the diffs and it still works like new. THe chit is so thick you have to use a knife or fork to get it out...lol. It's still not going to give you the performance of a "locker spool" but I get substantially increased traction on and offroad. So now I have LSD's!

 

[olds97_lss]

Well, I just took it out for half a tank to see how it would do. It turned just fine. This was on blacktop. I don't do much driving on anything but grass or dirt, but it seemed to hook up fine. I did loosen my slipper up about 1/8th of a turn more than normal to allow for a little more slip.

It seemed to work really well. Except when I was on the trigger a lot and turning. It was picking the front off the ground

Thanks for the input though. If I start having some serious issues with it, I'll try the badhorsie stuff.