# one front wheel spin??



## fondoo (May 2, 2002)

I own a 98' SENTRA GXE and I recently put my car on a lift. Changed the gear to Drive and gave the car some gas. I notice only one of the front wheels was spinning(right), instead of both. The mechanic took a short 2x4 wood and slowed the right wheel down, then the left wheel starting spinning. Is this normal???


----------



## James (Apr 29, 2002)

yes you have an open differential.


----------



## fondoo (May 2, 2002)

what does that mean??



James said:


> yes you have an open differential.


----------



## Slayer2003 (Jun 4, 2003)

is it.......that the wheel with the less resistance will have more power going to it? instead of it being evenly distributed by means of a limited slip differential?

....think im close


----------



## Token Moron (Mar 28, 2003)

like james said, its an open differential, when u peel out in the car, look at the tire marks, you'll only see one tire mark.....if u had an LSD, u woulda seen 2 wheel marks on the ground.


----------



## SpiKeJnZ (Mar 25, 2003)

Slayer2003 said:


> is it.......that the wheel with the less resistance will have more power going to it? instead of it being evenly distributed by means of a limited slip differential?
> 
> ....think im close


you're actually dead on. open differentials are good for everyday driving, but not for enthusiasts. if one wheel slips, the other one gets the power. with a LSD, both wheels get NEARLY equal power. nissan uses a viscious type LSD. it's made up of a bunch of grooved discs inside a sealed differential. when one wheel spins faster than the other, the liquid inside the LSD reacts, heats up and thickens, and the friction between the plates causes both wheels to lock and spin with equal power. this is a good setup, because under normal conditions, it acts like a open differential, which can help with a few things...but when you start playing hard and wheels slip, it thickens and helps in the traction department. 

Kevin


----------



## Token Moron (Mar 28, 2003)

just like the spec v with a HLSD


----------



## calvin200sx (Oct 14, 2003)

I have a B14 1996 200sx se, and I thought my car came with the open differential. However, when I do a burn out, both wheels spin. Could my car have come with a LSD?


----------



## James (Apr 29, 2002)

calvin200sx said:


> I have a B14 1996 200sx se, and I thought my car came with the open differential. However, when I do a burn out, both wheels spin. Could my car have come with a LSD?


I don't think any USDM GA16DE came with a LSD...


----------



## minute rice sentra (Mar 21, 2003)

so when your doing a one wheel burnout, that tire is actually spinning twice as fast as the speedo says, right?
so if the speedo says 100, the tire is actually spinning at 200mph, crazy!!


----------



## SpiKeJnZ (Mar 25, 2003)

minute rice sentra said:


> so when your doing a one wheel burnout, that tire is actually spinning twice as fast as the speedo says, right?
> so if the speedo says 100, the tire is actually spinning at 200mph, crazy!!


no, if the speedo says 100, the wheel is spinning at 100.


----------



## minute rice sentra (Mar 21, 2003)

i'm gonna have to disagree with you. i've got the diff out of my spare tranny here in front of me, and when i turn the entire diff the same as it would in the tranny while keeping one side gear from spinning( same as keeping one tire from spinning), the other side gear will spin twice as fast as i'm turning the diff, and the speedo gear is on the diff, not the axle. so if the free tire would be spinning twice as fast as the diff, then it would be rotating twice as fast as what the speedo says.


----------



## SpiKeJnZ (Mar 25, 2003)

minute rice sentra said:


> i'm gonna have to disagree with you. i've got the diff out of my spare tranny here in front of me, and when i turn the entire diff the same as it would in the tranny while keeping one side gear from spinning( same as keeping one tire from spinning), the other side gear will spin twice as fast as i'm turning the diff, and the speedo gear is on the diff, not the axle. so if the free tire would be spinning twice as fast as the diff, then it would be rotating twice as fast as what the speedo says.


trust me....when the free wheel is the one spinning, it's NOT turning at twice the speed. something about a thing called friction and physics.


----------



## minute rice sentra (Mar 21, 2003)

SpiKeJnZ said:


> trust me....when the free wheel is the one spinning, it's NOT turning at twice the speed. something about a thing called friction and physics.


we're still talkin about an open diff here right? here's a quote from a website i found 
"This is how the automobile differential works. It only comes into play when one wheel needs to rotate differentially with respect to its counterpart. When the car is moving in a straight line, the differential gears do not rotate with respect to their axes. When the car negotiates a turn, however, the differential allows the two wheels to rotate differentially with respect to each other. 

One problem with an automotive differential is that if one wheel is held stationary, the counterpart wheel turns at twice its normal speed as can be seen by examining the complete scheme of automobile differential."

about halfway down the page
http://www.efunda.com/designstandards/gears/gears_auto_diff.cfm

Do you still disagree? I'm not trying to be an @$$ or anything, just trying to get the facts straight.


----------



## calvin200sx (Oct 14, 2003)

You are right Minute Rice Sentra, the wheel will have to spin faster. If you think about going around a curve, the outside wheel has to travel faster than the inside wheel because it has a larger arch to travel through. So, when the differential is active, it allows the outside wheel to spin faster than the inside wheel. I don't know if this translates to a 2x increase in speed though.


----------



## Rottdog (May 2, 2003)

my 98 se spins both wheels sometimes but will spin 1 wheel most of the time but i don't have an lsd


----------



## Greg200SE-R (Feb 5, 2003)

minute rice sentra is right. Hold one wheel still and the other will turn at twice the speed. If a car with an open differential is moving at 40mph in a straight line, then the total speed of both wheels is equal (40 left + 40 right). During a turn at the same speed, the total "speed" of each wheel must still equal 80 but depending on the severity of the turn the ratio of left to right will change. in a mild turn I would guess the speeds would be something like 35/45. Bring one wheel to zero and the other goes 80mph.

This is also demonstrated by the open diffs in those 1/10 Radio control cars


----------

