LocostUSA.com

As the title says, is an LSD worth it?

As I'm using a small pickup truck as my donor, I was planning on converting the bed into a trailer. Because of this I was thinking of looking for a late 90's ford explorer axle, to match the lug pattern of the toyota spindles I'll have up front. The benefits of the Explorer axle are disc brakes, and potentially a positrac diff.

So far my searches have just been online, and the thought of a mustang axle did cross my mind, but the price for a posi mustang axle is 2x-3x as much as the explorer, and harder to locate.

If an LSD isn't as important, then I could look for a non-posi axle that would be a narrower, lighter, and still an upgrade.

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Cheers,
Logan

Yes.

I put an LSD in my locost way back, and it was one of the top two modifications I made to it.

I have also, since, put LSDs in all my daily drivers as well. I can't think of a reason why not to.

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The Lethal Locost
The Lethal Locost 2 - Even More Lethalerer

I would never own a sports car without one.

If your car is just a commuter or Sunday cruiser than not so much.

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Peace, Ron

Yes. Agree with all the above. Adding one to my first sports car transformed it.

As an interesting aside, Lotus said that an LSD was not necessary on the Elise due to the rear weight bias. Once owners started tracking their cars, the first upgrade was a limited slip diff to eliminate inside wheel spin when exiting slow turns.

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Midlana book: Build this mid-engine Locost!, http://midlana.com/stuff/book/
Kimini book: Designing mid-engine cars using FWD drivetrains
Both available from https://www.lulu.com/

That was silly of them, sounds like a bean counter’s excuse. It’s not about how much weight is over the rear tires it’s about the difference in weight between the rear tires. Formula cars get away with open diff’s because the downforce limits the difference enough that an LSD isn’t required.

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Peace, Ron

Thanks for the input, sounds like an easy choice if I'm already having to source another axle.

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Cheers,
Logan

During my designs, I purposely only selected donor transmissions/axles that had LSDs either already installed or available, it was that important.

_________________
Midlana book: Build this mid-engine Locost!, http://midlana.com/stuff/book/
Kimini book: Designing mid-engine cars using FWD drivetrains
Both available from https://www.lulu.com/