Gripper Limited Slip Technical Thread

[DeLorean]

well between the small gears and the little pinion bearing (and the fact that the later ones where these are larger still fail frequently), I would call that very lucky. Was that the CRS trans? It may have been updated internally. One of the Fred beans techs mentioned to me that when they get a CRS trans, they are supposed to have all the latest and greatest updates internally, all that's reused is the case. well... they claim anyway. I don't know for sure, but I doubt it.

I am not saying it won't work on an N/A car, it may work fine for quite a while, however there are better options out there. I just would not be AT ALL shocked if it blows a gearcluster. I just got a CRS trans from newringgold that looks as though it was just installed into the car before it got there. (they just got in a bunch of new C-900's). I am still going to pull it apart to see if anything is broken, I will take some pics and see what if anything was done.

[GRMPer]

I'll be pushing 120 at the wheels, at best.

Per

[allessence]

[quote="DeLorean"]well between the small gears and the little pinion bearing (and the fact that the later ones where these are larger still fail frequently), I would call that very lucky. Was that the CRS trans? It may quote]

What is a CRS trans?

[Geoff]

45610 should be fine in a low-powered car, even if its being beat on, so long as it's in good shape to begin with. Put a 4spd primary drive in it and the LSD and you'll have a good setup.

Even so... the first 5spd I put into my car was an earlier box (might have been 45608?) that had around 200K miles on it, then I left it in a field for probably two years where it got full of water. I drained it, took the covers off and cleaned it with some kerosene, put it in the car and ran some oil through it and it worked well for a few rallies (that was luck!). It made a little noise.... I only changed it out because I got a rebuilt 45612 with ~20K on it for free. I might have 120hp at the crank.

[Geoff]

What is a CRS trans?

Can't Really Shift
Can't Rally, Stuck
Cars, Races, Stinkies

I think it's the company that was/is doing the 'factory' rebuilds for SAAB USA?

[Luke]

I don't think I've ever heard of a naturally aspirated SAAB breaking a gear due to stress/strain in that gear. They can break due to wear/slop of the bearings/layshaft and subsequent locking up of the box (usually under very little load) but this is only a product of high mileage. The only weak spot in the gearbox Per is using for his application is the small layshaft bearings, they will grind into the layshaft eventually. Ideally it would be nice to have the laygear bored and a larger sleeved bearing installed.

[DeLorean]

IIdeally it would be nice to have the laygear bored and a larger sleeved bearing installed.

but why do that when you can just as easily use a later one which won't do this? the needle bearings run on their own race and not directly on the countershaft. Plus you can't even get the pinion crush washers for the early style gearboxes anymore so doing a proper rebuild would be... well totally impossible if using factory parts.

And yes, CRS is the "factory" Saab USA rebuilder. If you blow a C-900 trans and bring it to the dealer, $5500 lighter in the pocket, you will have a nice new looking trans installed. Some of the dealer techs call CRS "can't rebuild shit". One of my friends recently told me it took 3 tries for them to get a C-900 trans that actually worked from them, so take that for what it's worth as far as CRS's quality... maybe a fluke.

[Jordan]

Well...not everybody has a new ringold junkyard in their backyard and can have their pick of c900 gearboxes for $80 and less.

[DeLorean]

Well...not everybody has a new ringold junkyard in their backyard and can have their pick of c900 gearboxes for $80 and less.

speaking of which, there are 2 other good ones there now (I was there today). an 89 900-S and a 93 900-S both a manual and I have not gotten to em yet. give me a week or so though and I'll have em if no one else gets em first! I can always use gearbox parts. the damn reverse gears alone are over $300 now!

[GRMPer]

Because that's what I have here and it doesn't have to hold up to stupid amounts of power.

Diff should be installed tomorrow. Engine is coming along fine, using 2.0 liter pistons from an early Pinto. 10:1 compression and about .030 over the stock B-series bore.

Per

[allessence]

Okay, time for an update. Since installed I have put 24,000 miles on it and it's been in 4 different gear boxes since I received it.

The bevelille spring washers on both sides were completely broke. On side was in 2 pieces and the other side was in 7 pieces.

Geoff please spec some replacements. Mcmaster has some listed but I used mine before I had a chance to measure. Thanks

I will post pictures of the broke springs later.

Overall, The clutch rings and disks were in perfect shape with little if any wear. The wavey washers at the ends were perfect.

The side with only one clutch ring and disk did show some wear on the ring inside teeth but hardly anything for 24K.

The inside surfaces where the bevelville washer road did show minimal wear from the washers acting as chisels. So, probably a good idea to check these every so often.

One place I did see some wear I didn't like was the ramp sets. The back side of the ramp angles has some chipping. Only on one side ramp angle set. the other was fine. I was in such a rush I didn't take any pictures. SOORRRYYY!!!!

[Jordan]

Thanks for the update... mabybe it would best to replace these before an initial install?

[Geoff]

When I measured the Belville washers I didn't find anything that was a close replacement match at McMaster, but I didn't search too much (at least not anywhere else). It may be best to get replacements from Tom. He may have an idea why they broke too... I'll look into a US replacement source next week.

Do you think the wear (chips) on the ramps was due to foreign matter? I remember the ramps having pretty sharp edges on them, it would probably be worth taking a dremel to them and rounding out the sharp edges of the ramp (just a little bit), that should help with chipping.

[allessence]

I thought about getting a hold of Tom and at some point probably will. I just know he is hard to deal with though I shouldn't let the past, dictate the future.

Would anybody else want anything?


So, What it looks like is with repeated hitting of the back side ramp angle is what chipped the area away. It was really small chips teenie, tiny almost like sand wear and it was only on one side.The other ramp was fine.


When looking at the ramp angles and the amount of room between the ramp parts. it almost seems there could be less of a gap. Like when the washers let go it allowed more room to spread out.

But, I didn't design it so don't really know. I can say the inside looked like brand new for the most part.

Bevlille, Washer creates side pressure on both drive spider gears. Believe it or not I couldn't tell the difference between it with good and broken washers. Felt exactly the same. And the damage was minimal to any of the parts. Just some light scoring of the side covers.

[allessence]

So here are the pictures I promised. As you can see one side really took a beating. Dawns on me now that I should have paid attention to which was which. I believe the totally fractured one was from the opposite side of the ring gear.


Also, started to run Redline Heavyweight shockproof today. Man is that stuff thick. Looks almost like Peptobismal.