Offroad-Express

My partner has asked me to find her a car ( she's a german student @ Uni ), she would like a 4x4 , but wants a cheap little car at the same time . I once saw a stock Suzuki drive across "birdlings flat" ( Canterbury ) with all those pebbles everywhere & suprised me it got thru ,could see the action of the LSd's while it was slowly driving thru .

Wondering what models came stock with LSD's , what years , etc ?

The ones with the Goldwin badges do ..... thats pre Grand Vitara of course...Graeme has one up here and I'm amazed where his one gets to

Some SJ 413's had them and so do some Vit's - very rare so good luck finding one and I hope you do . A Zuk with open diff's will get across Birdlings flat without too much difficulty - weight ( lack of ) is a big help in the loose gravel

When I discovered I had an LSD in my Escudo , I asked the same question.
I was told that there was no specific model that had them, it really was pot luck.
Mine is in a Goldwin (93) but my brothers Goldwin (95) does not have one.

One was advertised on Trademe recently (I think there was an earlier thread on ORE )

Good luck in your search.

graemec wrote:When I discovered I had an LSD in my Escudo , I asked the same question.
I was told that there was no specific model that had them, it really was pot luck.
Mine is in a Goldwin (93) but my brothers Goldwin (95) does not have one.

One was advertised on Trademe recently (I think there was an earlier thread on ORE )

Good luck in your search.

We have a 91 5 door with both front and rear LSD's .. Ive done a bit of enquiring about it with friends in the know, apparently as far as we can tell with the imports at least the Escudo's all had open diffs unless optioned by the buyer, so the only way of really being sure is to test the zook before buying, before upgrading to the far more capable Daihatsu Feroza I had a 98 V6 Vitara with open diffs front and rear, couldnt even come close to matching the Mrs's One with the LSD's Even now the only advantage I have over her is 3 inches more ground clearance.

When I was looking to replace the V6 I must have taken at least 13 other Zooks for a drive, 4, 5 doors, 5, 3 doors, a Helly Hansen model and a couple of Goldwins ...... none had LSD's in them (except maybe for the Helly Hansen one, But I think the LSD was shagged as it spun both rear wheels on grass but failed the 50/50 metal/tarmac test)

You're right. LSDs were only an option and not standard fit on any model in our market (or Japan, to my knowledge).

can i be a bit of a newbe and ask wat is an lsd and what does it do?

LSD means Limited Slip Differential.

An LSD is basically a plain old open diff, with the only difference being the addition of a spring loaded clutch pack that increases the amount of torque required to make the diff start to differentiate (allow one wheel to spin and the other to stand still).

With an open diff if both wheels are getting equal traction, then both wheels are driving and the torque is split 50/50. We all know what happens if the tractin is not even, one wheel spins and the other stays still.

An LSD is the same as that, except that when one wheel spins and the other stays still, a very very small amount of torque is transmitted to the wheel that is standing still, and may just be enough to get you moving again. More often that not, its not even close to enough. They are a really just designed for icey roads overseas.

For example, if you had one rear wheel on the grass on the side of the road and the other rear wheel on the tar seal and you droped the clutch, the wheel on the grass would spin and the wheel on the tarseal would stay still as the difference in traction is enough to over come the clutch packs in the LSD. The LSD will be transfering a small amount of torque to the wheel on the tarseal, but thats all.

A common misconception is that they lock up. An LSD does not lock the diff up, only a diff lock does that.

For example, if you had one rear wheel on the grass on the side of the road and the other rear wheel on the tar seal and you droped the clutch, the wheel on the grass would spin and the wheel on the tarseal would stay still as the difference in traction is enough to over come the clutch packs in the LSD. The LSD will be transfering a small amount of torque to the wheel on the tarseal, but thats all.

Just to confuse matters even more.......................
depends on how worn your clutches are i think
When doing the tar seal test my feroza will leave rubber on the tar seal (for about 6 inches hey it's only a 1600 after all) and a strip of thrown up stones in 2wd,

The Mrs Escudo in 4wd will do the same front and rear (NOT recomended tho .. did it on the test drive before we bought it)

when the clutches in a LSD get worn then they act more and more like open diffs, I read somewhere (might have been in the Daihatsu specs) that LSD need thier clutches replaced every 80 000km or so to maintain peak grip, most LSD's NEVER get anything remotely classed as a service in thier life, and there is a possiblity that your "open diff'ed" zuk or diahatfoot may have a LSD with worn clutches.

just my 02 cents worth .......

Kinda, but not really man.

If you tried to do a burn out on tarseal with an open diff, chances are you would get both wheels spinning together as they are getting equal traction, or one would spin as its got less traction than the other wheel, in the case of the latter, LSD's are not even close to being able to force both wheels to spin in those conditions.

The one and only way to check for an LSD is to jack both wheels on the same axle off the ground and spin one wheel, if both wheels spin in the same direction, then you have an LSD, if the other wheel turns in the opposite direction or stands still you have an open diff. You simply can't tell from skiding the wheels, as it is all reletive to the amount of traction the wheels are getting.

DieselBoy wrote:
The one and only way to check for an LSD is to jack both wheels on the same axle off the ground and spin one wheel, if both wheels spin in the same direction, then you have an LSD, if the other wheel turns in the opposite direction or stands still you have an open diff. You simply can't tell from skiding the wheels, as it is all reletive to the amount of traction the wheels are getting.

Yep done that test on the Feroza

and Yep front and rear on the Zuk

all I know is my wifes escudo can match it with the big boys in our local club with thier flash locka's .... Untill she runs out of ground clearance that is