Winter driving and differentials.

[verdigo]

Well winter is coming and my 245 really sucks in wet snow and ice, so Im looking for a limited slip unit to bolt in. It would be nice to know what Im looking for though as far as how to identify through VIN or a data plate before I go to the junk yards. I suppose I could drag along a floor jack to get them up high enough to give the rear tires a spin. Im now in my 50s though and look for the path of least resistance when possible. Any on line pages with specs???
Thanks
Dennis

[Jason]

The factory limited slip is called a G80, though I'm not sure if the rear end is the same on your 245, as far as I know they came in the 16v 7xx series cars. Lots of info over on turbo bricks though. I would poke around over there and just search for G80.

Jason

[v8volvo]

I don't think the 16v cars necessarily had lockers... at least, my 16v certainly didn't. I had a V8 in it (hence why I left the 16-Valve badge on the tailgate ) so I had plenty of opportunity to explore the rear end's traction capabilities. It did not have any kind of limited-slip action.

I think the G80 came in very late 740 Turbos (I have driven a 1992 745T that had it), and all 960 cars. Somewhere I saw a chart one time online that had an exact breakdown of what car with what transmission from what year, came with which diff ratio and whether or not it was a locker.

You can also get a locker or LSD set-up in your existing diff, but it is probably cheaper to find something from a JY if you are able to.

[v8volvo]

You might consider getting a good set of skinny Gislaved or Nokian snow tires before trying to do something with the diff itself. An open diff with really good, skinny winter tires is much better than a locker or LSD with crappy or non-snow tires. You may find that the tires alone completely transform the car in winter weather, and you might decide you don't need to do anything with the rear end at all. Remember that in Sweden everyone drives these cars around in the worst winter conditions, and most of them don't have LSD... just good winter tires. The tires will help your steering and braking too, of course, which diff work would not... another bonus.

[Jason]

Ya the 16v cars having a locker std was something I read over on Tbricks.. Obviously mis information. I can attest to good tires, while mine aren't anything all that great, I used my car to get us around last winter during the couple snow storms we had while my wife's 300C sat in the driveway. I threw both of my big floor jacks and a bag of sand in the trunk, plus a full tank of gas and it plowed through!

Jason

[mylesofsmyles]

Originally Posted by verdigo

Well winter is coming and my 245 really sucks in wet snow and ice, so Im looking for a limited slip unit to bolt in. It would be nice to know what Im looking for though as far as how to identify through VIN or a data plate before I go to the junk yards. I suppose I could drag along a floor jack to get them up high enough to give the rear tires a spin. Im now in my 50s though and look for the path of least resistance when possible. Any on line pages with specs???
Thanks
Dennis

all you need to know...

http://www.davebarton.com/volvorearends.html

in a nut shell...200's and 700/900's all had Dana 30 pumpkin's, straigh outta Detroit, same as the front axle on a Jeep Cherokee (XJ) on the 4x4 models. There are factory, VOLVO, lockers and LSD units, but they are rarer than diesel Volvo's in California, so I wouldn't count on finding one quickly and inexpensively. You could, however, make use of the options available for the Dana 30, aftermarket. A popular choice is the Detroit TrueTrac LSD unit. In any case, there were two styles of the pumpkin found on the 200's and 700/900's, 1030 and 1031...check your ring and pinion gear ratio, as it'll tell you what you need to know...the units were two different sizes, one to accommodate the 3.7 and shorter gears and the other to accommodate the 3.5 and lower gears. If you order a TrueTrac, or anything aftermarket for the Dana 30...just make sure you get one for a rear axle configuration....the front axle on a Jeep Cherokee would need to spin in a different direction.

Hope this isn't information you all already know.

[Jason]

That Dave Barton page is great... Never heard of him before, but I'm adding him to the parts suppliers database. He has come cool stuff and a bunch of links to volvo specific junk yards. Pretty cool.

Jason

[RLDSL]

If you put a set of 4 studded Nokians on the thing and about 4 large sacks of Oil Dry ( about 40 lbs each, Sams Club has them dirt cheap) in the trunk over the rear axle that 240 will turn into a raging snow machine , able to go places, nothing else can. The factory locker combined with a set of studded Nokians is a non stoppable combination ( I have that setup on my 940 turbo) if you know how to drive it, but a locker can get you into trouble. Even with studs and the best snow tires on earth, there are times when you can cut the wheels loose and if in a turn, that locker can end up making you do a pirouette right there, where the open diff won't have that effect. You have to learn to drive a locker on snow and ice and know when to throttle back to unlock teh thing. SOmetimes you just have to use that thing locked up and sliding and drive like a stunt driver on a loose dirt or mud road to get through, when the snow is deep enough to drag hard on the floor pan. That's generally not a problem in places where it snows all the time and they have plows, but around here in teh south, they don't have plows and when we get over about 8 inches on the ground, it starts getting REAL tricky to get around. Last year we had over a foot and the only way that suff was getting any lower was by driving on it