A few weeks ago I emailed Quaife to insure that their inline reverse box is in fact a Forward/Neutral/Reverse (FNR) as I'd always assumed it was.. Glad I reached out, because it has only Forward or Reverse- seems there is no Neutral in the Quaife unit as I had hoped, which would have solved this flat tow issue for me- so I'm onto looking to get 'neutral' in a different way..
In my quest to find a light rear diff at about a 3.0 ratio- link-
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=19162 -Locoster cs3tcr suggested a Toyota Rav4 unit.. the ratio is right, and they are small and comparatively light.. So what does this have to do with flat towing?
I learned that the early Rav4 diffs (1994-2005) are very conventional, and despite being an iron housing (heavy), would surely work for my needs (although no benefit as far as flat towing goes).... But I accidentally discovered that the later Rav4 diffs (2006-2012) have an "electronic coupler" on the snout (red box in pics).. basically these Rav4s are front wheel drive vehicles, until the Toyota computer senses the need for 4 wheel drive- then a current of varying intensity is sent to this magic coupler on the rear diff, engaging the rear end to whatever level of traction is needed: It seems this coupler is really just a tiny wet clutch which is electronically activated..
So here's the question for those who know of these things.. Could I use this (2006-2012) diff and take advantage of this built in coupler to act as an electonic driveshaft disconnect? In the BEC, when flat towing, no current to the coupler means it's unlocked (like it is in the Rav4 most of the time), then when I want to drive the BEC, just jump in, flip a switch (maybe simply "ignition on" B+ fed to the coupler), and have the rear end 100% engaged (whatever level of current/volts/watts/ohms/whatever that would be?- electrical theory is not my strength
)..
I'd love to use this later Rav4 diff to get the disconnect benefit.. it would be a neat little trick that would have real world use for both me and an eventual buyer, as this little car will just be a toy... it would be so cool to just quickly and easily drag it to events without the hassle of a trailer..
My backup plan is to see if the bike motor can tolerate a flat tow, but really my 1st choice is to employ this late Rav4 diff.. certainly not for it's intended use, but it would seem to suit my BEC needs, wouldn't it?
As always, I appreciate your thoughts
--ccrunner
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Dean
1972 Honda N600 Restomod "ccrunner's N600 VFR800 repower"
1963 Volvo P1800 Restomod
http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=163091959 Berkeley SE492 Restomod...
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19397"ccrunner's 1960 MGA coupe Restomod" found on MGExp.com