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Uh ohh.. differential clanking and clanging!

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My 2012 GT has been driven hard and beat on.. but never at an HPDE. I was corner carving a couple nights ago and notice a clanging sound around turns only that seemed to come from the diff area. it got worse and worse until I parked it and called a flat bed!

is it normal for the std. clutched diff to fail? my gears and bears are only a year old and there was zero gear whine.. all of this started last week when I put my new super stiff coilovers on. I stepped down to an 18mm bar in the rear but maybe my diff gave up.

Its got a 3.15 now, Rehagen said they would swap in a take off diff / ring an pinion for now that we get me running again w less money than a brand new torsen. i'm going with a 2.73 so I can do a couple standing mile events and not blow the engine at 7500 rpm in 5th :)

anyone else toast their diff? Thanks!
 
1,022
99
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
10-20 Years
Texas
Are you sure it was the diff and not one of the bushings in your upper or lower control arms? There is also a bushing on the diff housing I would take a look at. They are all rubber and known to fail over time.
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
That, and check all the nuts n bolts.

I think the stock GT T-Lok generates a bit of heat on track. Have you been changing the diff fluid regularly?

Good luck chasing down the noise and I hope it's a cheap fix.
 
Grant 302 said:
That, and check all the nuts n bolts.

I think the stock GT T-Lok generates a bit of heat on track. Have you been changing the diff fluid regularly?

Good luck chasing down the noise and I hope it's a cheap fix.

I was not tracking it. Some said it failed early because it was rebuilt w o friction modifier.. But I'll never know. It did happen after some spirited cornering under acceleration but that was normal.

Dean at Rehagen sold me a take off 2:73 rear axle assy. They are installing that now. I'll put my welded axle setup back in when I can afford a true track or torsen. I'll confirm when I pick the car up this week.
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
Understood. I know you weren't on track at the time, but track use will 'abuse' the fluid. I think with the Traction Lok, that you need to change fluid pretty frequently to prevent issues, or plan to rebuild often.
 
twistedneck said:
My 2012 GT has been driven hard and beat on.. but never at an HPDE. I was corner carving a couple nights ago and notice a clanging sound around turns only that seemed to come from the diff area. it got worse and worse until I parked it and called a flat bed!

is it normal for the std. clutched diff to fail? my gears and bears are only a year old and there was zero gear whine.. all of this started last week when I put my new super stiff coilovers on. I stepped down to an 18mm bar in the rear but maybe my diff gave up.

Its got a 3.15 now, Rehagen said they would swap in a take off diff / ring an pinion for now that we get me running again w less money than a brand new torsen. i'm going with a 2.73 so I can do a couple standing mile events and not blow the engine at 7500 rpm in 5th :)

anyone else toast their diff? Thanks!

Tough call, I was under the impression that the OEM T-Lok was pretty stout in and of itself BUT .... The clutches inside it are know to $hit the bed pretty quickly when asked to carve corners. Despite this though, I wouldn't expect a fried clutch pack to do what you describe. Instead I would just expect it to go full one leg with zero attempt at posi of any kind after the damage was done.

I wouldn't expect the new suspension itself to cause such an issue either BUT the madman behind the wheel of a Cortex suspended Stang is bound to break something OEM eventually 8)

I would be interested in hearing what the installer finds out after its torn down.
 
2013dibgt said:
Tough call, I was under the impression that the OEM T-Lok was pretty stout in and of itself BUT .... The clutches inside it are know to $hit the bed pretty quickly when asked to carve corners. Despite this though, I wouldn't expect a fried clutch pack to do what you describe. Instead I would just expect it to go full one leg with zero attempt at posi of any kind after the damage was done.

I wouldn't expect the new suspension itself to cause such an issue either BUT the madman behind the wheel of a Cortex suspended Stang is bound to break something OEM eventually 8)

I would be interested in hearing what the installer finds out after its torn down.

Got the car back from Rehagen, we swapped the entire unit from a gt w 3.55 traction lock. All issues fixed however the car is simply too torqey w the 3.55 resulting in tires going in to orbit .
 
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twistedneck said:
My 2012 GT has been driven hard and beat on.. but never at an HPDE. I was corner carving a couple nights ago and notice a clanging sound around turns only that seemed to come from the diff area. it got worse and worse until I parked it and called a flat bed!

is it normal for the std. clutched diff to fail? my gears and bears are only a year old and there was zero gear whine.. all of this started last week when I put my new super stiff coilovers on. I stepped down to an 18mm bar in the rear but maybe my diff gave up.

Its got a 3.15 now, Rehagen said they would swap in a take off diff / ring an pinion for now that we get me running again w less money than a brand new torsen. i'm going with a 2.73 so I can do a couple standing mile events and not blow the engine at 7500 rpm in 5th :)

anyone else toast their diff? Thanks!

Not sure if it the same prob but my diff needed to be res-shimmed after a few track sessions.
Somewhere I think I read that the torsen setup (is that what you have?) needs to be re-torqued after some initial settle-in miles.
 

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