legacycentral bbs

I've been interested in a front diff for a while now. Where did you get the subaru front helical from? I recently installed a suretrac rear and despite it's limitations (it's an open diff when 1 wheel loses all traction), the difference compared to vlsd is night and day.

I've never heard of OBX's falling apart like you described. Did you replace the belleville washers when you first got it?

No, I didn’t replace the washers when I installed it, and would of bought a new one but there no longer available so I called Ralli spec and ordered the oem unit from Japan.
This is the one I ordered:
http://www.rallispec.com/dif_gls_rst1903.html

Little expensive but I’m sure it’s a quality unit.

You like the Suretrac better than Vlsd? I know my vlsd is not as tight as it was when I installed it but still works well.

Hi Charles, the suretrac is way more aggressive than the vlsd ever was, even new. For your use case (all conditions, but specifically winter snow), I suspect the vlsd is a better choice. Clutch ('plated') rear diff would be even better, but those wear out over time like the vlsd and unlike the suretrac, though you can rebuild the cluch diff. The suretrac engages pretty much immediately, unlike a vlsd.

I think 120k out of an obx front diff is worth it for the price. Especially if the belleville washers were the culprit - they are known to be made of substandard metal from the factory, and replacing them is pretty standard. There are still a few websites that offer it for sale. I haven't purchased one yet, but you can add them to the shopping cart at least. Obviously the OEM or Cusco or similar front lsd would be a superior solution to obx, but I just can't justify the price difference.

What did you do to restore your pictures? It is a herculean task, but I'd like to bring mine back online as well.

I am still using photobucket but the pictures that wasn’t working I placed them in a different file then I was able to copy and paste back on to the thread. It’s weird that not all the pictures were shut down but about 90% were.

Some of the sites shows that they sell the OBX diff but can’t get them. I contacted one company and they told me it’s on back order from OBX and haven’t been able to get one in the last year and a half. Not sure if they discontinued it but I thought I should of got more miles out of it. The bummer thing is I just bought new washers and bolts for it.

rallyak wrote:... I ordered a new Subaru helical front diff and now waiting for it to come from Japan.

I wasn't aware Subaru made a front LSD for the 5 speed. Can you share with me a link for it? I would love to learn more about it. I've been looking for one of those OBX diffs, but they are discontinued and not available from anywhere.

Ordered it from Ralli spec, apparently was fitted in version 5/6 STI RA 5 speeds.
http://www.rallispec.com/dif_gls_rst1903.html

It was an option in those trans, though I think the RA-LTD had them as standard. I have a ver 5/6 sti RA trans, and the front is, unfortunately, open. My trans code is: TY754VB1CA.