2WD Limited Slip Experience

[SCM]

I had a Peloquin installed last year with my auto-trans rebuild and FINALLY had an experience worth mentioning (the van didn't see much use last year).

Driving down a wet "gumbo" (aka sticky smectite clay) type of off-camber 2-track we were moving along just fine until I started to notice the front of the van being generally unresponsive. Hmmm, better think about this. Drove a little further and sure enough steering was sketchy as mud had caked into the tire treads (BFG KOs at 40 psi) and any amount of braking would cause the front of the van to slide sideways downhill and steering didn't really do squat.

After backing uphill and choosing a different, flatter, 2-track, I turned the steering wheel nearly full lock and after moving forward about 4 feet, the front wheels finally touched the grass outside of the ruts and grabbed with vigor.

The whole time forward and backward motion was completely perfect. I'm sure my OEM trans would have been spinning a back wheel before I noticed the steering issue, and definitely would have struggled while backing uphill or pushing the van out of the ruts.

I'm happy I went with the TBD.
_________________
'91 Westfalia GL Automatic (GTA "Turbo" Rebuild w/Peloquin) and 2.3L GoWesty Engine

[E1]

We've used ours full-time for 14 months now and it had to come from God.
_________________
‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[dobryan]

[Jake de Villiers]

[E1]

General comments about a Peloquin:
-- Surreal on mountain dirt and rock
-- Sublime on even deep sand (sometimes needs throttle modulation)
-- Sticks itself quickly into deep alluvial gravel
( or so a little friend tells me...)
_________________
‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[Multiman mv]

A no brainer if considering a trans rebuild. I love mine, it has gotten me out of what would have been a jam if I hadn’t sprung for it.

[Vilas69]

Well, after 2 years with my peloquin tbd, it looks like I am the only one that isn't really happy with it... The tbd only works if both wheels are firmly touching the ground, so even for light offroad it's almost useless, because with a lift kit, you don't have a lot of articulation, and everytime one of the wheels lifts just a litlle bit, I am stuck. Even using the handbrake it's almost always impossible to move, and it doesn't matter if it's the right or left wheel that I need to move in order to keep movimg...

Maybe I had bad luck, since everyone talks wonders, about it...

Someone with any advice or trick to help me? BTW my van as a 1.9TDI, so torque is not the problem... I have some video to ilustrate my problem,
if needed

[Sodo]

I'd like to see the videos.

If you accelerate (from stopped) in a tight turn does it lock? For example turning from a stop sign.
_________________


'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[Vilas69]

When tight turning, as long as the road is flat, the van will drift with ease, so the TBD does is thing. But usually, roads with tight turns are mountain roads, and thats when it simply doesn't work, as soon as the inside wheel looses the ground, traction is gone. I knew before buying it thata TBD doens't work when one wheel is completely free, but I also expected that just a touch on the handbrake would engage it, and that doens't happen most of the time.
It really feels like our Peloquin allows more slip than it should... Let me uopload something

[davevickery]

I agree it isn't a miracle worker and the handbrake "trick" doesn't really work. It takes too much force on the brake to do anything. If you stop in a culvert with a rear wheel off the ground, you won't be able to hand brake your way out of it. I tried that for fun the first trip out. On a level dirt road with a diagonal drainage across the road, I stopped with on rear wheel in the depression and could not more forward or backwards and had to get out and put a rock under the wheel.

But normally, you can either roll forward or roll back and then try again. You don't usually get stopped on a level spot. If you had a hand brake for each rear wheel, you could probably use the hand brake "trick" effectively.

The Pelogquin makes a world of difference on grass and is amazing in sand. You do need weight on both wheels and you need some traction, so sand traction is very good. But only compared to an open diff. It is still easy to get stuck and the slicker the surface the worse it is.

It is a traction multiplier and I think that is the best way to describe it. It applies up to 5 times the torque of the loose wheel to the other side, but 5 times zero is still zero. On an icy parking lot, 5 times almost nothing, just makes both wheels spin. So the key to getting the most out of the Peloquin is having the right tires for the situation. Winter tires on ice make a difference as do All Terrain tires for gravel and dirt trails.

I went from a Peloquin to a Syncro Transaxle and the Peloquin was good for some situations. But even 2 locked rear wheels has a lot of limitations for climbing rocky trails in a 2wd. And for the extra cost of $1000 if you need a rebuild anyway, it is a decent upgrade. The disappearing syncro transaxles are not an afforable option anymore. You would probably spend at least $5K to put a syncro transaxle in a 2wd now.

What tires are you using? And maybe the lift you have is too stiff and not keeping your treads on the ground.

[Gnarlodious]

Anyone running stock tires with a TBD is missing most of the effect. Wide tires really add to the traction, the stock rubber would sink in sand or mud but the fat tires really float. The extra confidence really gives me a “go anywhere” attitude. All I really need to watch out for is to not get one wheel off the ground. I've been extremely happy with the upgrade after 3 years and driving every kind of surface. I totally lost my desire for a Syncro!
_________________
Vanagon ’83 diesel AAZ w/Giles injection, 5spd 4.57R&P+TBD and a '78 diesel Rabbit

[Gnarlodious]

[Vilas69]

I have the lift kit from Brickwerks, which is, as far as know, not so heavy duty as the GoWesty ones, so it's better for light vans.. But our van is a tintop, so the suspension is near top limit when unloaded, and that makes offroad hard because it's very easy to lift one wheel of the ground... Guess I was expecting to much from it...

We have 205/70/15 Wrangler AT/SA fitted...

I've been wondering about the individual handbrake for more than a year, but still didn't design something that won't use a lot of space in the cabin, or be intrusive when using the handbrake for normal parking...

Here I have edited some of the offroad we did last year, but only the good parts where we didn't get stuck it's possible to see the TBD working in some cases, but look closely to the last part, where both wheels are on the ground but since it was very slippery, the TBD didn't engage, and that's exactly the situations where I feel frustated with it

https://youtu.be/YfEiIXJLqWo

[Sodo]

It looks like your van has an aftermarket stabilizer bar on the front. Items that increase on-road stability can greatly diminish off-road traction.

[E1]

[davevickery]

[Vilas69]

[Vilas69]

[Sodo]

[Vilas69]

I've slowed down the video and the right wheel definitely stops, as it happens when the other wheel is in the air, which is not...

Other problem when doing offroad with a Peloquin is that you need to use your momentum to pass some stuff, otherwise if you go slowly, like usual when offroading, you will loose traction when a wheel lifts from the ground, and that makes it much more uncomfortable and risky, and the probability of damaging something is higher...

Yes, the Peloquin was installed for sure, by Aidan Talbot, great guy to deal with. Both wheels rotate in the same direction, and it is way harder to rotate one wheel with the other on the ground than with a open diff... Also, you can see it working like it should in the video, for example at 1:12.