I always love your explanations but I have a question about the limited slip on the front. Doesn't both the front and the rear wheel inside wheel turn at a different rate than the outside, that aspect is not different, right? I know the BMW R75 WWII sidecar rig didn't have limited slip on the rear sidecar wheel so you couldn't really use the 2 wheel drive aspect of the R75 except for those times you are stuck and throw the clutch lever to engage it. There are stories on the BMW forums of GI hopping on one and not realizing they had to disengage the sidecare clutch or it pushed you straight in the curves no matter how much you turned the front wheels because there was no limited slip, it was locked.
Yes - but....... I'd sure not do if it I expected to use 4H on the road........ because then you don't have the disconnect between the front wheels any longer and steering on a slick surface wouldn't happen. Gross under-steer.
Yes - but - the rears are forced into it because the fronts supposedly have traction, and weight, and the TooT (Toe out on Turns) helps keep the fronts in control as long as they can turn independently.
As long as you avoid the auto-locker, it's 100% safe and it's going to help in more situations than it will hurt. There are so many LSD-equipped FWD and AWD out there that have a Torsen or Trac-Lok style front that don't have issues and with an e-locker or air locker, you choose when it's on so you shouldn't notice it there either unless you turn it on.
I used to like 4 wheel and front wheel drive when I live up north as you could actually accelerate out of a drift or slide to some extent -the front wheels would pull you out of it.
Honestly I'm very curious how a Torsen would act on these trucks because the BLD should in theory provide the necessary braking to get it to engage when you have no traction. I'd almost want to go that way just to try it out given I'm not doing the insane in this truck. I would love the idea of having it always there and ready without any real risk of electrical/air failure that can come with other lockers.
My thinking is though with the Torsen AND FAD, you have one side acting like it's on ice at all times - or am I wrong?
In the sense of the one wheel, yes, and the Torsen would not be able to do anything because there's no way to brake the inner shaft that's connected to the carrier. Even with the FAD engaged, I believe Torsen is like an auto-locker that it requires input torque from the pinion before it can engage as designed - otherwise it just acts like an open diff.
Take my money!!
I have had one vehicle with a Torsen-type rear axle, an 06 Ram 2500 with the Cummins 5.9 with 610 lb-ft of torque (and an auto transmission in that truck). BLD in my Gladiator is the best BLD of any vehicle that I have driven yet, but from what I have observed so far, BLD still has to perceive and react to slip, to bring the slip back under control, before BLD comes into play. My experience with the Torsen-type axle in that Ram CTD was extraordinary. One time I had to park/pull off on a roadside with the one set of wheels on the gravel road and the others in slimy soaked grass, heavily sloped away from the road, in really mucky soil. With the diesel torque I expected drama and wheelspin galore, and expected to have to put it in 4wd, but decided to try it in 2wd, and with light throttle it just walked on out with astonishing lack of drama and zero wheelspin. Similarly, that rig could go up a relative's uphill winding unplowed driveway in 5-6" of snow in 2wd with just rugged all weather tread tires, no 4wd. Truly astonishing. I hardly ever put that Ram CTD in 4wd and I live in a place where I need to use 4wd fairly often, in every other vehicle before and since, during winter. What I like about the Torsen is that it is just "handling things" at a threshold that I think is earlier and more subtle than BLD, which to me gives a feeling of confidence on the road in bad weather, where you may be on and off of different patches of road with widely varying traction.
