**The Evolution of Differential Technology: Understanding Limited Slip Differentials and Torsion Differentials**

When it comes to vehicle transmission, few components are as crucial as the differential. A differential is a mechanical device that transmits torque from the engine to the wheels, allowing vehicles to turn and change direction smoothly. Over the years, different types of differentials have been developed to improve traction, stability, and performance. In this article, we will explore two advanced types of differentials: Limited Slip Differentials and Torsion Differentials.

**Limited Slip Differentials**

A Limited Slip Differential (LSD) is a type of differential that allows the wheels to turn at different speeds without locking to each other completely. This feature enables vehicles to maximize traction, especially when cornering or accelerating on uneven terrain. Unlike an open differential, which locks the wheels together when one wheel loses traction, an LSD limits the amount of torque sent to the spinning wheel, preventing it from losing traction altogether.

The limited slip differential is commonly used in high-performance vehicles, such as sports cars, drag racers, and all-wheel drive vehicles. Its electronic control system can adjust the torque distribution between the wheels in real-time, ensuring that power is delivered to the wheel with the most traction. This technology helps prevent tire wear, reduces axle shaft stress, and improves overall driving dynamics.

However, limited slip differentials are not without their disadvantages. When one wheel loses traction, the LSD reduces power sent to the slipping wheel, but it's still not receiving full power. Additionally, drivers may need to adjust to a new driving experience when switching from one vehicle with an LSD to another, as each type of differential operates slightly differently.

**Torsion Differentials**

A Torsion Differential is a type of differential that produces the same effect as a limited slip differential without the need for clutches or fluid resistance. Invented by American Vernon Gleasman in 1949, this design combines an open differential with a layer of worm gearing to provide the necessary torque transmission.

The Torsion Differential operates based on a simple principle: the rotating worm gear can turn the wheel, but a rotating wheel cannot spin the worm gear. When driving straight, the worm wheels turn the worm gears, allowing both drive wheels to rotate at the same speed. However, when cornering or turning, the outer wheels need to travel a longer distance than the inner wheels, resulting in faster rotation and increased traction.

In this scenario, the Torsion Differential engages the worm gear of the left axle for the faster outer wheel, causing it to spin on its own axis while the right wheel spins in the opposite direction. The meshing spur gears at the end of the worm wheel ensure that both wheels turn at the same speed. When a wheel loses traction and starts spinning excessively, the Torsion Differential changes the speed from the worm wheel of the slipping wheel to the worm wheel of the wheel with traction, locking the mechanism instantly.

**Types of Differentials**

Today, there are several types of differentials available, each serving specific purposes or designed for particular applications. Some common types include:

* **Front and Rear Wheel Drive (FWD/RWD) Differentials**: These differentials are used in front-wheel drive vehicles, where the differential is located between the front wheels.

* **All-Wheel Drive (AWD) Differentials**: These differentials are used in all-wheel drive vehicles, which can send power to both the front and rear wheels.

* **Transfer Case Differentials**: This type of differential is used in four-wheel drive vehicles, where the transfer case connects the front and rear axles.

In addition to these common types, there are several specialized differentials designed for specific applications or performance enhancements. For example, some high-performance vehicles feature electronically controlled limited slip differentials that can adjust torque distribution in real-time.

**Conclusion**

Differential technology has come a long way since its inception, with various advancements and innovations aimed at improving traction, stability, and performance. From Limited Slip Differentials to Torsion Differentials, each type of differential offers unique benefits and applications. By understanding the principles and designs behind these advanced differentials, vehicle owners can better appreciate the technology that powers their vehicles and enjoy a more engaging driving experience.

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"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enno matter how fancy a car is on the outside if it lacked a differential then it's just a cart without horses for a whole lot of money literally today i'll tell you about the differential what it is why we need it and how it works let's say you're turning the corner we'll call the wheels closest to the curb the inner wheels and we'll call the wheels farthest from the curb the outer wheels so when you're cornering the outer wheels need to travel a longer distance than the inner wheels they can do that only if they spin faster and spin more than the inner wheels do that's where the differential comes in the main purpose of a differential is to allow the drive wheels to turn at different rpms while receiving power from the engine that's why the mechanism is called a differential because it comes in latin root word differentia which means difference to appreciate the differential you have to understand what life was like before they had differentials so imagine a cart or carriage it has four wheels that are rigidly fixed on two axles and the front axle is rotatable as long as it's moving straight each pair of wheels rotate at the same speed and there are no problems what happens when the horse turns right since the wheels are fixed on the axles when the front axle turns to the right the left outer wheels must travel a greater distance than the right inner wheels this means that the inner wheels must slipped to accomplish the turn if the inner wheel were to encounter an obstacle then it could get stuck and break so you can see why the earliest carts and carriages were bumpy and unstable but now let's imagine the same carter carriage but this time imagine the wheels aren't fixed to the axle instead the left and right wheels can rotate independently on its own axle and at different speeds now when you're cornering the slip will decrease now imagine applying this principle in a car the story goes that the conventional car differential was invented almost 200 years ago in 1827 a french mechanical engineer named onisiphore picour patented the modern day differential gear actually he was working as a watchmaker and he wanted his cogs to move at different rates and that's what inspired him to invent the modern day differential gear it was first used in steam driven automobiles and ultimately became a well-known mechanism when internal combustion engines appeared at the end of the 19th century there are three main types of differentials the oldest and most widely used is the open differential it's also the most common because it's inexpensive simple and lightweight it's also the most reliable and it requires little maintenance so how does an open differential work power gets transferred from the engine to the drive shaft at the end of the drive shaft is the pinion gear which drives the ring gear the ring gear is connected to a spider gear which can rotate along the ring gear and each on its own exit the spider gears are meshed with two side gear that's how power flows from the pinion to the left and right wheels when you're driving straight the spider gears aren't active it's totally passive they just ride on the ring gear so that's why both side gear and therefore the left and right axles turn at the same speed in other words both left and right drive wheels rotate at the same rpm pretty straight forward but let's turn the car to the right now the spider gears become active and they spin on their own axes the ring gear drives both axes in a forward rotation the spider causes the left axle for the outer wheel to rotate faster and the right axle for the inner wheel to rotate slower and that's generally how a differential work the open differential has a downside remember it allows the wheels to spin at different speeds to help in cornering but it also allows excessive wheel spin when one wheel loses traction this tricks the system into sending too much torque to the slipping wheel so you can see that's not good a locking differential is an open differential that can be locked in place when needed to create a fixed axle when it's locked it forces both drive wheels to rotate at the same exact speed regardless of traction needs you can see this advantage of the locking differential when one of the wheels slip the locking differential will send torque to both wheels equally and the wheel with traction will move the car the differential is locked when the satellite gears stop rotating on their axes and continue to rotate synchronously with the driven gear we can see this on the inter wheel and center differentials either automatic or manual manually operated locking differential is performed using a cam clutch which provides a rigid connector of the differential housing to one of the axle shafts clutch is driven by mechanical electrical hydraulic or pneumatic drive directly by the driver and when a difficult to pass section is passed on or in our case when the wheel that was on ice or in midair get a grip on the surface then the driver can disable the feature then we have the differential which can automatically activate and deactivate based on driving conditions and that's the self-locking or automatic locking differential cars that offer the option for a locking differential include toyota tacoma and jeep wrangler and mercedes-benz g-class suvs the downside to the locking differential is that they don't operate as smoothly as standard differentials and therefore can increase the wear on your tires some older ones are known for making a clicking or banging noise as the mechanism locks and unlocks during the turn also automatic locking differentials can affect the car's ability to steer especially if the locker is located in the front axle and can provide under steering then so there's the limited slip differential or lsd the limited slip differential gives you better off-road traction than an open differential that's because it allows the wheels to turn at different speeds without locking to each other completely but also limit the amount of torque sent to the spinning wheel so the result is you maximize torque to the wheel with the most traction you'll actually see limited slip differentials on sports cars drag racers and all-wheel drive vehicles many high performance cars feature this type of differential for example the bmw m3 ford mustang chevy camaro dodge challenger and subaru wrx since lsd reduces power from the slipping wheel and gives more power to the other wheels with traction this helps prevent tire wear also it wears down your axle shaft less since the system gives them the ability to rotate at various speeds and therefore puts less stress and pressure during turns limited slip differentials cost more than standard open differentials but they aren't too costly but as with all things no system is perfect limited slip differentials have its share of disadvantages for example we've learned by now that when the wheel slips the lsd reduces power for the slipping wheel but actually there's still some small amount going to the slipping wheel so while you're getting more power to the wheel of traction nevertheless it isn't receiving full power but less than a hundred percent another thing to know is if you're used to driving a car with one kind of limited slip differential driving won't be the same when you drive another car with another type of limited slip differential that's because lsds aren't all the same in all cars but rather there are electronically controlled variations of lsds available now let's look at portion differential which is a type of limited slip differential it has an origin and a dual drive differential that was invented and patented by an american vernon gleasman around 1949. currently there are three types of torsion differentials the t1 the t2 and guess what the t3 the t1 is an original equipment in the audi quattro subaru impreza wrx sti here to mega cruiser and am general hmm wv humvee torsion comes from combining the words torqued and sensing it produces the same effect as a limited slip differential but without the need for clutches or fluid resistance its setup is like an open differential but then you have a layer of worm gearing what's a worm gear basically it's a gear that's spiral in the form of a screw the set of worm gears provide the needed resistance to transmit torque needed it operates based on a simple principle of worm gear worm wheel meaning the rotating worm gear can turn the wheel but a rotating wheel cannot spin the worm gear it only works one way the torsion differential has a housing that's tightly coupled to the driven gear inside the body there are a set of worm gears to which the axle shafts of the right and left wheels are attached each end of a worm gear has a spur gear when you're driving straight the worm wheels turn the worm gears so both drive wheels rotate at the same speed let's return to the earlier scenario when you're making a right turn you'll recall the outer wheels need to travel a longer distance than the inner wheels in the same amount of time so the outer wheels need to rotate faster than the inner wheels and the inner wheels need to slow down with the torsion differential the warm gear of the left axle for the faster outer wheel makes the worm wheel spin on its own axis meanwhile the right axle for the slower inner wheel and therefore the right worm wheel turn in the opposite direction the meshing spur gears at the end of the worm wheel ensure that the warm wheels spin at the same speed well what about the scenario where one wheel slips and loses traction remember the slipping wheel starts spinning excessively drawing most of the engine power and the car can get stuck with the torsion differential the speed gets changed from the worm wheel of the slipping wheel to the worm wheel of the wheel with traction since they're connected to spur gears but remember the worm wheel cannot turn the worm gear this is what locks the mechanism instantly so now both left and right wheels turn together and allows a large amount of torque to transfer to the wheel that has more traction if you have a four wheel drive your differential is front and back while the rear wheel drive car is a differential in back you have a front wheel drive your differential sits between the front wheels it's called a trans axle because the functional combination of the front axle and transmission and if you have an all-wheel drive then your differential is between both the front and rear wheels with the transfer case in between them today we looked at a few types of differentials there are even more types available and some of them are variations or derivatives that evolve from the main types but they all share a similar concept in transmitting the engine's torque to the wheels if you enjoyed this video please subscribe to my channel for more technology and history videos thank you youno matter how fancy a car is on the outside if it lacked a differential then it's just a cart without horses for a whole lot of money literally today i'll tell you about the differential what it is why we need it and how it works let's say you're turning the corner we'll call the wheels closest to the curb the inner wheels and we'll call the wheels farthest from the curb the outer wheels so when you're cornering the outer wheels need to travel a longer distance than the inner wheels they can do that only if they spin faster and spin more than the inner wheels do that's where the differential comes in the main purpose of a differential is to allow the drive wheels to turn at different rpms while receiving power from the engine that's why the mechanism is called a differential because it comes in latin root word differentia which means difference to appreciate the differential you have to understand what life was like before they had differentials so imagine a cart or carriage it has four wheels that are rigidly fixed on two axles and the front axle is rotatable as long as it's moving straight each pair of wheels rotate at the same speed and there are no problems what happens when the horse turns right since the wheels are fixed on the axles when the front axle turns to the right the left outer wheels must travel a greater distance than the right inner wheels this means that the inner wheels must slipped to accomplish the turn if the inner wheel were to encounter an obstacle then it could get stuck and break so you can see why the earliest carts and carriages were bumpy and unstable but now let's imagine the same carter carriage but this time imagine the wheels aren't fixed to the axle instead the left and right wheels can rotate independently on its own axle and at different speeds now when you're cornering the slip will decrease now imagine applying this principle in a car the story goes that the conventional car differential was invented almost 200 years ago in 1827 a french mechanical engineer named onisiphore picour patented the modern day differential gear actually he was working as a watchmaker and he wanted his cogs to move at different rates and that's what inspired him to invent the modern day differential gear it was first used in steam driven automobiles and ultimately became a well-known mechanism when internal combustion engines appeared at the end of the 19th century there are three main types of differentials the oldest and most widely used is the open differential it's also the most common because it's inexpensive simple and lightweight it's also the most reliable and it requires little maintenance so how does an open differential work power gets transferred from the engine to the drive shaft at the end of the drive shaft is the pinion gear which drives the ring gear the ring gear is connected to a spider gear which can rotate along the ring gear and each on its own exit the spider gears are meshed with two side gear that's how power flows from the pinion to the left and right wheels when you're driving straight the spider gears aren't active it's totally passive they just ride on the ring gear so that's why both side gear and therefore the left and right axles turn at the same speed in other words both left and right drive wheels rotate at the same rpm pretty straight forward but let's turn the car to the right now the spider gears become active and they spin on their own axes the ring gear drives both axes in a forward rotation the spider causes the left axle for the outer wheel to rotate faster and the right axle for the inner wheel to rotate slower and that's generally how a differential work the open differential has a downside remember it allows the wheels to spin at different speeds to help in cornering but it also allows excessive wheel spin when one wheel loses traction this tricks the system into sending too much torque to the slipping wheel so you can see that's not good a locking differential is an open differential that can be locked in place when needed to create a fixed axle when it's locked it forces both drive wheels to rotate at the same exact speed regardless of traction needs you can see this advantage of the locking differential when one of the wheels slip the locking differential will send torque to both wheels equally and the wheel with traction will move the car the differential is locked when the satellite gears stop rotating on their axes and continue to rotate synchronously with the driven gear we can see this on the inter wheel and center differentials either automatic or manual manually operated locking differential is performed using a cam clutch which provides a rigid connector of the differential housing to one of the axle shafts clutch is driven by mechanical electrical hydraulic or pneumatic drive directly by the driver and when a difficult to pass section is passed on or in our case when the wheel that was on ice or in midair get a grip on the surface then the driver can disable the feature then we have the differential which can automatically activate and deactivate based on driving conditions and that's the self-locking or automatic locking differential cars that offer the option for a locking differential include toyota tacoma and jeep wrangler and mercedes-benz g-class suvs the downside to the locking differential is that they don't operate as smoothly as standard differentials and therefore can increase the wear on your tires some older ones are known for making a clicking or banging noise as the mechanism locks and unlocks during the turn also automatic locking differentials can affect the car's ability to steer especially if the locker is located in the front axle and can provide under steering then so there's the limited slip differential or lsd the limited slip differential gives you better off-road traction than an open differential that's because it allows the wheels to turn at different speeds without locking to each other completely but also limit the amount of torque sent to the spinning wheel so the result is you maximize torque to the wheel with the most traction you'll actually see limited slip differentials on sports cars drag racers and all-wheel drive vehicles many high performance cars feature this type of differential for example the bmw m3 ford mustang chevy camaro dodge challenger and subaru wrx since lsd reduces power from the slipping wheel and gives more power to the other wheels with traction this helps prevent tire wear also it wears down your axle shaft less since the system gives them the ability to rotate at various speeds and therefore puts less stress and pressure during turns limited slip differentials cost more than standard open differentials but they aren't too costly but as with all things no system is perfect limited slip differentials have its share of disadvantages for example we've learned by now that when the wheel slips the lsd reduces power for the slipping wheel but actually there's still some small amount going to the slipping wheel so while you're getting more power to the wheel of traction nevertheless it isn't receiving full power but less than a hundred percent another thing to know is if you're used to driving a car with one kind of limited slip differential driving won't be the same when you drive another car with another type of limited slip differential that's because lsds aren't all the same in all cars but rather there are electronically controlled variations of lsds available now let's look at portion differential which is a type of limited slip differential it has an origin and a dual drive differential that was invented and patented by an american vernon gleasman around 1949. currently there are three types of torsion differentials the t1 the t2 and guess what the t3 the t1 is an original equipment in the audi quattro subaru impreza wrx sti here to mega cruiser and am general hmm wv humvee torsion comes from combining the words torqued and sensing it produces the same effect as a limited slip differential but without the need for clutches or fluid resistance its setup is like an open differential but then you have a layer of worm gearing what's a worm gear basically it's a gear that's spiral in the form of a screw the set of worm gears provide the needed resistance to transmit torque needed it operates based on a simple principle of worm gear worm wheel meaning the rotating worm gear can turn the wheel but a rotating wheel cannot spin the worm gear it only works one way the torsion differential has a housing that's tightly coupled to the driven gear inside the body there are a set of worm gears to which the axle shafts of the right and left wheels are attached each end of a worm gear has a spur gear when you're driving straight the worm wheels turn the worm gears so both drive wheels rotate at the same speed let's return to the earlier scenario when you're making a right turn you'll recall the outer wheels need to travel a longer distance than the inner wheels in the same amount of time so the outer wheels need to rotate faster than the inner wheels and the inner wheels need to slow down with the torsion differential the warm gear of the left axle for the faster outer wheel makes the worm wheel spin on its own axis meanwhile the right axle for the slower inner wheel and therefore the right worm wheel turn in the opposite direction the meshing spur gears at the end of the worm wheel ensure that the warm wheels spin at the same speed well what about the scenario where one wheel slips and loses traction remember the slipping wheel starts spinning excessively drawing most of the engine power and the car can get stuck with the torsion differential the speed gets changed from the worm wheel of the slipping wheel to the worm wheel of the wheel with traction since they're connected to spur gears but remember the worm wheel cannot turn the worm gear this is what locks the mechanism instantly so now both left and right wheels turn together and allows a large amount of torque to transfer to the wheel that has more traction if you have a four wheel drive your differential is front and back while the rear wheel drive car is a differential in back you have a front wheel drive your differential sits between the front wheels it's called a trans axle because the functional combination of the front axle and transmission and if you have an all-wheel drive then your differential is between both the front and rear wheels with the transfer case in between them today we looked at a few types of differentials there are even more types available and some of them are variations or derivatives that evolve from the main types but they all share a similar concept in transmitting the engine's torque to the wheels if you enjoyed this video please subscribe to my channel for more technology and history videos thank you you\n"