Traction control+Limited-slip differential?

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Popinski

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How the heck can you have Traction control and limited slip differential at the same time?

Traction control brakes and controls torque.....LSD increase torque to the wheel with most grip...

How the heck do they work together? Don't they both defeat the purpose with each other? There was a Chevrolet Colorado 2wd sports truck for sale with both Traction control and LSD.
 
Traction control applies the brakes to a wheel that is spinning.

LSD increases the torque to the wheel that has traction, above that which is available to to an open diff.

What's the beef ?
 
They would complement each other. Limited slip would increase overall traction and reduce power to the wheel that has less traction.
 
They're different ways to do the same thing, though a traction control system adds the ability to cut power to the axle.

Most likely the LSD allows more slip than the TC, so it probably doesn't do anything when the TC is turned on unless there's a sudden input that is too quick for the TC to react properly. In that case, it would complement the TC and improve traction.

I think the primary benefit of the LSD on that truck is in situations where wheel-spin is desirable and the TC is turned off, such as deep snow, soft dirt, or mud. On those surfaces, the LSD would provide a lot more traction than an open diff.
 
Originally Posted By: Popinski
How the heck can you have Traction control and limited slip differential at the same time?

Traction control brakes and controls torque.....LSD increase torque to the wheel with most grip...

How the heck do they work together? Don't they both defeat the purpose with each other? There was a Chevrolet Colorado 2wd sports truck for sale with both Traction control and LSD.


They work GREAT together in my car. The brake locking function is practically not needed at all, and it keeps from triggering wholesale involvement of the stability control.
 
My 96 Crown Vic came from the factory with a form of traction control that only applies the brakes, but no limited slip. It worked OK, but if you got really out of control, it just made things worse. I drove the car for about 6 years like that, through Montana winters. A couple of years ago I installed a LSD, and it made a dramatic difference. The car is far more planted on slick streets, and it doesn't try to kill me when I am getting really wild around a corner.
 
Originally Posted By: chevrofreak
My 96 Crown Vic came from the factory with a form of traction control that only applies the brakes, but no limited slip. It worked OK, but if you got really out of control, it just made things worse. I drove the car for about 6 years like that, through Montana winters. A couple of years ago I installed a LSD, and it made a dramatic difference. The car is far more planted on slick streets, and it doesn't try to kill me when I am getting really wild around a corner.

I had issues w/ the design of the traction control in a saturn L200 5 speed. if it detected slip, it would reduce power, and IIRC apply the brakes to a slipping wheel. so, all you ever knew about clutch control in the snow went out the window because it would work against you.
I did better in the snow w/ it turned off.
 
Today:
Originally Posted By: Popinski
How the heck can you have Traction control and limited slip differential at the same time?

Traction control brakes and controls torque.....LSD increase torque to the wheel with most grip...

How the heck do they work together? Don't they both defeat the purpose with each other? There was a Chevrolet Colorado 2wd sports truck for sale with both Traction control and LSD.



Sept. 6, 2009 @ https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/posts/1592118/:
Originally Posted By: Popinski
I know some rear wheel drive cars with both LSD and traction control. How the heck do they both work together?

if the LSD is spinning both tires.. then what's the job of the traction control system? I know both the Dodge Challenger and Hyundai Genesis Coupe have this weird system.



See your earlier thread, IMO.
wink.gif
 
My primary car has both and it's excellent in the snow. The system in my car spends more time cutting power than it does applying the brakes, but the end result is similar.
 
Most OEMS tell you to disable traction control for severe snow or being stuck - where some wheelspin is actually desired to get moving.
 
Originally Posted By: Popinski
How the heck can you have Traction control and limited slip differential at the same time?

Traction control brakes and controls torque.....LSD increase torque to the wheel with most grip...

How the heck do they work together? Don't they both defeat the purpose with each other? There was a Chevrolet Colorado 2wd sports truck for sale with both Traction control and LSD.


cuz the former generally uses the abs to slow down a spinning wheel and/or reducing engine power and the latter simply mechanically binds both halves of an open diff together. ( I got news for ya, the LSD does not 'send power to the wheel with most traction', it sends power to BOTH wheels, and the wheel with traction can do something about it)
 
Originally Posted By: d00df00d

See your earlier thread, IMO.
wink.gif



I totally forgot about that.

Thanks to all that replied and refreshed my memory.
 
Originally Posted By: Popinski
Originally Posted By: d00df00d

See your earlier thread, IMO.
wink.gif



I totally forgot about that.

Thanks to all that replied and refreshed my memory.

lolz...

time to step away from the keyboard, your memory is failing...:)
 
It probably isn't brake based traction control (simulates LS diff). It likely controls engine power to complement the LSD, and avoiding the need for the driver to feel out, and compensate for, wheelspin.
 
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
Most OEMS tell you to disable traction control for severe snow or being stuck - where some wheelspin is actually desired to get moving.


Yes. Today was terrible. I had the TC off most of the time, I spent 4 1/2 hours driving to, and then from school, nonstop. Roads are simply horrific. I got stuck 4 times. Once in dunkin doughnuts parking lot, once in the SCHOOl parking lot, once in a suntan parking lot because I thought the brake pad material had come off or something (braking sounded and felt absolutely terrible for a few minutes, like metal on metal almost) and then on the highway, when I had to pull off onto the shoulder to de ice my windshield wipers so I could see. These tires are ok in light snow, but in this stuff..... They are horrendous. Trying to get my parents to get some new tires for it. I mean, just wow.

There is a really bad uphill on the way to my school. I didn't much trouble with that, but people were slipping and sliding, and spinning tires all the way up. Saw 3 vehicles almost going backwards as they tried to get up it. It's really bad up here, and it's only going to get worse. My traction control doesn't really seem to do much but cut engine power. I get more forward motion with it off- though the stability control is wonderful, it feels almost like a hand of god straightening you out.
 
^ Sounds like time for a set of snow tires.

It's not too bad in Rochester yet, just a little slop. Tonight and tomorrow will likely get messy though.
 
All I can say is it is a good combination en my Grand Cherokee. I've pulled through deep sand when others are stuck, and it is great through the mud in the mountains on my trips from here. Makes it easy to cut an hour or so out of the trip.
 
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