ok. i purchased a factory vLSD from another iclub member and just recently purchased an r160 from someone on craigslist - he said it was from a 97 outback sport.

i am no rear diff expert at all... but, i'm curious if both have vLSD... they look VERY similar.


rear view of r160


rear view of vLSD


passenger side view of r160


passenger side view of vLSD

can anyone else shed some light on this?

thanks!

 

someone has to have some idea... :/

 

well, i did some research on my own. so, my question has been answered.

 

maybe you can share your answer with the rest of the forum so that someone else searching will find it?

 

on the top most photo, you have the giant gear (ring gear). that has no effect on whether its LSD or not (that impacts the gear ratio). the small gears inside determine whether its LSD or not. the fact that you can see the pinion and side gears (the pinion are the ones connected by the shaft - the side gears actually house the the axles when they're connected), denotes that is is MOST LIKELY an Open Diff.

in the bottom most picture, looking at the hazy flat rectangle, that is the shaft that connects the pinion gears. being that its just a shaft, and not a series of discs or anything else, also denotes that its an Open Diff.

most LSDs that i've seen photos of, you cannot see the pinion or side gears at all, as they're encased within the LSD housing.

so, either pull out the passenger side axle and look for the straight shaft or remove the rear cover plate. if you see the setup as in the photos above, you have an Open Diff.

this is a Torsen LSD.


this is a Kaaz LSD.


obviously, quite a bit different.

sorry i didnt answer earlier. i was a bit pissed that no one else could lend any assistance with this, which seems like such a simple thing.