ValueTrac posi - I'm your guinnea pig: Grassroots Motorsports forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

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Oct. 29, 2011 10:37 a.m. curtis73 Dork

So I had read several posts asking if the ValueTrac torsen-type differential was any good and everyone's response was "sounds cheap, don't skimp" but no one had ever posted if they had actually tried it. So I thought... what the hell?

$240 from Ebay, $80 for Koyo bearings and seals. Being installed here in my 96 Impala SS at my shop on Monday. Keep watching.

I'm told that it is very aggressive, and I should expect turning scuffing much like a heavily-sprung clutch-type posi.
Oct. 29, 2011 10:48 a.m. Timeormoney Reader

Sounds like a great experiment
Oct. 30, 2011 12:56 a.m. donalson SuperDork

if my s10 was running an 8.5 i'd be absolutely impatient to hear about your results... still look forward to hearing how it works :)... mega cheap for a torsen LSD thats for sure
Oct. 30, 2011 2:10 a.m. novaderrik Dork

donalson wrote:

if my s10 was running an 8.5 i'd be absolutely impatient to hear about your results... still look forward to hearing how it works :)... mega cheap for a torsen LSD thats for sure

it would be easy enough to put an 8.5 in your truck- get one from a 70's F body and move the perches in to where they need to be on an S10.. it may be a bit wider, but wheels with more backspacing would be easy to find..
Oct. 30, 2011 8:44 a.m. aussiesmg SuperDork

Source the 8.5 then build a 4 link thereby eliminating the leaf springs and gaining a tunable suspension

Sorta like mine

It was a vast improvement
Oct. 30, 2011 11:13 a.m. curtis73 Dork

One unadvertised snag on mine. Had to order the oversized carrier bearings. The ValueTrac uses the 1.785" bearing instead of the stock... at least on the one I bought.
Oct. 30, 2011 2:13 p.m. donalson SuperDork

unless I find an 8.5" with LSD already in it i'd go with a ford explorer 8.8 with posi and gain discs for the same price...
Oct. 30, 2011 3:35 p.m. aussiesmg SuperDork

I failed to state mine is an Exploder 8.8
Oct. 31, 2011 1:03 p.m. Vigo Dork

Interested to hear how this turns out..
Oct. 31, 2011 3:45 p.m. daytonaer Reader

Yay for a cheap torsen setup!

I put my jeep in a ditch this recent snow partly because of a lunch-box locker that stays locked both ways and partly (maybe mostly) because I thought I could hold a drift instead of putting the clutch in and trying to save it.

Paid about $300 for the setup btw and its brutal in parking-lot maneuvers. It was responsible for getting me out of said ditch, so I can't really fault it.

I recall the OBD knockoffs for fwd setups being pretty close to qualfe types other than sub-par hardware, lots of people put in nice bolts and had good units for cheap.
Oct. 31, 2011 3:49 p.m. Javelin SuperDork

Following this with great interest! Apparently ValueTrac makes a unit for the AMC Model 20 (which is in the Javelin).