17 replies to this topic

[Zalan]

Anyone else fitted a Quaife ATB differential?
How do you find it? 
With mine, you need the arms of a wrestler to steer round corners under acceleration !

[Dusky]

Anyone else fitted a Quaife ATB differential?
How do you find it? 
With mine, you need the arms of a wrestler to steer round corners under acceleration !

Thats the point with LSD's im affraid.

[coopdog]

With LSD they keep both wheels spinning which means when your going round a corner the wheels are both spinning at a similar speed trying to straighten the car out,

Same as if you had a bindind brake, if it was binding on the left it would pull to the left.

So it's either hit the gym and get bigger arms or take it out

[mini13]

an LSD will higlight any suspension issues, so you may want to go over the suspension setup, especially corner weights, and anything that might be flexing.

 

the Quaife is one of the more drivalble LSD's, the plate diff's cab be a lot more grabby, and the JKD cam and Pawl diff is apparently truely horrendus in a mini.

 

what is your set up? wide wheel's? 

[AndyR]

I found with 13x7's and 140bhp acceleration the car is VERY lively under acceleration, especially if coming out of a corner.  Going down to 10s has helped loads.  It makes for fun driving though.  Hone your throttle control.

[mini13]

to elaberate, with my quaife I started with about 150hp and 13x7's and it was dreadful,

 

13x7's have a very large offset at -7mm, I swaped to 13x6's with about +16mm offset and also changed the brake setup to use mini flanges rather than metro turbo ones, which mad another 4mm difference. the end result was equivalent to removing a 27mm wheels spacer... this eased the situation massively by reducing the scrub radius so the wheels had less leverage against the steering.

 

on top if this I softened the suspension a bit, and also added metro steering arms ( am on metro hubs but lets not get into that subject....)

 

in then end I was pushing somthing near 200hp through the front wheels, dont get me wrong it was still lively, it will be as with that amount of power your going to be flexing subframes,arms and the shell, but was managable

[Zalan]

My Moke has 1380 engine with fuel injection, upgraded cam,1.5 rockers, lightened flywheel, large bore manifold  etc. It must put out well over 100 hp.

The wheels are 14" standard dish, but spaced out about 1.5" each side. 

The steering geometry is correct.

There is a 14" steering wheel.

Final drive ratio 3.44:1

I have the diff out and dismantled. It is in perfect condition and set up with Belleville washers correctly.

I fitted the Quaife to do some auto cross but that is unthinkable as in a left or right corner, the diff locks up under power (which has nothing at all to do with suspension geometry). And as the steering effort increases, there comes a point when the inside wheel skips and the car goes all over the place.

It is not something that one can get used to unless perhaps one drove it every day for a couple of hours - on a track!

Imagine you are stopped at a cross road and going to turn right. Under decent acceleration, you could not keep the car in the turn with one hand on the steering wheel (while you change into second). What fun is that?

.

PS Please: only respond if you have experience driving a Quaife.

Edited by Zalan, 27 October 2014 - 07:18 PM.

[Ivor Badger]

The real point is what the car is being used for. To get the best from an lsd effectively requires a car setup that is incompatible with road or even rally use.

Edited by Ivor Badger, 25 October 2014 - 06:01 PM.

[Earwax]

any closed diff on really tight low speed turns will struggle and keep stepping you out of the corner  and probably not do the diff too good either... on top of that add probably a typical moke final drive of 4.1 plus  and that motor is going to want to light up those tyres anyway..and if slippery grass etc even more so.... so i am with ivor... possibly not the best match for a lsd.

[Cooperman]

I have driven a lot of Minis with both Quaife & Salisbury LSD's over the years and I have to say that I have never really felt comfortable with any of them.

They are really only good for some forms of competition on tarmac tracks, but certainly not for use on rallies or normal public roads.

I recall a conversation with a former British rally Champion who is a good friend of mine and he did the RAC Rally a few years ago in a late Cooper with a Quaife. He reckoned it cost him over 15 minutes extra penalty as it became undriveable on certain loose surfaces and would terminally understeer if the power was taken off at entry to or going through a corner.

I drove an ex-works car on test with a tightly set Salisbury and I had to use two hands all the time and around a roundabout it was so heavy even two hands found it difficult.

In my view it ruins the Mini as a classic fun road car.

[Guess-Works.com]

The quote which comes back to me and I relay onto people buying ATB's off me...

 

You will need to learn how to drive again, as it will react totally differently to an open diff, or in fact a plated LSD.

[Zalan]

Let's put it this way: Why would anyone install a Quaife? Drag racing? That's all it's good for.

[nicklouse]

Let's put it this way: Why would anyone install a Quaife? Drag racing? That's all it's good for.

Nope you want a locking diff for that.

[nicklouse]

and the JKD cam and Pawl diff is apparently truely horrendus in a mini.
 

No quite fine really.

[Tupers]

Circuit and Drag racing or driving so fast on the road that you should have your licience taken away.

From what I've seen of auto cross I'd imagine its a bit too twisty for an LSD or ATB in a front wheel drive car.