Mini buggy front diff

[wyattboche]

Originally Posted by nutz4sand

As far as I know the Mustangs are solid axle. A lot of the later T-birds were IRS and the diff aint to heavy. I got one here thats supposed to be out of one but I have never seen one in a scrap yard to know. Its an IRS diff from Ford and its aluminum.

I do not know the use you plan to use it for Wyatt but your comment about the wheel and tires compo (compo? ;] ) and pulling logs out of the woods would make me run nothing BUT a car diff. If its gonna be a workhorse a few extra pounds are a good thing if it holds it together.

If its a racer then its a different story.

Heavy duty and lightweight usually mean $$$$.

If you were building just a one seater and wanted 4wd for say the mud then car diffs might not be needed. But the tires size may destroy anything quad sized.

Soooo what size tires are you planning on it having?

As for a chain drive front "diff" an older Polaris 4x4 quad used to use a chain drive front setup. Ok for what it was made for but not too much more.

Do you know how much the rear diff of the T-bird cost at local junkyard? tires I wanta use.MAXXIS ZILLA 6 PLY RATED ATV TIRES NEW PAIR 22X11-10 :eBay Motors (item 120463904744 end time Oct-27-09 13:24:55 PDT)

[nutz4sand]

Salvage yards price varies with the location and the weather. Your friend ship with the owner or person dealing with at the counter. Weather or not they are getting any and the current scrap price. Not to mention if its a you pull it yard or they pull it.

Anywhere from 25 to 250 bucks is a reasonable price range depending on any of the above and more.

With only 22 inch tires a car diff may be over kill unless you plan to literally try to pull logs with the creation. All sorts of Quad stuff in a drive around buggy should be fine with 22 inch tires as long as the weights not major heavy.

[atomicjoe23]

I don't know what size engine you are planning on running, but I've got a Kodiak 400 4x4 and a Grizzly 600 4x4 utility quads. . .and I pull all sorts of stuff with them without a problem (other than the front end wanting to lift when starting from a dead stand still). I've pulled everything around the house up to and including a 1-ton '49 Jeep Willy's pick-up truck with a 350/350/D18 combo. That's a pretty heavy rig compared to the quad and I haven't had any issues with the quads (quads are 8 years old at this point).

Like I said I don't know what engine you're gonna use, but I think (based on personal experience) that the ATV/UTV stuff will be up to the task. . .as long as you aren't pulling an entire tree behind you.

I would suggest looking into the Polaris Sportsman 800 quad. . .it's shaft drive so you would already be set with that. I am planning on using this gearbox for my next buggy build.

[standfast]

Some BMW IRS and IFS differentials may work and they have bolt on CV cups that may be the same as a 930. They look the same. Check some out on ebay.

That said, it seems too big and too heavy for a small car. The UTV stuff should work just fine I would think. What motor are you using?

[Little Bandit]

Short of doing some wierd gearing BS with different size tires (not fun and two spares to carry if you go deep into the trails.) I do not know of ANY gear ratio matching front and rear IRS's one could connect VIA a common shaft right down the middle.

Could you flip one of the diff's upside down to reverse the rotation, and then use the same one front and rear?

I think a lot of guys flip solid axles to reverse the rotation when they want rear steer axles.

[nutz4sand]

Originally Posted by Little Bandit

Could you flip one of the diff's upside down to reverse the rotation, and then use the same one front and rear?

I think a lot of guys flip solid axles to reverse the rotation when they want rear steer axles.

The biggest issue with this I know is lubrication. Some designs still flow good amounts of lube to the bearings so they are fine. Others may not be.

Considering the lightweight of most minis VS the loads the rear ends see in a full size car its gonna last a fair amount of time as long as even just some lube is hitting the bearings.

[atomicjoe23]

I would agree that it should be OK as long as they get enough lubrication.

You can make a lube sprayer for the inside of the diff. . .I think that there is an article on making one for flipping diffs on the Pirate 4x4 website.

The only other issue for that is that the loading will be different though. . .for the light weight of these buggies it might be OK though. If you flipped the diff and then got the proper reverse rotation R&P that would be much better though.

[kevin quesenberry]

By flipping the entire 3rd member, the loading would not be a problem. It's not as if you are rotating the input the opposite direction, and thus running on the backside of the gears.Running a mid-engine vw, I know you flip the ring gear only to reverse the output. By doing this, the tranny still operates the same (stock gear load, etc..) As for the oiling, probably would depend on the design of the 3rd member chosen, but under mini-buggy stress it may be fine.

[nutz4sand]

There is a guy at Silver Lake with a home built buggy with a Small block Chevy and a turbo 350 tranny. He feeds it into a custom "transfercase" that send the power forward to a Ford 9 inch rear end thats been narrowed and it faces the back of the buggy. The rear end thinks its always running in reverse. Hes had it out there for a few years and runs it pretty good. Never had a driveline issue.

[cjdave]

Ok I feel I should chime in here. First of all you don't flip a differential upside down to use it in the front. Unless you are turning the drive shaft the opposite direction than the differential was originally run in. Flipping it upside down will cause the wheels to turn in reverse. That said we run ford 9" differentials upside down in rock crawlers all the time, when we run a rear engine. That way the forward gears actually drive the vehicle forward. We also use 9" differentials in the front and drive them on the coast side of the gear. When set up correct they will handle plenty of power. Last full tube chassis I built runs a 434 ci small block chevy making around 600 hp and 590 ftlb tq at the crank and we run 9" diffs front and rear. It gets beat on hard all the time (wheelies and 4wd burn outs on pavement should prove my point ). I have lots of experience with running diffs in odd applications and would not worry about running them backward, or on the coast side of the gear. I am in here because I am also thinking about building a 4wd mini buggy with a MC engine. I am looking to see what works and what doesn't . It seems there is a lack of info on differentials. So I am looking at using dana 30 differentials (jeep stuff) It's cheap, plentiful and has a good aftermarket support system (gears, lockers,) I have a full machine shop so i am considering making my own stub shafts to accept cv shafts and custom bearing retainers. I make axle shafts on a daily basis so this is no problem for me.
I have looked at the Subaru differentials and don't like the long pinion, and not much aftermarket lockers, and gear sets.
sorry for the long post I got carried away.....