6 speed manual centre diff

[dock]

I have a MY07 SpecB Liberty with the standard 6 speed manaul in it (same as STI gearbox - I am told) and it now has a stuffed centre diff (the viscous coupling). I can buy a new one ($$$) but I am on a pretty tight budget so was hoping someone had a good second hand one avaialble or advise on where to get a new one at a good price.

Secondly I can't find anything on the WWW that shows me how to replace the unit in a 6 speed. Plenty on 5 speed but again I am told that a 6 speed is more difficult due to a pump in the vicinity. And can it be done in the car ?

Last thing - does continuing to drive the car (as theroetically the coupling is a sealed unit) likely to do any damage ?

Any advice, pictures or comments greatly appreciated.

Dock

[HODMAN]

If you were about to trade this vehicle in for another I could sell you one.
If you are keeping this car then forget my centre diff, it begins to make binding noises after about 45mins of rigorous driving and then parking.
We did continue to drive it however for about 12 months before replacing it. It is only on full lock turns when the noise is evident (i.e. such as parking), normal driving was not affected.

Before anyone has a go at me, I wouldn't ask a lot for it but the postage might cost more than the asking price. (It feels like it weighs 20kg )

I had a local gearbox specialist fit it for me (about $400.00 labour only) I have no idea of the complexity of the job.

I believe there are aftermarket 'performance' diffs available and I think the prices are not far from an OEM version.

Cheers
HOD

[Robbks]

Buy one from Japan parts

[RX25SE]

Are these not rebuildable? (Im talking post facelift)

I spoke to the mechanic who fixed mine (a Subaru specialist, before I bought the car) and he claimed he rebuilt it using a lower viscosity oil as the OEM oil is too heavy and gums up with time, causes the binding.

[Robbks]

anything is re-buildable with the right know-how.

This sounds like a viable option.
how much did it cost to re-build?

I had mine modified to remove the VC unit from the diff completely

[RX25SE]

anything is re-buildable with the right know-how.

True indeed.

This sounds like a viable option.
how much did it cost to re-build?

I 'think' it was around $1-1.5K talking to the previous owner, but it was paid for by a third party warranty company.

I had mine modified to remove the VC unit from the diff completely

So it's now an open diff or did they fit another type of LSD unit?

[dock]

Thanks guys - I have emailed the place in Japan with trans code etc to make sure they will supply the right part. Confident of that now. Way way cheaper than Australian retailers. Have been talking to a bloke in Tassie who replaces the clutch packs with a solid plate. Sounds like a good option however I don't have the shed facility or a good enough relationship with a mechanics wshop to have the car sitting on his hoist for a week so I think I am going to go with the Japanparts option.

Getting different stories about whether I can continue to drive it for a while yet. From what I can see there is no real reason that I can't . Just got to find someone local, Melbourne norther suburbs to fit it now. Went to see my RWC bloke and he says mate it's a solenoid I,ll fix it , these autos are no problem. WTF it's a manual you idiot.

[Robbks]

So it's now an open diff or did they fit another type of LSD unit?

Essentially an open diff,
but the thing isn't built for being off the bitumen anyway.
it still drives perfectly on wet gravel/ dirt, etc

only had one incident with no traction, towing a trailer uphill on wet grass. I stopped and when i went to move off again she spun one front wheel and sat there spinning
easy solution, ride the brakes and feather the throttle which transferrs torque to the other wheels and drove off (old 4WD trick)

[bigBADbenny]

So it's now an open diff or did they fit another type of LSD unit?

Essentially an open diff,
but the thing isn't built for being off the bitumen anyway.
it still drives perfectly on wet gravel/ dirt, etc

Open diffs are popular in off road racing as they're inexpensive to fix and or replace and can save the driveline from related failures.

only had one incident with no traction, towing a trailer uphill on wet grass. I stopped and when i went to move off again she spun one front wheel and sat there spinning
easy solution, ride the brakes and feather the throttle which transferrs torque to the other wheels and drove off (old 4WD trick)

Same trick to deal with loss of traction with Torsen diffs.

[RX25SE]

So it's now an open diff or did they fit another type of LSD unit?

Essentially an open diff,
but the thing isn't built for being off the bitumen anyway.
it still drives perfectly on wet gravel/ dirt, etc

I wonder what the thinking was with the viscous center given that, on bitumen you pretty much have traction all the time.

[Robbks]

I wonder what the thinking was with the viscous center given that, on bitumen you pretty much have traction all the time.

Gravel/ Snow
when you lose the traction at one end, it'll still transferr torque to the other end to provide drive to at least two wheels.
problem is to make them nice on the road they have to be soft enough not to bind up and so do the front and rear diff's
it just leaves a complete package with 3 piss-poor diff's that simply don't work that well

the open centre has one huge benefit....
effective handbrake turns with full power out the front wheels...

personally, I'd prefer to have helical, suretrak or plated diff's in the F+R and open centre for optimum grip from left to right.
even in 4wd'ing your main issue is when one corner lifts, it usually co-incides with the opposite corner so you still have no drive.
an open centre and good diff's elsewhere just make sense to me

[RX25SE]

I wonder what the thinking was with the viscous center given that, on bitumen you pretty much have traction all the time.

Gravel/ Snow

Of course. I forgot about that.