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XH Longreach HydraTrak LSD

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Hello OzFalcon Friends and Freaks.  I was curious to know is the XH Longreach LSD Diff called "The HydraTrak"  the same LSD as the ones in earlier Fords like an 87 FE LTD?  Its just in case the the Hydratrak  blows up and i need to replace it with something.Also got the factory workshop manual for the 87 FE LTD LSD you know. And I'd like to Wish that all The Good People on this Wonderful Forum a Safe and Happy New Years Nite and Overall a Lot Better Year for 2022 than previous.Take Care and All The Best Searley.

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The Hydratrak isn't the same as the Borgwarner cone type LSD. The Hydratrak came about in the mid-90s in HSVs and the like, whereas the BW cone clutch LSD has been around since probably the 70s. The BW LSD is of similar design to the non-LSD diff in that the centre and spider gears run in the diff oil, it relies on side-thrust in the spider gears under load forcing the cones to bite into the sides of the diff centre. This locks both axles to the housing and drives them together.

The Hydratrak relies on the viscokinetic action of a type of silicone fluid in a sealed centre, being squeezed between chambers within the housing, whenever a speed difference occurs between the axles (ie loss if traction from one wheel). As this speed difference increases, the fluid thickens and the resistance increases accordingly, making the slipping wheel hydraulically lock itself to the one with traction. It's kind of like a hydraulic version of a Detroit locker. Subarus used a viscous LSD of a different design in their manual boxes for the centre diff.

You may be able to retrofit a hydra to a normal BW housing but not 100% sure, in any case a hydra in good condition is pretty hard to find these days. Brand new I think they are dear as poison.

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Outback utes had the hydratrak lsd mate. There’s not a lot of those around these days though

If you’re not concerned about if being a hydratrak then you could fit a standard Borg Warner lsd housing into it. I wheeled an xh xr6 lsd housing under my 92 xf ute for better ratio and to have lsd. It was a great upgrade

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Thanks Ando81 , My Diffs workd very well when it needs to right now. There must be some Hydras lying around in wrecking yards or on shelves somewhere. When you say you wheeled the houseing under do you mean the Whole diff from hub to hub or just the internals? Thanks.

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Thanks Ando81 , My Diffs workd very well when it needs to right now. There must be some Hydras lying around in wrecking yards or on shelves somewhere. When you say you wheeled the houseing under do you mean the Whole diff from hub to hub or just the internals? Thanks.

Yeah whole housing hub to hub

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Never asked before ,,

but what other hard wear and parts are used to activate the hydra track in the rtv ba/bf series utes ,?

ie the push button on the dash to make the hydra track work ,? 

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Never asked before ,,
but what other hard wear and parts are used to activate the hydra track in the rtv ba/bf series utes ,?
ie the push button on the dash to make the hydra track work ,? 
Those are different again. While I haven't seen inside one (we never blew any up in the time we had them) I can only assume that they work pretty much like any 4x4 locker diff, either electric, vacuum or air actuated. They have a hexagon-shaped actuator on the diff hat which tells you for sure.

They're just an open diff when not locked, but when you flick the switch, a vacuum solenoid (on the RTV) opens an actuator which locks a dog clutch (splined to one of the axles) to the housing. Locking one axle to the housing in turn locks the spiders, thus locking the other axle as well. So while you have the locker engaged, it's pretty much a mini-spool, and eventually you'll break an axle or some other internal bit if you drive around with it on all the time.



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Hello Dex, I've got a XH Longreach with the Hydratrak and also a RTV with the Dash operated Locking Diff. As gerg said they are 2 different types. As you most probably know you only need to Operate the Diff Lock when you're about to attempt to drive thru a Boggy Mushy patch of road Never Ever on the Bitumen or hard rock road Always ackowledge the GREEN light ON and Verify that its OFF when you want it OFF. Save a Big headache and Heartache and Walletache. 

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