Should I replace my Viscous Coupler as PM? (1 Viewer)

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If anyone has a functioning VC that they took out and it is laying around taking up bench space in the garage and you want to get rid of it, I will pay postage. I would like to get inside and see what is going on and I would like to see if draining the silicon fluid and replacing it with something heavier to give more "limited slip" is possible.

This is a great thought and experimenting should not be discouraged but, if you make the 'slippage' less then this may increase tyre wear and loading on drivetrain components on normal traction surfaces. Whether it would be a problem I do not know (hence experimenting is good IMO) but, I would guess that Toyota had got the balance right as they seem to be pretty reliable, the perfect one removed from my 94 has 230,000 miles on it. You could also could argue it is not working that hard? This may mean there is room for improvement?

It is good that it can be removed/replaced in under an hour so removal/install would not be too difficult but, the issue is 'how' do you test it, how do you set conditions to get a proper and credible conclusion?


Perhaps start a new thread with your experimenting/conclusions, I would subscribe. I am going to the garage today to look at the unit I have there, be good to see a drain/refill hole! :)


regards

Dave
 
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Well Dave in normal traction situations there shouldn't really be a need for the discs to slip much front to rear. So it shouldn't increase wear too much.

Yes if you have a 230,000 mile VC that was working it might not be a bad one to experiment on. I would think the lower miles we could find the better the likely hood of actually getting the old fluid to drain might be.

It probably won't happen but I would think it could be a fairly easy thing to try and if it works awesomely than great, if it doesn't you are no worse off than you would have been before as you just remove it and off you go.

This is a great thought and experimenting should not be discouraged but, if you make the 'slippage' less then this may increase tyre wear and loading on drivetrain components on normal traction surfaces. Whether it would be a problem I do not know (hence experimenting is good IMO) but, I would guess that Toyota had got the balance right as they seem to be pretty reliable, the perfect one removed from my 94 has 230,000 miles on it. You could also could argue it is not working that hard? This may mean there is room for improvement?

It is good that it can be removed/replaced in under an hour so removal/install would not be too difficult but, the issue is 'how' do you test it, how do you set conditions to get a proper and credible conclusion?


Perhaps start a new thread with your experimenting/conclusions, I would subscribe. I am going to the garage today to look at the unit I have there, be good to see a drain/refill hole! :)


regards

Dave
 
Well Dave in normal traction situations there shouldn't really be a need for the discs to slip much front to rear. So it shouldn't increase wear too much.

Yes if you have a 230,000 mile VC that was working it might not be a bad one to experiment on. I would think the lower miles we could find the better the likely hood of actually getting the old fluid to drain might be.

It probably won't happen but I would think it could be a fairly easy thing to try and if it works awesomely than great, if it doesn't you are no worse off than you would have been before as you just remove it and off you go.

I don't know anything about this but couldn't you add some MEK or something in to the VC after you drill your hole to try to dissolve the fluid that is in there?
 
You could but I probably wouldn't recommend it. You wouldn't be sure you got it all out, but I guess you could just keep flushing it until you were sure?

Silicone fluid is highly soluble in hydrocarbon solvents such as toluene, xylene, ligroin, and mineral spirits as well as in chlorinated hydrocarbons. However, it is insoluble in ethanol, methanol, and water.

I was thinking just a little warmth and time, but I guess you could accelerate it a little. lol.
 
Can't believe I just waisted an hour reading this tread. My thoughts on this are similer to the LSPV. They eventually get rid of it because computers and sensors take the place. What do 100's have that 80's don't....


Traction Control ... well at least in the 2000 and newer.

I believe the VC looks great on paper prabably not as well proforming as they had hoped to the point of removing it in the 100 knowing that the traction control was on the horizon and just not release to production models yet. they just didn't overlap the production like they did with the LSPV.

I believe it does give better traction than an open due to the Limited-slip caracteristics but it doesn't affect safety and operation which lead to it being on the chopping block.

My .02. Now I'll get back to watching the baby monitor and planning why noise/project I'm going to do once she's up.
 
clunking? hmm, my 96 been clunking when I start off, wonder if I have a bad VC?

I should probably change out the U joints and go from there...got about 170K on her
 
I believe we know someone attempting to do that right now...:rolleyes:
As we await, with baited breath........
Wait. I'm not claiming to do "PM". Actually, I wasn't aware there ever was any "PM" for a square-nose Chevy... you replace, preferably NOT with OEM, and move on...

I am, in fact, performing upgrades.
And for what it's worth: Shaved 14-bolt. Enough said. :)

I do have another question, unfortunately unrelated to the OP: do tech posts, once they spill over, say, five pages, become "80's Chat" these days? In that case, should there be such a forum? :hillbilly:
 

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