Posted by Mike in Arkansas [172.69.68.120] on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 at 15:17:05 :
In Reply to: Re: synopsis posted by Keith in Washington [108.162.246.164] on Monday, March 11, 2019 at 18:39:19 :
I think a big reason to get away from offset diff on new vehicles is heat and fuel economy. If you have enough power to go highway speeds the offset transfer cases seem to get very hot. This heat is from the additional friction of power having to travel through the gears and also must reduce fuel economy even if only slightly.
I might be wrong on this but if you have an open differential wouldn't the long shaft absorb more twist and the total axle load still be the average of both? It is hard to explain without pictures but the total ring gear rotation due to axle twisting should be the same regardless is the individual axle length as long as the total length of both is the same. Its hard to quantify this and I believe empirically the centered diff has proven stronger.
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