Drift Monkey
New member
Finally got around to installing this guy yesterday (after sitting for a few months in my garage) and wanted to share a bit since I've never seen anyone throw one of these in a Toyota 8" clamshell. From what I understand, it's pretty new - I just wish I knew about it before I did my re-gear last year, but cracking it open again wasn't too bad.
The unit itself seems to be a Nitro rebrand and is actually manufactured by Speedmaster79 as indicated by the stamp on the carrier. The casing itself was very well machined and the carrier bearings pressed on nicely. 6 helical "worm" gears inside this guy, which seems nice, and the torque bias ratio (TBR) is listed as 3.5x.
Straightforward install - swapped my bearings and stuff over to it. The carrier required a little re-shim to get he backlash right (it was aa tad different/off from the stock one) and we added a bit more preload to the carrier/pinion to get it into spec, did a quick pattern check and it was good to go.
Driving impressions - On the street it's very transparent, smooth and well behaved. Only time it makes itself known is under throttle in a turn. I was bracing for excessive understeer with this unit, but that doesn't seem to be the case - the truck tracks as it normally would. The steering feel has a little bit of feedback under turning throttle and you can feel the front end pulling itself out of a corner - coasting through a turn is the same as stock. So a tiny bit more steering effort in this scenario, but nothing crazy - easily daily drivable. In fact, I was already honestly fully used to it by the time I made my 20 minute drive home, so there's that.
Also got to do some preliminary off-road testing on some relatively loose rock/gravel inclines. With the rest of my driveline unlocked (AWD), I was able to make it up the inclines, with the steepest one presenting the most challenge. It still managed to pull itself, slowly creeping up, but interestingly enough I could actually feel the the front end pulling me up - a strange new sensation I haven't felt before with just ATRAC. Speaking of ATRAC, it never seemed to trigger during these tests, likely because the helical was already biasing the torque well enough. The "weakness" I haven't tested yet is front wheel lift and the front wheels on extremely slick surfaces (ie wet rocks). I've gotten myself into situations where my rear/center are locked but I'd just be waiting for ATRAC to wake up and pull the front over the obstacle - so hopefully this will help remedy that. As for wheel lift, the helical would act like an open with no load, so based what I've researched (and how these work), my hypothesis is that ATRAC would kick in when wheel spin is present, create a load for the helical, and the torque would begin transferring to the wheel with traction again. In the past, this could be accomplished with left-foot braking, but with ATRAC, it should just start moving again on its own once the brake clamps down on the spinning wheel. More testing this weekend will bear out if it ends up working like I think it will. This should compliment my rear e-locker quite well, I think.
Oh, and I also installed my Dobinsons dorkel afterwards! :rockon:
The unit itself seems to be a Nitro rebrand and is actually manufactured by Speedmaster79 as indicated by the stamp on the carrier. The casing itself was very well machined and the carrier bearings pressed on nicely. 6 helical "worm" gears inside this guy, which seems nice, and the torque bias ratio (TBR) is listed as 3.5x.
Straightforward install - swapped my bearings and stuff over to it. The carrier required a little re-shim to get he backlash right (it was aa tad different/off from the stock one) and we added a bit more preload to the carrier/pinion to get it into spec, did a quick pattern check and it was good to go.
Driving impressions - On the street it's very transparent, smooth and well behaved. Only time it makes itself known is under throttle in a turn. I was bracing for excessive understeer with this unit, but that doesn't seem to be the case - the truck tracks as it normally would. The steering feel has a little bit of feedback under turning throttle and you can feel the front end pulling itself out of a corner - coasting through a turn is the same as stock. So a tiny bit more steering effort in this scenario, but nothing crazy - easily daily drivable. In fact, I was already honestly fully used to it by the time I made my 20 minute drive home, so there's that.
Also got to do some preliminary off-road testing on some relatively loose rock/gravel inclines. With the rest of my driveline unlocked (AWD), I was able to make it up the inclines, with the steepest one presenting the most challenge. It still managed to pull itself, slowly creeping up, but interestingly enough I could actually feel the the front end pulling me up - a strange new sensation I haven't felt before with just ATRAC. Speaking of ATRAC, it never seemed to trigger during these tests, likely because the helical was already biasing the torque well enough. The "weakness" I haven't tested yet is front wheel lift and the front wheels on extremely slick surfaces (ie wet rocks). I've gotten myself into situations where my rear/center are locked but I'd just be waiting for ATRAC to wake up and pull the front over the obstacle - so hopefully this will help remedy that. As for wheel lift, the helical would act like an open with no load, so based what I've researched (and how these work), my hypothesis is that ATRAC would kick in when wheel spin is present, create a load for the helical, and the torque would begin transferring to the wheel with traction again. In the past, this could be accomplished with left-foot braking, but with ATRAC, it should just start moving again on its own once the brake clamps down on the spinning wheel. More testing this weekend will bear out if it ends up working like I think it will. This should compliment my rear e-locker quite well, I think.
Oh, and I also installed my Dobinsons dorkel afterwards! :rockon:
Maybe one day I'll do the 8.2 rear swap.
