Discussion on how to tell if its open or not

[TurboDuane]

When I was a young boy just getting started with cars, we could tell if the diff was a limited slip or not by lifting the rear-end and sniffing the butt of the car ( ops started to go off into fantasy world). We would lift one of the rear wheels, leaving the other wheel down and the car in gear, then try to spin the raised wheel. If it would spin then it was an open diff, if it was hard to spin or wouldn't spin then it has some sort of limited slip.

Have things changed or can you still verify this way? Even with it out of the car by turning an axle while holding the d/s and other axle still. Granted it would be much more difficult when it came in like Samms, especially if you didn't have the shafts to put into the sides of the diff.

[tailchaser]

It's real easy to identify the Miata diffs with the axles out...


Torsen




Not Torsen (may be clutch, but definitely not Torsen)