Project #8 From Jason: Transmission Limited Slip Diff Install

[Jason]

Here I installed a limited slip diff into a friends supposedly rebuilt trans that he purchased after tearing up his first gear.
I will state that this is by no means a guide to do this as you need to check bearing preloads and such which I am not covering. Also this is not going to show everything that is done to do this as I didn’t take pictures of every step or bolt.
The reason was as I mentioned, my friend destroyed 1st gear and needed to rebuild the trans or get a new one. A LSD is always a nice upgrade and will make his gears last a little longer. The time spent to install the LSD was a couple hours total. I think it was around 3 or 4 but that involved open to close of the trans and we wiped down the inside. I have not been keeping track of time much for my projects as I usually work on more than one at a time or one right after the other and make a day out of it. Being unemployed right now is giving me a bunch of free time.
So first I removed the shift selector and bottom cap.



Then removed the 5th gear cover and pulled all the gears/syncros after removing the 5th gear selector.



To get the gear that you see by itself on the far side, I had to modify the puller to fit in and get it.. A angle grinder and flapper wheel does a good job.


There was more bolts to remove and what not to get the case open but anyways here is the case opened up. Looks pretty dirty in there for a fresh rebuild however everything looked to be in good shape.

Next we pulled everything out to get the diff out.



The next job was to pull the bearings and small plastic gear off the diff. Then remove the rivets and finally the ring gear. I didn’t get any pics until removing rivets and ring gear. To get the gear off I had to press all the rivets out and then press the ring gear off. I tried to just press off the gear but that didn’t want to work smoothly.
I didn’t take pics until I actually had started on the rivets but anyways I first drilled all the rivets with a 6mm bit.


After you can go back and drill with a 12mm bit

[Jason]

Next you take a chisel and hammer to remove the end of the rivet.



All done with the ends


All pressed out



Ring gear off


The next task was press the ARP bolts into the LSD and then press on the ring gear and torque the arp nuts on. Then pressed on the bearings.


After we cleaned everything up some to try and keep the inside a bit nicer for awhile.


Next was to put everything back in.

[Jason]

Seal it up and put the selector shaft and what not back.


5th back in and the cover on. Completed


Trans is ready to swap places with the bad one at this point. I might rebuild the bad one as a spare but not sure what his plans are with it. I forgot to add it has 2qts of Royal Purple gear lube. That crap is expensive but one of the best ones to use... I dumped them in through the selector shaft opening before closing it up so I did not have to take out the fill plug and screw with that. The trans holds 2.1qts so it will live fine -0.1qts....

[jakeru]

Looks like an 02A transmission. Is that a Peloquin LSD?

I love torque sensing LSDs in front wheel drive cars. Every front wheel drive car I drive that doesn't have one, seems deficient in that is "needs" one. Especially if I ever find myself ever driving in the snow. I swear, a front wheel drive car with a torsen LSD is at least as good, if not better, than a four wheel drive vehicle with open diffs.

[Jason]

O2A bolts to a VR6. This is a off a 1.8T and the code is a O2J. Pretty much the same trans however. Many parts are interchangeable including the diff. I forget if its a peloquin or a quaife but they are pretty much the same thing also so yes. Also these LSD's make the car perform much much better and put the power to the wheels much better. I keep forgetting there are others on this forum that are into VW's None of my cars have one in them yet as the cost is crazy but I plan to do an LSD and different ratio R&P in my O2A in the future. My AWD car I am building will probably see front and rear LSD but maintain the same R&P. This trans was just the LSD as you can see I reused the old ring gear.

[jakeru]

Oh yeah, there is a new autotec LSD, "wavetrac". Wonder if that's any good? (I think I heard it wasn't all that great.)

On closer analysis of the pics, I'd say the one you installed is a quaife. (There were some subtle clues.) Although quaife/peloquin might be functionally the same on 02A/J's, on 020's the peloquins have steeper cut gears, which allow more % torque biasing than the quaife does.

I've got a couple peloquin 020's in the family. One in my race/autocross Rabbit, a 5-speed. Another in dad's Rabbit, a freshly rebuilt (with LSD added) 4-speed, which is going to be his new daily driver at some point. (It has yet to even drive on its new LSD at this point. Needs an engine rebuilt first. It's gonna be sweet when it's done.)